Project 7 : Self-serving and memory of food

In this study we are testing whether children eat more vegetables when they are allowed to decide for themselves how many vegetables they put on their plate. We also investigate what children remember about tasty and untasty food. At the moment we are still looking for participants for these studies, which will take place in October/November 2024.

You can sign up by sending an email to: r.mourmans@maastrichtuniversity.nl

Project 6 : Texture of food

Picky eaters are often more sensitive to texture and touch. You feel food texture with your mouth but also with your hands. To get used to a certain texture by feeling it first with the hands, could make tasting a food less scary. To test this we asked 4- and 5-year-olds to play some games in which they felt a texture with their hands that was similar to the texture of passion fruit. We then asked them to try the passion fruit. Children who first felt a similar texture were not more willing to try the passion fruit. We also found that children who were picky eaters according to their parents were less willing to try it and 4-year-olds were also less willing than 5-year-olds.

Project 5 : Study on flexibility in children and their eating behavior

There are indications that children who are more flexible in their behavior are also more open to trying various types of food. For instance, if a child is used to eating broccoli only with applesauce and then is offered broccoli without applesauce, they may refuse to eat it. In this project, we aimed to understand whether there is indeed a connection between children's flexibility and their eating habits. We did not find a connection between flexibility and eating habits of the childen. Increasing this flexibility will therefore probably not affect picky eating behaviour.

Project 4 : Are you more willing to try food when hungry?

In this study, we aimed to understand whether hunger influences children to be more willing to try certain types of food. We also investigated whether it matters if that food is already familiar or unfamiliar to the child. Additionally, we explored differences between children who are more easily accepting of various foods and those who find this more challenging. The results showed that children who were hungry were more willing to try both familiar and unfamiliar fruit. It did not matter whether children were picky eaters or not. They did eat more of the familiar fruit. Do you want to let your child try a new food? Give it to them when they're hungry or at the start of a meal.

Project 3 : How children categorize and remember fruits and vegetables

In a study involving children aged 4-6 years old, we investigated how they categorize food and what they remember. We found that children often used color as a basis for categorizing and remembering food. Children who were better at categorizing the type of food also had a better memory of what kind of food it was. We didn't find a connection with picky eating behaviour. Other factors, such as how familiar the food is, seem to play a larger role in children's acceptance of food.

2022

Project 2: Does choice make vegetables yummy?

Motivating a child to eat vegetables is not always easy. How can you tempt them to take a bite? In this project, we studied the role of free choice of the child. The results of this study revealed that children who were given a choice, were more willing to taste a new vegetable.

2021

Project NEMO Science Museum:

Come taste that!

In the NEMO science museum in Amsterdam, we conducted research into picky eating among children aged between 4-15 years. We looked at how well the children could taste a bitter taste. Not everyone has the same taste buds: for some a Brussels sprout tastes more bitter than for others. We also used a candy game to see whether children dared to take a gamble, and potentially had to eat a very distasteful candy, or whether they rather avoid this and prefer to take one less tasty candy. The results show that being able to taste a bitter taste does not have much influence on picky eating. However, it appears that children who have difficulty with new vegetables are also the ones who do not like to gamble in the candy game. So picky eaters seem to like to play it safe!