Effect of sensory education on food preferences in children C. Reverdy a, * , P. Schlich b , E.P. Köster c , E. Ginon b , C. Lange b, ** a Pancosma, Le Grand Saconnex, Switzerland b Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l’Alimentation, UMR6265 CNRS, UMR1324 INRA, Université de Bourgogne, Agrosup Dijon, F-21000 Dijon, France c Centre of Innovative Consumer Studies (CICS), Wageningen, The Netherlands article info Article history: Received 14 August 2009 Received in revised form 8 December 2009 Accepted 15 March 2010 Available online 23 March 2010 Keywords: Sensory education Children Food preferences Complexity Intensity abstract During an evaluation of the effects of a French sensory education program for 8–10 years old school chil- dren, an experiment was carried out to investigate the influence of the program on the development of children’s preferences for stimuli differing in arousal potential (higher complexity and/or intensity). An experimental group (n = 101) who participated in the education program and a control group (n = 102) who did not, rated liking for five stimuli differing in arousal potential in each of three product categories (mashed potatoes, fruit yoghurts and compotes) at three moments: just before (T0) and after (T1) the education program and 10 months later (T2). Although initially both groups showed the same increase in liking for more arousing stimuli in two foods, indicating that exposure to more arousing stim- uli alone sufficed, whereas the effect of the education program was only shown in the further extension of this change at T2 in the experimental group. Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction In humans, as in all other omnivores, food choice is a predom- inantly learned behaviour. Apart from an aversion for bitter and an attraction to sweet substances that seem to be inborn (Ganchrow & Menella, 2003; Steiner, 1974) all other taste prefer- ences are learned. Odour preferences are also acquired by learning that starts in some cases even before birth (Schaal, Soussignan, & Marlier, 2002). Furthermore, it has been shown that preferences formed in infancy and early childhood may have long-lasting effects on later food choice behaviour (Garcia, Simon, Beauchamp, & Menella, 2001; Haller, Rummel, Henneberg, Pollmer, & Köster, 1999; Nicklaus, Boggio, Chabanet, & Issanchou, 2005). Very diverse learning mechanisms such as flavour–flavour and flavour–nutrient conditioning (Mobini, Chambers, & Yeomans, 2007), imitation of parents and peers and parental education prac- tices (Birch, 1998) are involved in the acquisition of food prefer- ences. The influence of ‘‘mere exposure” (Zajonc, 1968) on the appreciation of novel food by children was investigated by Pliner (1982). She came to the conclusion that the effect was mainly due to the dissipation of food neophobia (reluctance to taste new foods). The efficacy of an exposure-based approach to overcome eating resistances has been supported in experimental studies with schoolchildren (Loewen & Pliner, 1999; Pliner & Stallberg-White, 2000). In a study carried out in primary schools, 10 daily exposures to the taste of an unfamiliar vegetable (raw red pepper) signifi- cantly increased children’s liking and consumption of the vegeta- ble (Wardle, Herrera, Cooke & Gibson, 2003). However, with repeated exposure, children can either learn to prefer and con- sume, or dislike and reject foods depending on the social contexts in which the foods are eaten and the physiological consequences of their consumption (Birch, 1998). There are also good arguments to consider mere exposure theory as a special case of more general motivational theories (Köster & Mojet, 2007). In this connection, attention has also been given to the possible role of stimulus com- plexity and ‘‘motivational learning” in the development of food preferences. Based on motivational theories (Berlyne, 1960; Dember, 1964; Dember & Earl, 1957; Walker, 1980) experiments were carried out that confirmed the role of arousal and perceived complexity as one of the factors in the development of food prefer- ences during repeated exposure (Köster, Couronne, Léon, Lévy, & Marcelino, 2002; Lévy & Köster, 1999; Lévy, MacRae, & Köster, 2006; Porcherot & Issanchou, 1998). As predicted, stimuli that were originally less liked because they were more complex than the level of stimulus complexity the subjects liked most, became more appreciated with repeated exposure, whereas stimuli that were less complex than the optimally preferred one became less appreciated with exposure. Nevertheless, other authors (Sulmont-Rossé, Chabanet, Issanchou, & Köster, 2008; Zandstra, de Graaf, & van Trijp, 2000; Zandstra, Weegels, Van Spronsen, & Klerk, 2004) demonstrated the fragility of these effects that may 0950-3293/$ - see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.foodqual.2010.03.008 * Correspondence to: C. Reverdy, PANCOSMA, 6 voie-des-Traz, CH-1218 Le Grand Saconnex, Switzerland. Tel.: +41 22 929 84 33; fax: +41 22 929 84 95. ** Correspondence to: C. Lange, CESG, 15 rue Hugues Picardet, F-21000 Dijon, France. Tel.: +33 380 68 16 12; fax: +33 380 68 16 32. E-mail addresses: caroreverdy@hotmail.com (C. Reverdy), christine.lange@dijon. inra.fr (C. Lange). Food Quality and Preference 21 (2010) 794–804 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Food Quality and Preference journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/foodqual