Children Remember Foods Disliked by Others Better Than Foods Liked by Others

• Published in: Journal of cognition and development Vol. 26; no. 3; pp. 427 - 442
• Main Author: Nakamichi, Naoko
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Routledge 27.05.2025
• ISSN: 1524-8372; 1532-7647
• DOI: 10.1080/15248372.2024.2430196

Young children socially learn "what to eat" and "what not to eat" by observing others' preferences for, and aversions to, specific food items. However, it is not clear which learning children prioritize more - learning "what to eat" or "what not to eat." To answer this question, we compared young Japanese children's memory of novel foods that were preferred and disliked by others. In Experiment 1, 4-5-year-olds (N = 24) preferentially remembered novel foods disliked by others more than those preferred by others. In Experiment 2, children in the same age group (N = 29) better remembered specific evaluations of foods disliked by others than those preferred by others. Thus, these findings reveal that young Japanese children show heightened memories of foods disliked by others over those liked by others. In addition, food neophobia was higher in children with a poorer memory for specific evaluations of foods preferred by others. Our results suggest that learning "what not to eat" is a priority task for young children.