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The Relationship Between Infant Facial Expressions and Food Acceptance

  • Food Acceptance and Nutrition in Infants and Young Children (H Coulthard, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose of Review

To highlight the range of methodological approaches used to objectively measure hedonic responses to taste stimuli during the first year of life and how these behavioral responses change with experience. Challenges inherent to this type of research are discussed.

Recent Findings

Although newborns display characteristic orofacial reactivity to four of the five basic tastes, the facial expressions made and the amount of food consumed can be modified by experience: children learn to like what they are fed. In some cases, changes in facial responses are concordant with infant consumption, whereas in other cases facial reactivity follows changes in intake.

Summary

Together with ingestive measurements, precise and objective measurements of orofacial reactivity provide an understanding of how early experiences shift the hedonic tone of the taste of foods, the foundation of dietary preferences.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, The College of William & Mary, P.O. Box 8795, Williamsburg, VA, 23187, USA

    Catherine A. Forestell

  2. Monell Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    Julie A. Mennella

Authors
  1. Catherine A. Forestell
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  2. Julie A. Mennella
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Catherine A. Forestell.

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Conflict of Interest

Catherine A. Forestell and Julie A. Mennella declare they have no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

All reported studies/experiments with human or animal subjects performed by the authors have been previously published and complied with all applicable ethical standards (including the Helsinki declaration and its amendments, institutional/national research committee standards, and international/national/institutional guidelines).

Additional information

Writing of this manuscript was supported in part by NIH grant R01HD37119 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

This article is part of the Topical Collection on Food Acceptance and Nutrition in Infants and Young Children

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Forestell, C.A., Mennella, J.A. The Relationship Between Infant Facial Expressions and Food Acceptance. Curr Nutr Rep 6, 141–147 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13668-017-0205-y

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