Episodic Memory and Food Choice

This thesis examined the relationship between episodic memory of past eating experience and food choice. Studies in Chapter 2 show that recalling an episodic memory of enjoying eating vegetables increases predicted enjoyment of eating vegetables in the future and increases amount chosen. In Chapter 3 it is reported that increasing remembered enjoyment of a food results in a greater amount of that food chosen. In Chapter 4, after a disappointing experience with a food, liking was examined one day or one week later. Liking was reduced at one day, but not one week, suggesting that episodic memory influences liking when an experience has occurred recently. A second study showed that a disappointing experience influenced liking at one week, for only novel foods, suggesting that early experiences with food may be particularly important in shaping liking. The final chapter examined how episodic memory for enjoyment of an eating experience is formed. The final moments of a food item and most enjoyable item in a multi item meal predicted remembered enjoyment, although these effects were moderated by dietary restraint. It is argued episodic memory influences food choice and that manipulations to alter memory may provide a novel approach to influencing food choice.