How vision creates a food trend

Research from the University of Sydney has found that we don’t judge food simply on its merits, but are influenced by what we’ve seen before, a cascading phenomenon known as ‘serial addiction’ .

The research, published in Current biologywas carried out by Professors David Alais and Thomas Carlson from the School of Psychology at the University of Sydney, in collaboration with Professor David Burr from the University of Florence.

Their study shows that when people evaluate images of food based on their attractiveness and calorie content, the evaluation is not made in isolation. Instead, it is subtly biased toward the judgment that preceded it.

Serial dependence occurs when individuals make a series of sequential choices. In the context of diet, if a person judges a food to be highly attractive, they are likely to evaluate the image of the next food more favorably, regardless of its calorie content or attractiveness.

It works the other way too. A previous unappealing food makes a current food less appealing.

The findings could help psychologists develop treatments that allow people with eating disorders to eat more or less food, and could help marketers present food menus.

Lead author Professor Alais said: “The experimental conditions of serial addiction are not much different from our everyday experiences with food images, such as when we scan a food delivery menu or browse a menu on our phone. Serial addiction could therefore affect millions of food choices every day. »

Researchers conducted experiments with more than 600 participants who rated various food images based on their calorie content and attractiveness. The results revealed a clear pattern of serial dependence: participants’ grades tended to follow their previous grade.

For example, a high rating for one food resulted in a higher rating for the next item, creating a chain reaction of interconnected rather than independent ratings.

Although the study found that men tended to rate high-calorie foods slightly higher than women, the overall effect of serial addiction did not depend on gender and was similar for all.

“This study highlights the cognitive biases that come into play when we evaluate foods,” Professor Alais said. “Our brains are programmed to assimilate information from previous stimuli, just as we might be drawn to a particular dish after seeing a similar, highly rated dish.”

Co-author Professor Carlson said: “Our previous work has shown that the visual brain encodes the perceived caloric content of food in just a few milliseconds. It will be fascinating to see the interplay between these cognitive biases and visual processing in future work.

Beyond the immediate interest of visual neuroscientists who study how our brains process images, this research has potential useful applications.

For food marketers and restaurateurs, understanding serial addiction could inform strategies to improve the appeal of their menu offerings. By placing highly attractive items or high-calorie foods in a sequence, they could influence consumer perception and potentially drive sales.

This research also has the potential to play a role in clinical settings, particularly in combating obesity, compulsive eating, bulimia and related eating disorders.

By recognizing how previous dietary evaluations may affect subsequent choices, cognitive behavioral therapies could be adapted to take advantage of these findings, helping people reshape their perceptions and decision-making processes around eating.

This approach could promote healthier eating habits and support effective interventions for people struggling with eating disorders.

Professor Alais and his team have already discovered similar visual trends in people viewing dating apps or evaluating the beauty of works of art.