ABSTRACT
Food reinforcement is innate and present at birth [4] and is biologically preestablished to increase the behaviors it rewards. While some foods require multiple feeding attempts for an infant or child to find them acceptable, sugary and fatty foods do not require prior learning, and only a taste of
Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 109 Development of Food Reinforcement ....................................................................................... 109 Measuring Food Reinforcement in Children ............................................................................. 110 Food Reinforcement is Associated with Energy Intake, Obesity, and Weight Gain in Children ..................................................................................................................................... 111 Factors That Acutely Influence Food Reinforcement................................................................ 111
Sensitization and Satiation ................................................................................................... 111 Restriction and Deprivation .................................................................................................. 112
Factors That Moderate the Effect of Food Reinforcement in Children .................................... 112 Alternative Reinforcers ........................................................................................................ 112 Reinforcement Pathology ..................................................................................................... 112
Intervention Approaches Targeting Food Reinforcement ......................................................... 113 Manipulating the Behavioral Cost of Food .......................................................................... 113 Strategies to Lessen Impact of Food Deprivation and Restriction ....................................... 113 Using Food Variety to Increase Reinforcing Value of Healthy Foods .................................. 114 Providing Reinforcing Alternatives to Food ......................................................................... 114 Improving Ability to Delay Gratification ............................................................................. 114
Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 114 References ...................................................................................................................................... 115
these foods by infants may develop into preferences that continue into adulthood [5]. Infants show stereotypical and automatic responses to specific tastes, with sweet foods eliciting a smile prior to bottle or breast-feeding [6]. As an infant or toddler, Johnny may have first tasted ice cream, activating primary brain reward centers signaling a pleasant taste and laying the groundwork for his high motivation to eat ice cream. Infants who have an increased bottle sucking rate gain more weight at 12 and 24 months [4]. This research suggests that even in infants, motivation to eat is present at early ages and may represent initial problems with high food reinforcement. While food is intrinsically rewarding, there are individual differences in the motivation to eat, which are characterized by the concept of food reinforcement [7].
