Memories influence your choice of food

Scientists are continually on a quest to understand how our minds work. Recent research delved into determining how our memories can influence the food we choose, and was reported in the scientific journal Neuron. Everyone has memories that revolve around food, and we would expect that we choose food that we liked based on our pleasant recollection. That is not quite true, according to the research.

In fact, we’re more likely to choose a food that we remember more strongly, not necessarily food that tasted the best. In the study, psychologists at the University of Basel asked 30 people to rate several types of snacks in order of preference. The subjects were shown the snacks on a computer screen in association with a particular location. After this, the participants were put into an MRI scaner and “were asked to choose repeatedly between two snacks, for which only the location was shown. The subjects were thus forced to recall the snack associated with the location.”

The study found that participants tended to prefer the snacks which they were better able to recall. What’s more, even if they had rated the snacks lower in the initial survey, subjects chose the snacks they could recall better. So the next time you have a meal that you really like, try to find a way to associate that food with something you can easily recall so when you’re hungry again, you’ll remember it.

Photo of Maple memory cake from indexed blog Food52