What is it about?
We find that unhealthy food words are associated more strongly with sensory information (i.e., information about visual, auditory, tactile, smell, and taste properties) than healthy foods are, and this explains why people find unhealthy foods more attractive.
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Why is it important?
We show that the sensory information that makes up the meaning of food words is important in goal-directed behavior: it increases the attractiveness of foods and explains differences between healthy and unhealthy foods. Beyond unhealthy food being thought of as more tasty, we show that unhealthy food is associated with stronger sensory experiences across sensory modalities: unhealthy = strongly sensory.
Perspectives
This article connects my theoretical work on the representation of word meaning to real-world behavior that has consequences for people's health.
Laura Speed
Radboud Universiteit
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Mental simulation across sensory modalities predicts attractiveness of food concepts., Journal of Experimental Psychology Applied, January 2023, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/xap0000461.
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