The taste of coffee was probably not love at first sight, however, nowadays it is very likely that you enjoy it. The same happens with vegetables: as a child, you probably disliked their taste and appearance, so different from, for example, the sweet foods you used to love. Just like with coffee, it is likely that this preference has now reversed and that you enjoy a good bowl of salad. This is because no one is born knowing what their favorite foods will be: most food preferences are formed through experience, in a process known as taste preference learning.
Learning about food preferences is essential for eating behavior, as it allows us to identify which foods are nutritious and which might be harmful. This process arises from both pleasant and unpleasant experiences with food. For example, most of us have at some point experienced stomach pain after eating a food that we previously liked. After such an experience, it is not uncommon to lose the desire to even think about that food for a while. Conversely, flavors that are initially neutral can acquire a positive value when they become associated with tasty or highly energetic foods. For instance, the aroma of vanilla or cinnamon may evoke the sensation of sweetness because they are commonly present in desserts or sugary foods, even though they do not have this sensory property on their own.
This type of learning is an example of Pavlovian conditioning, in which, for example, cinnamon functions as a conditioned stimulus and sweetness as an unconditioned stimulus. After repeated occasions in which we consume cinnamon—initially a neutral stimulus—together with the sweet taste that is already pleasant, we eventually develop a positive preference for cinnamon. It is even possible that we start using it as a substitute for sugar in coffee.
Such a mechanism is particularly useful for animals living in conditions of scarcity and survival, as it directs intake toward foods that are highly nutritious and energetically valuable. However, unlike animals in the wild and our ancestors, today we are constantly and massively exposed to highly caloric and palatable foods, which may cause this mechanism to promote maladaptive eating habits. A recent study conducted by researchers from the CIMCYC, Ana González and Isabel de Brugada, showed, through a replication study using rats as experimental subjects, that this type of massive exposure can alter the mechanisms underlying this preference learning, leading to more rigid and automatic patterns of food consumption. In this study, it was observed that acquired preferences become more persistent, driving food intake even when we are already satiated.
The results suggest a possible mechanism that could contribute to excessive food consumption in modern societies. We live in obesogenic environments where highly energetic and palatable foods are abundant, and where multiple environmental cues constantly remind us of their availability, in a context of increasingly sedentary lifestyles. In this scenario, the emergence of rigid behaviors that are automatically triggered, regardless of a person’s hunger state, becomes particularly problematic.
Reference
González Gómez, A., & Brugada Sauras, I. D. (2026). Habits in Pavlovian learning: Resistance to devaluation by sensory‐specific satiety following extensive exposure to palatable tastes. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 33, 65. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-025-02835-x
Contact
Isabel de Brugada
dbrugada@ugr.es