Research

Research

My research focuses on two main topics: picky eating behaviour in young children and sensory-specific satiation/the variety effect.

• Picky eating behaviour in children: In a longitudinal study, together with Chantal Nederkoorn and Anouk van den Brand, I study the role of cognitive processes in child eating behaviour, more specifically, picky eating. We explore how sensory perception, decision-making, food representations, cognitive biases and parental behaviour relate to picky eating in young children.
• Sensory-specific satiation/the variety effect: The term sensory-specific satiation refers to the phenomenon that, when a food is eaten, the pleasantness of this food decreases, while other non-eaten foods remain pleasant. In other words, when I am eating crisps, these crisps will decrease in pleasantness, while I still evaluate chocolate (which I did not eat) as evenly pleasant. Related to sensory-specific satiation is the variety effect, which entails that people tend to eat more when there is a larger variety of foods available. I explore the mechanisms of sensory-specific satiation, the variety effect, and their roles in eating behaviour and food choice.

Teaching

I am involved as a PBL-tutor in several Bachelor courses in the Psychology curriculum (faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience), I supervise research projects and theses, and I give lectures and workshops. Bachelor and Master students who would like to write a thesis or do research on picky eating, cognitive processes, sensory-specific satiation, or related topics are welcome for supervision.

Publications

For an up to date list click here.