Planting a Seed: Applications of Cognitive Principles for Improving Food Choices

People are not very good at estimating quantitative information, but seeding the knowledge base has been shown to improve estimation accuracy of numerical information (e.g., Brown & Siegler, 1996). In the present study, the seeding technique was applied to a calorie estimation task because people often underestimate the number of calories contained in food, which could lead to overconsumption. Participants practiced making calorie estimates, without feedback, of both simple (e.g., apples) and complex (e.g., apple pie) foods. During training, which included only simple foods, participants in the seeding condition made estimates and were told the correct number of calories after each estimate. Those in the view-only condition were merely told the number of calories in each item without having to make any estimates. Participants in the control condition neither made estimates nor were told calorie information for the foods shown. During testing, all participants made calorie estimates for items shown previously and new items. Participants in the seeding condition showed significantly better learning and transfer of calorie information than did those in the control condition, although viewing calorie information was equally beneficial for learning and transfer. In both the seeding and view-only conditions, transfer applied to items presented during training and other similar simple food items but not to more complex foods, which were not included during training. The practical applications of this research to education and health are discussed.