Facial expressions in school-aged children are a good indicator of ‘dislikes’, but not of ‘likes’

Autonomic nervous system responses on and facial expressions to the sight, smell, and taste of liked and disliked foods

“…The facial expression results are in accordance with those found by Zeinstra et al (2009) who concluded that facial expressions successfully reflect negative but not positive food preferences. In addition, our results indicated that the same holds for SCR responses, at least during the first visual encounter with food.…”

“…Well-known examples in the food domain are the positive facial expressions of newborns towards liked (sweet) and the negative expressions towards disliked (bitter) basic tastes, extensively documented by Steiner (1973) and Steiner, Glaser, Hawilo, and Berridge (2001) and more recently by Maier (2007, Chap. IV) and Zeinstra, Koelen, Colindres, Kok, and de Graaf (2009). Zeinstra demonstrated negative facial expressions of children aged between 5 and 13 years.…”

“…in response to disliked foods, whereas negative as well as positive facial expressions were found for liked foods, indicating that facial expressions successfully reflect negative but not positive food preferences. The authors concluded that clearly visible and long-lasting facial expressions were unlikely to measure varying gradients in food acceptance (Zeinstra et al, 2009). Changes in facial expressions can also be short-lasting.…”

Research challenges and methods to study food preferences in school-aged children: A review of the last 15years

“…In contrast, Zeinstra, Koelen, Colindres, Kok, and de Graaf (2009) found that facial expressions are suitable to measure dislike, but not to measure various gradients of food acceptance in children aged 5-13 years. Negative facial expressions for disliked food stimuli were easily recognized, whereas the distinction between a positive or neutral expression was less clear.…”

Measuring emotional responses to foods and food names using questionnaires

“…The methods include emotion checklists, such as the MAACL-R of 132 items (Zuckerman & Lubin, 1985), scaled lists of emotions (see below), facial scaling (Zeinstra, Koelen, Colindres, Kok, & de Graaf, 2009) and cartoon figures such as PrEmo (Desmet, 2002). Each method uses a different number and set of emotion terms.…”