Understanding variety:tasting different foods delays satiation

Variety stimulates intake by as much as 40% following both simultaneous and sequential presentations. Varying sensory and other characteristics of foods could sustain interest in eating and delay the development of satiation. Two experiments set out to explore this by investigating the effect of introducing different foods to taste and rate during intake of a snack. In Experiment 1, 33 participants (23 female) attended the lab on four occasions, to eat sweet or salted popcorn (depending on preference). In a counterbalanced order participants ate ad libitum (control), or were interrupted during eating to taste and rate either the food they were eating (same condition: SC), another food with shared taste characteristics (congruent condition: CC) or a food with a different taste (incongruent condition: IC). Overall participants consumed significantly more in CC and IC than in SC [F(3,90) = 2.74,