Confirmation bias in young children’s information seeking and evaluation of novel foods

Food rejection is most likely to occur during early childhood, with most rejected foods being vegetables and fruits. Consequently, many young children do not meet the recommended intake levels of these foods. Confirmation bias may be a cognitive factor contributing to low intake of novel vegetables and fruits. This study aimed to examine confirmation bias at two stages-information seeking and information evaluation-regarding novel foods in young children and investigate the differences in the strength of these confirmation biases based on the levels of everyday food rejection. Experiment 1 identified novel foods perceived as appetizing or unappetizing. Using these stimuli, Experiment 2 (N = 34) examined confirmation bias during the information search stage, whereas Experiment 3 (N = 34) examined it during the information evaluation stage. The results showed that, for appetizing novel foods, children sought more positive than negative information (Experiment 2) and evaluated positive information as more credible (Experiment 3). However, for unappetizing novel foods, children sought more negative than positive information (Experiment 2) and evaluated negative information as more reliable (Experiment 3). Thus, children demonstrated confirmation bias at both the information-seeking and information-evaluation stages concerning novel foods. Furthermore, in Experiment 3, children with higher levels of food rejection showed lower trust in positive information relative to negative information when evaluating unappetizing foods. These findings deepen our understanding of the cognitive mechanisms underlying food rejection and may inform the development of more effective, child-centered interventions to promote healthy eating in early childhood.