Laura Ladekarl, Class of 2025

Many studies show how different perceptual features (color, texture, or packaging) influence food preferences, but few show how quantity influences people’s perceptions. Researchers from Tel-Aviv and Potsdam University investigated how the perception of the quantity of food differed based on food preference. Their research hypothesized that people would perceive portions of food they liked as smaller and portions they disliked as larger, possibly as a protective mechanism to avoid consuming potentially harmful foods, and that people would be more sensitive to changes in portions of disliked food.

They ran several experiments to test their hypothesis. The liked foods mainly included Bamba and Kinder Bueno, and the disliked foods included Brussels sprouts and raisins. In the first experiment, participants were presented with food items and used magnitude estimation through participants guessing the quantity of food on a plate presented to them. The experimenters only changed the quantity of food, not the food type. The second experiment used magnitude production, where participants produced a proportion of food, either liked or disliked, onto an empty plate to replicate a real-life example of how they perceive food quantities. The third experiment was similar to the second experiment but had participants replicate the initial plate’s food proportion to allow for another selective analysis.

Overall, the study found that the brain underestimates the amount of food on a plate regardless of preferences. The experiments showed that people were more sensitive to a change within an unliked food portion compared to those they liked, showing that the brain perceives unliked food with more accuracy. There was an average of 5.6 food items changed for disliked food compared to an average of 8.1 food items changed for liked food.

They also found that people tend to underestimate the portion of food when serving it if they like the option, as they perceived 50.15 items of food when 54 items were presented, and overestimate the amount of food in a portion if they do not like the food to be served, 62.9 items perceived when 54 were presented.

The hypothesis that liked food would be underestimated and disliked food would be overestimated was not supported, as all food was underestimated regardless of preference in the first experiment. However, the hypothesis that people would be more sensitive to changes in portions of food they hated was strongly supported across the experiment. This knowledge of how we perceive proportions helps us better understand how to maintain a more balanced diet.

Works Cited:

[1] Bar, H., Fischer, M.H. & Algom, D. Psychophysics over the counter: The effect of food
preference on the perception of food quantity. Atten Percept Psychophys (2025). https://doi.
org/10.3758/s13414-025-03018-5