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Biomedical subjects

P Rozin

Publications and source records attributed to P Rozin.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1980

Acquisition of food preferences and attitudes to food.

Current knowledge and approaches to the understanding of the acquisition of food likes and dislikes, and attitudes to food (food 'systems'), are discussed. Promising areas for research are indicated. Our present inability to answer basic questions about human food selection and the acquisition of affect hinders attempts to modify food choice, in individuals or cultures.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Human food selection: why do we know so little, and what can we do about it?

Most of the 'variance' in human food selection can be attributed to culture and individual experience. It is argued that while rigorous research on biological determinants of food selection is very valuable, we must also invest heavily in more exploratory, social science oriented studies. Only in this way can we approach most of the major determinants of food choice. We must recognize that food selection is multidetermined and context dependent. At this early stage of scientific development in this field, we must be willing to consider tradeoffs between rigor or quantification and promising preliminary and qualitative studies.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

Reversal of innate aversions: attempts to induce a preference for chili peppers in rats.

Although humans frequently develop preferences for innately unpalatable bitter or irritant substances, such preferences are extremely rare in animals. An attempt was made to understand the nature of this difference by systematic experiments with laboratory rats, with chili pepper as the unpalatable substance. In parallel with major aspects of the human experience with chili pepper, rats were exposed to it as a flavoring in all their food for periods up to 11 mo from birth, without significant preference enhancement. Gradual introduction of chili into the diet also had no effect, nor did a series of poisoning and safety experiences designed to teach the rats that only chili-flavored foods were safe to eat. A sequence of seven pairings of chili-flavored diet with prompt recovery from thiamine deficiency did significantly attenuate the innate aversion and may have induced a chili preference in at least one case. Extensive experience with chili did not reliably make rats much less sensitive to its oral effects. The only reliable way to eliminate chili aversion in rats is to destroy their chemical irritant sense, which was accomplished in one group of rats. It is concluded that in contrast to humans, it is extremely difficult to reverse innate aversions in rats.

Animals↗
PubMed1971

American children with reading problems can easily learn to read English represented by Chinese characters.

With 2.5 to 5.5 hours of tutoring, eight second-grade inner-city school children with clear reading disability were taught to read English material written as 30 different Chinese characters. This accomplishment eliminates certain general interpretations of dyslexia, for example, as a visual-auditory memory deficit. The success of this program can be attributed to the novelty of the Chinese orthography and to the fact that Chinese characters map into speech at the level of words rather than of phonemes. It is proposed that much reading disability can be accounted for in terms of the highly abstract nature of the phoneme (the critical unit of speech in alphabetic systems) and that an intermediate unit, such as the syllable, might well be used to introduce reading.

Child↗