Preference for patterns of outcomes that improve over time is termed negative time preference, in economics. In lay terms, this concept equates to “saving the best for last.” Generally, adults tend to prefer to postpone their more preferred outcomes when options are presented as a sequence of events. Event sequencing seems particularly relevant for children who exhibit food refusal or selectivity. Preference for the sequencing of bites when an array involved preferred and relatively non-preferred foods was evaluated. Participants experienced pre-programed bite sequences that improved, worsened, or remained fixed across trials, and we assessed participants' preference for each of the bite sequences. Three of the four participants preferred bite sequences that began with a highly preferred food and either worsened or remained fixed over time, whereas one participant preferred the improving sequence of bite presentation, or in other words, one participant preferred to “save the best for last.”

中文翻译：

---

表现出食物选择性的孩子是否更喜欢把最好的（咬）留到最后？

对随时间改善的结果模式的偏好被称为负时间偏好, 在经济学中。用通俗的话来说，这个概念等同于“把最好的留到最后”。Generally, adults tend to prefer to postpone their more preferred outcomes when options are presented as a sequence of events. 事件排序似乎与表现出拒绝食物或选择性食物的儿童特别相关。当阵列涉及首选和相对不喜欢的食物时，对叮咬顺序的偏好进行了评估。参与者经历了预编程的咬合序列，这些序列在试验中得到改善、恶化或保持不变，我们评估了参与者对每个咬合序列的偏好。四名参与者中有三名更喜欢以高度偏好的食物开始的咬合顺序，随着时间的推移会恶化或保持不变，而一名参与者更喜欢咬合表现的改善顺序，