Sigma Nutrition Radio #621: Hedonic Overeating, Food Wanting and Impact of Perception – Prof. Graham Finlayson
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Sep 22, 2026 
Graham Finlayson, Professor of Psychobiology at the University of Leeds, explores why some foods are so easy to overeat. They unpack the difference between liking and wanting, how automatic motivation shapes food choice, and why sensory cues, beliefs, social settings and perception may matter more than broad labels like “ultra-processed.”
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Wanting Can Outpredict Liking In Binge Eating
- People with binge-eating tendencies may show especially strong wanting for high-fat, sweet combinations.
- In this group, wanting predicts food choices and overeating more strongly than liking does.
Automatic Eating Reveals Hidden Wanting
- Graham Finlayson describes repeatedly eating chips or popcorn almost automatically, sometimes only noticing the pattern after finishing the bowl.
- The behavior may reflect implicit motivational pull even when the food was not consciously experienced as exceptionally pleasurable.
Wanting Predicts Food Choice Better Than Portion Size
- Wanting strongly predicts which food people choose, such as sweet versus savory or high-fat versus low-fat.
- It predicts the amount eaten less consistently, adding more information about direction of choice than total intake.