Being stuck in the middle isn’t a bad thing at all—in fact, it’s the most popular place to be, according to a new study in Applied Cognitive Psychology.

Whether it’s filling out surveys, picking out groceries, or even choosing clothes to wear, people are most likely to favor items smack dab in the middle of a row, the study says.

In three separate experiments at the University of Chester in the U.K., researchers tested participants’ preferences based on the location of items. In the first two experiments, half of all survey takers said they most preferred to look at pictures in the middle of a row, regardless of whether the rows ran horizontally or vertically. And in the third test, most participants chose to pick out the middle pair of socks in a row.


Clearly we’re all mad for the middle. So how can you use that to your advantage?

Here’s one way: Keep the middle in mind when you’re stocking your refrigerator. You’ll be more likely to eat healthier foods like fruits and veggies if you strategically place them in the center and keep the junk off to the side.

“There are separate lines of research by others that suggest that making items harder to reach in a physical setting reduces their consumption, and it might be possible to use the central location to ‘nudge’ people’s consumption towards healthier items,” says lead author Paul Rodway, Ph.D., a psychology professor at the University of Chester.