The study, which was conducted by Stanford University of Medicine, indicated that children aged three to five were highly susceptible to marketing methods used by McDonald's, with 77% of the children polled preferring chips and burgers in McDonald's packaging than the same item in unbranded wrapping.
According to the report's authors, the results support recommendations that more regulation is needed to prevent fast food companies marketing products high in fat, salt and sugar to pre-school children.
The study said: "These results add evidence to support recommendations to regulate or ban advertising or marketing of high-calorie, low-nutrient foods and beverages, or all marketing that is directed at young people."
The US report follows UK regulator Ofcom's introduction in April of a ban on advertising junk food on TV to children. The ban currently covers programmes aimed at four- to nine-year-olds and will be extended in January to programmes aimed at 10- to 15-year-olds.
In a further move, the government announced in May that it intended to review regulations on junk food advertising as early as this autumn, as part of a wider programme to tackle "the root causes of obesity" in the UK.
In December 2006, a report by Labour's left-wing think tank Compass, said that 70% of three-year-olds recognised the McDonald's golden arches logo.
The Stanford University study, which polled 63 children, involved more than 300 separate taste-testing comparisons as part of its findings.