When taste and healthfulness compete, taste has a hidden advantage
當味道和健康相沖突時,味道還有一個不為人知的有利條件
You dash into a convenience store for a quick snack, spot an apple and reach for a candy bar instead. Poor self-control may not be the only factor behind your choice, new research suggests. That's because our brains process taste information first, before factoring in health information, according to new research from Duke University.
你快步走進一家便利店,想買點零食充饑,你發現了貨架上的蘋果,但最后卻選擇了糖果。新的研究發現,缺乏自控能力也許并非是你做出這一選擇的唯一原因。根據杜克大學的新研究結果,你之所以會做出這樣的選擇是因為我們的大腦會優先處理味覺信息,然后才會考慮其是否健康。
"We spend billions of dollars every year on diet products, yet most people fail when they attempt to diet," said study co-author Scott Huettel, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke. "Taste seems to have an advantage that sets us up for failure."
研究項目的共同作者Scott Heuttel,杜克大學心理學和神經科學教授表示:“我們每年花在減肥產品上面的錢以數十億美元計算,但是絕大多數人都在嘗試節食時失敗了。味覺似乎具有一種讓我們減肥注定失敗的優勢。”
"For many individuals, health information enters the decision process too late (relative to taste information) to drive choices toward the healthier option."
“對于許多個體而言,在決策過程中,健康信息(相對味覺信息)出現得太晚,因此無法使人們做出更加健康的飲食選擇。”
The new paper, which appears July 5 in Nature Human Behaviour, describes the advantage taste has over healthfulness in the decision-making process.
7月5日發表在《自然人類行為》的新論文介紹了在決策過程中味覺相比健康的優勢條件。
"We've always assumed people make unhealthy choices because that's their preference or because they aren't good at self-control," said study co-author Nicolette Sullivan. "It turns out it's not just a matter of self-control. Health is slower for your brain to estimate -- it takes longer for you to include that information into the process of choosing between options."
研究項目的共同作者Nicolette Sullivan表示:“我們通常會假設人們會因為自己的飲食偏好或由于缺乏自控力而選擇了不健康的食物。事實證明,選擇不健康的食物并非僅僅就是因為缺乏自控力。大腦對健康的估計更慢-在進行食品選擇時,個人要花更長的時間把健康信息納入到選擇過程中。”
The research was undertaken when Sullivan was a postdoctoral associate at Duke. She is now an assistant professor of marketing at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
開展這項研究時,Sullivan還是杜克大學的博士后研究員。如今,她已經是倫敦經濟學和政治學學院市場營銷專業的一名助教了。
For the study, Sullivan and Huettel recruited 79 young adults of a median age of 24.4 years. Study participants were asked to fast for four hours before the experiment to ensure they arrived hungry.
在這項研究中,Sullivan和Huettel招募了79位年齡中位數在24.4歲的青壯年。參與研究的人員被要求在進行實驗前禁食4小時以確保他們趕到時處于饑餓狀態。
Participants were asked to rate snack foods on their tastiness, healthfulness and desirability. They were then presented with pairs of foods and asked to choose between them -- and the researchers timed their choices.
被試者被要求從味道、健康以及渴望程度三個方面對零食進行排位。然后,實驗人員將每組食物呈現在受試人群面前并要求受試人群挑選一種食物-研究人員對受試人員的選擇進行計時。
At the end of the experiment, participants were offered one of the foods they had chosen.
試驗結束后,實驗人員向受試人員提供了他們所選擇的一種食物。
Study participants registered taste information early in their decision process -- taking about 400 milliseconds on average to incorporate taste information. Participants took twice as long to incorporate information about a snack's healthfulness into their decisions.
研究參與者在決策過程一開始就記錄了食物的味覺信息-平均花費大約400微秒將味覺信息納入到決策當中。參與人員花費了大約2倍長的時間將零食的健康信息納入到決策過程中。
That may not sound like much time. In many cases though, it's enough to alter the choice we make.
也許這聽起來并非需要很長時間,但是在許多情況下,這已經足以改變我們做出的選擇。
"Not every decision is made quickly -- house purchases, going to college -- people take time to make those choices," Huettel said. "But many decisions we make in the world are fast -- people reach for something in the grocery store or click on something online."
Huettel表示:“并非每一個決定都是在很短時間內做出-置業、上大學-人們在做這些決策時會花很長時間。但是還是有很多其他決策我們是在短時間內就做出的-比如人們在商店選擇某件商品或在網上點擊某件商品。”
The authors say their findings could apply to other choices, not just food. For instance, some financial decisions, such as saving and spending choices, may also be affected by how -- and when -- the brain processes different types of information.
作者表示,他們的研究結果還適用于除垃圾食品以外的其他選擇。比如,某些財務決策,比如儲蓄和花費選擇,也可能會受到大腦如何以及何時處理不同類型的信息的影響。
Meanwhile, all is not lost in the war against junk food cravings.
同時,我們在對抗想吃垃圾食品的欲望這場戰爭中并非全盤皆輸。
Half of study participants received a blurb before the experiment, stressing the importance of eating healthy. Those participants were less likely to choose an unhealthy snack.
一半的研究參與者會在試驗開始前收到強調健康飲食的宣傳語。這些參與者選擇不健康零食的可能性更小。
The authors also identified something simple that can help people with their food choices: slowing down the decision-making process.
研究作者還發現了一個可以幫助人們做出明智食品選擇的技巧:讓決策過程慢下來。
When study participants took longer to consider their options, they tended to pick healthier ones.
當研究參與者花更長的時間去考慮自己的選擇時,他們傾向于選擇更加健康的食品。
"There may be ways to set up environments so people have an easier time making healthy choices," Huettel said. "You want to make it easy for people to think about the healthfulness of foods, which would help nudge people toward better decisions."
Huettel表示,還可以采用營造環境的方法,讓人們能夠更加輕松的做出健康食品的選擇。我們可以讓人們輕松想起食品的健康性,這也許可以幫助人們做出更佳的選擇。
來源:科學日報 編輯&翻譯:譯銳Susan