【科学60秒】环境太嘈杂，吃东西没味道 (双语有声)

作者：hahaleaf 来源：沪江论坛 2011-10-09 08:42

双语中文英语

诙谐的语言，生动的内容一分钟快速掌握科技最新动态

Restaurant Noise Can Alter Food Taste

A noisy restaurant can distract you from your dinner conversation. But all that clatter may also drown out the taste of your food, making it more bland. That's according to a study in the journal Food Quality and Preference. [A.T. Woods et al, Effect of background noise on food perception]

餐厅里吵吵闹闹的不仅会妨碍人们交谈，还会让人觉得餐桌上的食物淡而无味。这是刊登在《食品质量与选择》期刊上的一项发现。

Researchers recruited 48 college students, and fitted them with headphones playing either loud white noise, soft white noise, or nothing at all. Then the participants closed their eyes and chomped on snack foods like Pringles and cookies.

研究人员找来48名大学生，让他们带上耳机，一部分人听的是嘈杂的白噪声，一部分人听的是舒缓的白噪声，余下的人的耳机里什么也没放。然后让他们闭上眼睛，吃吃薯片、甜饼干什么的。

Turns out the students listening to blaring static rated the chips as less salty and the cookies as less sweet—even though they were tasting the same foods as the other groups.

结果发现，听嘈杂白噪声的那组学生觉得薯片不够咸，饼干不够甜，其实他们和另外两组吃的是完全一样的东西。

Previous studies have shown that sound can interfere with how the brain processes smell; the researchers say the same could be true for taste. Or, loud noise could simply divert attention from the food's flavor.

之前就有研究表明，声音会干扰大脑处理嗅觉信号，研究人员认为味觉也同样会受到影响。或者说，噪声能够轻易地将人们的注意力从食物的味道上转移。

But it's not all bad news for loud restaurants. In a second study, students rated crunchy foods as crunchier in the presence of loud white noise—perhaps because it tuned them into the sound of their food. The researchers say this study may explain why airline food ain't earning any Michelin stars. Me, I think there's a little more to it than the engine noise.

不过餐厅环境嘈杂也不是完全没有好处。另一项研究表明，听着嘈杂的白噪声，学生们觉得松脆的食物更可口了——也许嘈杂的噪音正好和嚼食物咯嘣咯嘣的声音步调一致了……研究人员称，这项研究可以解释为什么飞机餐从未获得过米其林之星。我想，这不仅仅是因为发动机的噪音吧……