为何人们觉得爆米在电影院更好吃？

Scientists found we are such creatures of habit that once we have associated a place with a certain kind of food, like popcorn at the cinema, we will keep eating it - even if it's stale.

科学家发现, 人是一种有奇怪习惯的生物，一旦人们选择在一个固定的地方吃某种固定的东西，即使食物有问题人们也会一直吃，如在影院吃爆米花。

Researchers from the University of Southern California devised a test to see what causes us to overeat.

南加利福尼亚大学的研究员进行了一次实验，试图了解为什么人们会吃得过多。

They gave people about to enter a cinema a bucket of just-popped fresh popcorn, or stale week-old popcorn. Moviegoers who didn’t usually eat popcorn at the movies ate much less stale popcorn than fresh popcorn because it just didn't taste good. But those who said they typically had popcorn at the movies ate about the same amount of popcorn whether it was fresh or stale. In other words, for those in the habit of snacking at the movies, it made no difference whether the popcorn tasted good or not.

他们给刚进入电影院的人们一桶刚爆好的、或已放了很久的爆米花。不经常吃爆米花的的人对新鲜的爆米花更感兴趣，因为放久了的味道不好。但经常吃的人，两种爆米花吃得量一样。也就是说，对习惯看电影时吃东西的人来说，爆米花的味道没有任何影响。

Wendy Wood said: 'People believe their eating behaviour is largely activated by how food tastes. Nobody likes cold, spongy, week-old popcorn. But once we've formed an eating habit, we no longer care whether the food tastes good.”

温迪·伍德说：“人们相信味道是刺激吃东西的最大因素，没人喜欢又凉又不脆的爆米花。可一旦习惯养成，人们对食物的味道就没那么关心了。”

David Neal said: “When we’ve repeatedly eaten a particular food in a particular environment, our brain comes to associate the food with that environment and makes us keep eating as long as those environmental cues are present.”

大卫·尼尔说：“我们总在特定的环境下吃特定的食物，久而久之，大脑就会自动将环境与食物关联，这样我们只要处在这种环境里就会一直吃这种东西。”

The researchers also gave popcorn to a people who watching movie clips in a meeting room, rather than in a cinema. In the meeting room, a space not usually associated with popcorn, it mattered a lot if the popcorn tasted good. Outside of the cinema context, even habitual movie popcorn eaters ate much less stale popcorn than fresh popcorn, demonstrating the extent to which environmental cues can trigger automatic eating behaviour.

研究员还将爆米花给了在会议室而非电影院的人们。这里和爆米花几乎无联系，所以味道应是最大的影响因素。离开了电影院这一环境，有吃爆米花习惯的人也会对口味不佳的爆米花不感兴趣。

“The results show just how powerful our environment can be in triggering unhealthy behaviour,” Mr Neal said. “Sometimes willpower and good intentions are not enough, and we need to trick our brains by controlling the environment instead.”

尼尔先生说：“这说明环境对不健康的行为影响很大，有时意志力和美好意愿远远不够，我们需要控制环境来欺骗大脑。”

Maybe we can try to eat the popcorn with our non-dominant hand?

或许我们可以试试用非惯用手吃爆米花？