[E276]People Pick Familiar Foods Over Favorites
People Pick Familiar Foods Over Favorites
A study found that the stronger a subject's memory of a particular food, the more likely they were to choose it again, even over foods they professed[声称;宣称;公开表明;信奉] to enjoy more.
研究表明，一个人对某种食物的记忆越强，就越可能再次选择这种食物，即使面对其他更喜欢的食物。
In Marcel Proust[马塞尔·普鲁斯特]’s iconic[符号的; 图标的; 图符的; 偶像的] Remembrance of Things Past[法国长篇小说《追忆逝水年华》], a taste of cake elicits[引出，探出] a flood of memories.
Now a study finds that the stronger your memory of a particular food[对某一特定食物的记忆越强], the more likely you are to choose it again[越有可能再次选择它]. And it doesn’t matter how objectively[客观地] unattractive the food may be[无论客观上这个食物对你有没有吸引力/不管你喜不喜欢]—which perhaps explains why you may crave[恳求，请求; 渴望] those peanut butter[花生酱] and marshmallow[蜀葵糖浆; 棉花软糖] sandwiches[三明治] from your youth or can’t break that fried chicken[炸鸡] habit when trying to diet[节制饮食;(减肥)].
The food-memory study is in the journal Neuron[(神经元)是神经科学顶级期刊]. [Sebastian Gluth et al, Effective Connectivity between Hippocampus[海马属] and Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex[大脑正中前额叶皮层] Controls Preferential[优先的; 优先选择的; 特惠的] Choices from Memory]
Researchers asked 30 hungry young people to rate snacks[小吃，点心] such as potato chips[薯条] and chocolate. No actual food was presented. The snacks were merely displayed on screens associated with locations. Then the study participants were asked to choose between two locations[在两个地点中选择], as proxies[代替物] for the snacks. And the hungry subjects went with memory over taste preference[口味偏好]—that is, they picked what they were better able to remember even if they had rated them lower in the first part of the test.
The participants’ brains were scanned[扫描] during the process of choosing. And the researchers found that the exercise caused increased communication between the hippocampus[海马体（大脑中被认为是感情和记忆中心的部分）], associated with memory[与记忆相关], and the part of the frontal lobe[额叶] home to decision-making[决策].
Which may show why when we’re making food decisions, familiarity[熟悉; 通晓; 认识] often wins out over other factors—and why your shopping list looks virtually the same week after week[(也可以解释)为什么每周的购物清单看上去都一样].
—Erika Beras