Taste or Healthfulness? How Does Your Brain Decide Which One to Choose?大腦選擇食物時，美味和健康之間的較量

You dash into a convenience store for a quick snack， spot an apple and reach for a candy bar instead. In fact， poor self-control may not be the only factor behind your choice. Thats because our brains process taste information first， before factoring in health information， according to a study from Duke University in the US.

“People all over the world 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.”

For many individuals， health information enters the decision process too late （relative to taste information） to drive choices toward the healthier option.

A paper， which appears in Nature Human Behavior， described the advantage taste has over healthfulness in the decision-making process.

你快步走進一家便利店，想買點零食充饑，你發現貨架上有蘋果，但最后卻選擇了糖果。事實上，自我控制能力差可能并非你做出這一選擇的唯一原因。根據美國杜克大學的一項研究，之所以做出這樣的選擇是因為我們的大腦優先處理味道信息，然后才考慮健康信息。

研究報告的合著者、杜克大學心理學和神經科學教授斯科特·許特爾說：“全世界的人每年在減肥產品上花費數十億美元，但大多數人在嘗試減肥時失敗了。味道似乎有一種優勢，使我們陷入失敗。”

對許多人來說，在決策過程中，健康信息（相對味道信息）出現得太晚，因此無法促使人們選擇更健康的食物。

發表在《自然·人類行為》的一篇論文描述了在決策過程中，味道比健康更有優勢。

“Weve always assumed people make unhealthy choices because thats their preference or because they arent good at self-control，” said study co-author Nicolette Sullivan. “It turns out its 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.”

研究報告的合著者尼科萊特·沙利文說：“我們一直認為，人們做出不健康的選擇是因為他們偏愛這樣的選擇或者是因為他們不善于自我控制。事實證明，這不僅僅是自我控制的問題。你的大腦對健康狀況的估計要慢一些——你需要更長的時間將健康信息納入選擇的過程。”

For the study， Sullivan and Huettel recruited 79 young adults of a median age of 24.4 years. Participants were asked to fast for four hours before the experiment.

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.

At the end of the experiment， participants were offered one of the foods they had chosen.

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 snacks healthfulness into their decisions.

That may not sound like much time. In many cases though， its enough to alter the choice we make.

在這項研究中，沙利文和許特爾招募了79名年輕人，他們的平均年齡為24.4歲。參與者在實驗前被要求禁食4小時。

參與者被要求對零食的味道、健康程度和受歡迎程度進行評分。然后，研究人員給他們提供成對的食物，讓他們在其中做出選擇——研究人員計算了他們做出選擇的時間。

在實驗的最后，參與者獲得了他們選擇的食物中的一種。

零食的味道信息在決策過程的早期就參與進來了——參與者平均需要約400毫秒的時間來納入味道信息。而他們花了兩倍的時間來將零食的健康信息納入他們的決策過程。

也許這聽起來并沒有花很長的時間。但在很多情況下，這足以改變我們的選擇。

“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 are fast—people reach for something in the grocery store or click on something online.”

The authors said 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.

Meanwhile， all is not lost in the war against junk food cravings.

Half of the participants received a blurb before the experiment， stressing the importance of eating healthy food. These participants were less likely to choose an unhealthy snack.

The authors also identified something simple that can help people with their food choices： slowing down the decision-making process. When participants took longer to consider their options， they tended to pick healthier ones.

許特爾說：“不是每個決定都是很快做出的，比如買房、上大學，人們需要時間來做出這些決定。但我們的很多決定都是很快做出的，比如人們在雜貨店買東西，或者在網上點擊某件商品。”

研究報告的作者表示，他們的發現不僅適用于食物，還適用于其他選擇。例如，一些財務決策，如儲蓄和消費選擇，也可能受到大腦處理不同類型信息的方式和時間的影響。

與此同時，在對抗垃圾食品欲望時，人們并不是毫無勝算。

一半的參與者在實驗前接受過強調健康飲食的重要性的宣傳。這些參與者不太可能選擇不健康的零食。

研究報告的作者還發現一個可以幫助人們選擇健康食物的簡單方法：減緩決策過程。當參與者花更長的時間考慮他們的選擇時，他們傾向于選擇更健康的食物。

Word Bank

recruit /r?'kru?t/ v. 吸收；招募

fast /fɑ?st/ v. 節食；禁食

incorporate /?n'k??p?re?t/ v. 包含；吸收；使并入

We have incorporated all the latest safety features into the design.

craving /'kre?v??/ n. 強烈的愿望；渴望