60秒科学:餐厅太吵 食物就不那么美味了

Noise can make food taste more bland¹, but also increase the perception of its crunchiness. Christopher Intagliata reports

餐馆里的噪音除了会打扰到你的交谈之外还会对食物的口味产生什么影响呢？

A noisy restaurant can distract you from your dinner conversation. But all that clatter² 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"]

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 chomped³ on snack foods like Pringles and cookies.

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.

Previous studies have shown that sound can interfere⁴ 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.

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 tuned⁵ 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.

—Christopher Intagliata
 

1 bland   

adj.淡而无味的，温和的，无刺激性的

参考例句：

• He eats bland food because of his stomach trouble.他因胃病而吃清淡的食物。
• This soup is too bland for me.这汤我喝起来偏淡。

2 clatter   

v./n.(使)发出连续而清脆的撞击声

参考例句：

• The dishes and bowls slid together with a clatter.碟子碗碰得丁丁当当的。
• Don't clatter your knives and forks.别把刀叉碰得咔哒响。

3 chomped   

v.切齿，格格地咬牙，咬响牙齿( chomp的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He chomped his way through two hot dogs. 他呼哧呼哧地吃掉了两个热狗。
• The boy chomped his sandwich. 这个男孩大口嚼着三明治。 来自互联网

4 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

5 tuned   

adj.调谐的，已调谐的v.调音( tune的过去式和过去分词 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• The resort is tuned in to the tastes of young and old alike. 这个度假胜地适合各种口味，老少皆宜。
• The instruments should be tuned up before each performance. 每次演出开始前都应将乐器调好音。 来自《简明英汉词典》