爲何人們覺得爆米在電影院更好吃？
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.
科學家發現, 人是一種有奇怪習慣的生物，一旦人們選擇在一個固定的地方吃某種固定的東西，即使食物有問題人們也會一直吃，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.
南加利福尼亞大學的研究員進行了一次實驗，試圖瞭解爲什麼人們會吃得過多。
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.
他們給剛進入電影院的人們一桶剛爆好的、或已放了很久的爆米花。不經常吃爆米花的的人對新鮮的爆米花更感興趣，因爲放久了的味道不好。但經常吃的人，兩種爆米花吃得量一樣。也就是說，對習慣看電影時吃東西的人來說，爆米花的味道沒有任何影響。
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.”
溫迪·伍德說：“人們相信味道是刺激吃東西的最大因素，沒人喜歡又涼又不脆的爆米花。可一旦習慣養成，人們對食物的味道就沒那麼關心了。”
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.”
大衛·尼爾說：“我們總在特定的環境下吃特定的食物，久而久之，大腦就會自動將環境與食物關聯，這樣我們只要處在這種環境裏就會一直吃這種東西。”
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.
研究員還將爆米花給了在會議室而非電影院的人們。這裏和爆米花幾乎無聯繫，所以味道應是最大的影響因素。離開了電影院這一環境，有吃爆米花習慣的人也會對口味不佳的爆米花不感興趣。
“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.”
尼爾先生說：“這說明環境對不健康的行爲影響很大，有時意志力和美好意願遠遠不夠，我們需要控制環境來欺騙大腦。”
Maybe we can try to eat the popcorn with our non-dominant hand?
或許我們可以試試用非慣用手吃爆米花？
