It’s one of the ultimate tests of willpower: you’ve been wandering around the market for hours and you’re tired and hungry. Then you catch a smell of something fragrant (香的) and delicious, probably fried and almost certainly fattening. Junk food companies are well aware that the smell of their product sets off a desire in your brain and that you’ll pay for that later. It is a response that has been researched, and you’d better believe your favorite fast-food chains have marketing teams that are using that research to their advantage.
Let’s take a closer look at this process. Have you ever noticed that whatever indulgent food (放纵型食品) catches your attention tends to be most appealing just after you first smell it? A couple of minutes later you are standing in line, and it isn’t quite inviting as it was just moments ago, but now you’ve invested time, so you trust your first feeling to treat yourself.
But a recent statement says that this is actually the right moment to walk away. Dipayan Biswas, a marketing professor, found there is a direct connection between how long a person is exposed to indulgent food smells and choosing healthier foods. “The results of a series of experiments show that extended exposure of more than two minutes to junk food smells leads to fewer purchases of unhealthy foods compared with no smell or a non-junk-food-related smell,” reads the summary of his study.
What appears to be going on here is that the brain doesn’t necessarily distinguish between a pleasurable smell and a pleasant taste. “Extended exposure to an indulgent food smell brings pleasure in the mind, which in turn reduces the desire for actual consumption of indulgent foods,” he explains. So next time you feel you don’t have the willpower to resist cookies, smell all that sweetness for just a minute or two. To your brain it’s the same as actually eating cookies, and the purchase desire would decrease.
【小题1】What can we learn about junk food smells from the first paragraph?| A．They can make a difference in marketing. |
| B．They hardly affect people’s food choices. |
| C．They are unlikely to fool wise customers. |
| D．They finally decrease people’s purchase desire. |
| A．An argument. | B．An example. | C．A comparison. | D．A comment. |
| A．The brain can’t tell where sensory pleasure is from. |
| B．The senses of taste and smell are closely linked. |
| C．The influence of food smells changes over time. |
| D．The behavior of smelling food doesn’t equal eating it. |
| A．Train Your Brain to Resist Junk Food |
| B．Watch Out for Tricky Marketing Tools |
| C．Food Addiction Is Never About Willpower |
| D．Smelling Junk Food Longer Can Keep You Off It |
