According to the Daily Telegraph of November 8, the feeling that you have earned a reward actually increases the pleasure you take from it, a new study suggests。
Now the authors believe this principle could be used to train people to like more healthy food over sugary and fatty snacks。
Alexander Johnson, a psychologist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, said: "Basically, what we have shown is that if you have to expend more effort to get a certain food, not only will you value that food more, but it might even taste better to you. At present, we don't know why effort seems to boost the taste of food, but we know that it does, and this effect lasts for at least 24 hours after the act of working hard to get the food."
The study seems to suggest that hard work can even enhance our appreciation for fare we might not favour, such as the low-fat, low calorie variety。
The experiments, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, were on mice but it is believed they are transferable to humans。
Mr. Johnson said: "We then analysed the way in which the mice consumed the food. Why did we do this? Because food intake can be driven by a variety of factors including how it tastes, how hungry the mice were beforehand and how 'sated' or full the food made them feel."
Mr. Johnson and Professor Gallagher used licking behavior as a measure of the rodents' enjoyment of their treats。
It found the mice that had to work harder for their low-calorie rewards were more likely to keep licking their lips and savouring it。