吃的多怪盘子大？

New research contradicts a common diet tip believed to help people eat less. The popular tip follows that serving food on a smaller plate tricks a person into believing they are eating more than when served the same amount on a larger plate. However, a new study published in Appetite suggests that when people are hungry, plate sizes don't matter – they are more likely to dish up the same amount of food regardless of how it's served.

一项新研究的结果与我们相信可以帮助减少进食的常见建议相矛盾。有些人相信，用一个较小的盘子进食会使人们认为他们所吃掉的食物比用一个大盘子进食的多。然而，《食欲》杂志上发表的一项新研究表明：当人们饥饿的时候，盘子的大小并不重要。不管食物被装在什么样的容器里，他们都会吃掉相同数量的食物。

The long-held belief takes after the Delboeuf illusion, an optical illusion on how people perceive size. In the experiment, two identical circles are placed near each other, one of which is surrounded by another circle. The surrounded circle seems larger than the other. When it comes to dieting, previous research suggests people perceive food proportions differently depending on whether it is served on a larger or smaller plate. If you’re looking to eat less, serving food on a smaller plate was thought to trick the eater’s mind into believing they are eating more, allowing them to consume less. However, other research has recently begun to call this belief into question.

在德尔博夫错觉被发现之后，人们长期持有这种信念。在德尔博夫错觉的实验中，把两个完全相同的圆圈放在一起，让其中一个圆圈被另一个圆环包围着，观看的人会觉得被圆环包围着的圆圈看起来比另一个圆圈小。这一理论被应用在了节食方面，此前有些研究表明人们对食物比例的看法不同，取决于食物是被装在大盘子里还是小盘子里。如果你想减少进食量，那么用一个较小的盘子进食会是一个不错的选择，这会让你觉得吃得更多了，从而减少你的进行量。但是，最近的一项新研究开始质疑这种观点。

"Plate size doesn't matter as much as we think it does," said Dr Tzvi Ganel in a statement. "Even if you're hungry and haven't eaten, or are trying to cut back on portions, a serving looks similar whether it fills a smaller plate or is surrounded by empty space on a larger one."

茨维·加内尔博士在一份声明中表示：“盘子的大小并没有我们想得那么重要。只要你饿了，即使你在减肥，两份份量差不多的食物在你眼中都是一样的，不管放在大盘子还是小盘子里”。Researchers gave study participants photos of pizza placed on large and small trays to one group who hadn’t eaten for three hours and to another group of people who had eaten recently. Those who were hungry were better equipped to judge proportions, but that’s where the ability to accurately perceive size ends. Both groups were then asked to compare black circles and hubcaps placed in differently sized circles – a task they were equally bad at.

在实验中，研究人员给参与者提供了放在大托盘和小托盘上的比萨饼照片，其中一组参与者三个小时没有吃东西了，而另一组人则刚刚吃过。结果表明，那些饥饿的人能够更好地判断比例，也就是能够精确地感知大小。然后，两组都被要求比较一个黑色圆圈和其它相同大小但被不同尺寸圆环包围的圆圈的大小。事实证明，两者都表现得很糟糕。

As it turns out, hunger stimulates a human response strong enough to resist being fooled by an optical illusion, reducing biases for food but not other stimuli.

研究表明：饥饿会刺激人类的感知能力，使其能够抵抗视觉上的欺骗，但是只对食物有效。

People who aren’t hungry, though, are less likely to identify food proportions correctly.

然而，不饿的人不太可能正确识别食物比例。

"Over the last decade, restaurants and other food businesses have been using progressively smaller dishes to conform to the perceptual bias that it will reduce food consumption," said Ganel. "This study debunks that notion. When people are hungry, especially when dieting, they are less likely to be fooled by the plate size, more likely to realize they are eating less and more prone to overeating later."

研究人员表示：“在过去的十年里，餐饮业一直在使用越来越小的容器，认为这种感性偏见能够减少人类的进食量。我们的研究推翻了这种观念，当人们饥饿时，他们不太可能被盘子的大小所愚弄，反而更有可能意识到他们吃得更少，并变得越来越容易暴饮暴食”。