Research Achievements

June 8, 2017  PRESS RELEASE

Lost Your Appetite? Try Inviting Yourself to Dinner

Researchers at Nagoya University reveal that eating in front of a mirror--or even with a picture of yourself eating--makes food more appealing.

press released on June 8, 2017

 

Image: A woman is eating popcorn alone in front of a mirror, or a monitor displaying a wall or her static image. People reported the popcorn as tasting better, and consumed more of it, when they ate it in front of a mirror, or even a picture of themselves eating, than when they ate it in front of the monitor displaying a wall. © Nagoya University

 

Nagoya, Japan - People rate food as tasting better, and eat more of it, when they eat with company than when they eat alone. This so-called "social facilitation of eating" is a well-established phenomenon; however, exactly what it is about company that produces the effect is not clear.

Now, researchers at Nagoya University have discovered that the same effect can be achieved in individuals eating alone simply by providing a mirror to reflect them while they eat. The study was published in Physiology & Behavior.

 

"We wanted to find out what the minimum requirement is for the social facilitation of eating," lead author Ryuzaburo Nakata says. "Does another person have to actually be physically present, or is information suggesting the presence of others sufficient?" The researchers found that people eating alone reported food as tasting better, and ate more of it, when they could see themselves reflected in a mirror, compared with when they ate in front of a monitor displaying an image of a wall.

 

The research team initially worked with a group of older adult volunteers. Approaches to enhance enjoyment of food in people eating without company are particularly relevant for elderly people, because research has shown that many frequently eat alone. However, when the team repeated the experiment with young adult volunteers, they observed the same "social" facilitation of eating when a mirror was present, suggesting that the effect is not limited to older people.

 

In a further experiment, when the researchers replaced the mirror with photos of the volunteers eating, they discovered that the volunteers still experienced an increase in the appeal of food and ate more. Thus, perhaps surprisingly, a static image of a person eating seems sufficient to produce the "social" facilitation of eating.

 

"Studies have shown that for older adults, enjoying food is associated with quality of life, and frequently eating alone is associated with depression and loss of appetite," corresponding author Nobuyuki Kawai says. "Our findings therefore suggest a possible approach to improving the appeal of food, and quality of life, for older people who do not have company when they eat--for example, those who have suffered loss or are far away from their loved ones."

 

*****

 

The article, "The "social" facilitation of eating without the presence of others: Self-reflection on eating makes food taste better and people eat more", was published in Physiology & Behavior at DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2017.05.022.

 

*****

Authors: Researcher Ryuzaburo Nakata and Associate Prof. Nobuyuki Kawai, Graduate School of Information Science, Nagoya University 

 

*****

Related Links:

Laboratory for Comparative Cognition and Neurobiology, Graduate School of Information Science, Nagoya University

 

"Humans Proven to Recognize Partially Obscured Snakes More Easily than Other Animals", press resease, 2016/11/08

 

"Monkeys Can Understand Relation among Third Parties", NU Research, 2014/06/26

 

*****

Media Coverage: 

EurekAlert!

AlphaGalilo

Asia Research News

Yahoo! News, "Eating in front of a mirror makes meals taste better, say scientists", by Sarah Knapton

Science Daily

MedicalXpress

Science Newsline, Psychology

 New Atlas, Gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine, "To increase your appetite, watch yourself eat", by Ben Coxworth

ANI News

Daily News & Analysis (dna)

Business Standard

Times of India

New Kerala

State Times India

ABP(India)

Deccan Chronicle

Medindia

FranceTV info

Yahoo! News (France)

Top Santé, "Manque d'appétit : et si vous mangiez devant un miroir?", by Mathilde Ledieu

Medical Daily, "Eating in front of a mirror may make food more appealing and help you regain your appetite", by Janissa Delzo

Medical News Today, "How to enjoy eating alone: Look in a mirror", by Tim Newman

The Asian Age

Le Point, "Manger devant un miroir redonne de l'appétit", by Soline Bouchacourt

Psych Central, "How the dining room mirror might make you eat more", by Janice Wood

The Mirror, "If you're eating alone you can make your food taste better by doing this one unexpected thing", by Mark Waghorn

Pourquol Docteur, "Retrouver l'appétit en mangent devant un miroir", by Julie Levallois

OZY, "Why your next dinner date should be with a mirror", by Melissa Pandika

Asian Scientist

Scienmag

 

*****

Funding: This study was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant NumberJP15k16230 and JP17k12918.

 

 

 

Archive List
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013