A group of scientists from Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, USA) has discovered that when faced with the desire to eat chocolate and sweets, the action of imagining taking large amounts of these products can be enough to calm the appetite, according to the journal Science .
In a series of experiments, the researchers found that if you imagine a chocolate bonbon or a piece of cheese and visualize yourself tasting each bite, chewing and swallowing , you usually eat less when the real food is then offered to you. The effect is explained by the phenomenon of habituation , which means that while for most people the first bite of each meal is the best, as we continue to eat the food, each bite is less attractive than the previous one. Dr. Carey Morewedge and her colleagues have found that imagination can be enough for a person to get used to food and, therefore, so that when it comes to eating it for real they no longer arouse the same interest. An interesting strategy to consider for those trying to lose weight.
"To some extent, the mere imagination of an experience is a substitute for actual experience . The difference between imagining and experiencing may be smaller than previously assumed," stresses study co-author Joachim Vosgerau.
