雙語：顏色和味覺的聯繫有多深？

How deep are color-taste associations?

顏色和味覺的聯繫有多深？

Dive Brief:

簡介

·A new study from Penn State confirms longstanding research into the relationship between color and taste. What consumers see when they eat matters as much — if not more— than what they taste.

賓夕法尼亞州立大學的一項新研究證實了長期以來探索的顏色和味覺之間的關係。 消費者在吃東西時看到的東西與他們品嚐到的味道同樣重要，甚至更爲重要。

·Researchers gave participants different colors of liquid with different tastes — including bitter, sweet, savory and sour. Participants then tried clear liquids with the same taste profiles, and they were asked to associate them with a color.

研究人員給實驗者提供不同顏色、不同口味的液體，包括苦的、甜的、鹹的和酸的。 然後，參與者嘗試了具有相同味道的透明液體，並要求他們將這些液體與一種顏色聯繫起來。

·Researchers found these associations are easy to learn, and ones that are currently common — like red for sweet or yellow for sour — may not be set in stone. Six in 10 study participants learned new color-flavor pairings after four exposures.

研究人員發現，這些聯繫很容易掌握，目前比較常見的聯繫——比如紅色代表甜，黃色代表酸——可能不會一成不變。 研究中10個參與者中就有6個人在四次接觸後學習了新的顏色與味道的搭配。

Dive Insight:

詳情

What consumers expect when they see a food primes the palate to taste certain flavors. The strong associations between color and flavor are well established in the scientific community. Research on the subject dates back to the 1970s. For example, consumers expect yellow foods to be sour or citrusy.

當消費者看到一種食物時，他們所期望的是讓他們的味蕾嚐到某種口味。 顏色和味道之間的強烈聯繫在科學界已經得到了很好的證實。而關於這個問題的研究可以追溯到20世紀70年代。比如消費者看到黃色食品時會期望它是酸的或柑橘味的。

Branding, packaging and color quality of the product itself play a big part in creating and maintaining expectations. Food brands have long understood this and worked to establish standards. Federal regulations grade the color of orange juice. Businesses offer color-matching services for companies to select the right hue for a particular product. In some cases, color can overpower other senses and convince people they taste flavors that aren't there.

產品的品牌，包裝和顏色質量本身在創造和維持期望方面發揮着重要作用。食品商早就瞭解這一點，並努力建立標準。 聯邦法規對橙汁的顏色進行評級。 企業爲公司提供顏色匹配服務，以便爲特定產品選擇正確的色調。 在某些情況下，顏色可以壓倒其他感官並讓人們以爲他們嚐到了不一樣的味道。

The Penn State researchers set out to test if they could teach color-taste correlations, and found the linkages could be more flexible than many thought in some cases.

賓夕法尼亞州立大學的研究人員開始測試他們是否可以傳授顏色和味覺的相關性，並發現這種相關性在某些情況下比許多人想象的更加靈活。

"This might have implications in the food industry if a company were to launch a new flavored product with a color. Some consumers might not learn or accept a new color and flavor pairing as well as others," Penn State food sciences doctoral candidate Molly J. Higgins said in a written statement. 

"如果有公司推出一種帶有顏色的新型調味品，這可能會對整個食品行業產生影響。 賓夕法尼亞州立大學食品科學博士候選人莫莉 · j · 希金斯在一份書面聲明中說:"有的消費者可能不會像其他人一樣願意學習或接受一種新的顏色和口味搭配。"

Although it may be possible to radically alter food colors, it may not be advisable. According to this study, 40% of consumers would be left behind, stuck on familiar patterns. That’s a big gamble for food brands to take. Consumers tend to want to know what they’re in for when they select a product — and color is a big part of that. While it's interesting that consumer expectations for colors could shift, the risk of unexpected colors is high for any company.  

儘管有可能從根本上改變食物的顏色，但這也是不可取的。 根據這項研究，40% 的消費者會落後並堅持他們熟悉的模式。 對於食品商來說，這是一場巨大的賭博。消費者在選擇產品時往往想知道自己喜歡什麼，而顏色是其中很重要的一個因素。然而有趣的是，消費者對顏色的期望往往會發生變化，但是對於任何公司來說，採用意想不到的顏色，風險是很高的。

Many food brands rely on visual expectations to pull customers into unfamiliar products. Take alternative protein: a burger that mimics the appearance and color of a beef patty elicits a different reaction than a green-hued veggie-dense alternative.

許多食品商依靠視覺預期來吸引顧客購買他們不熟悉的產品。比如同樣都是蛋白質: 一個模仿牛肉餅的外觀和顏色的漢堡比濃密的綠色蔬菜更加吸引人

But while today's consumer has expectations for flavors of items with different colors, he also has expectations that natural ingredients be used. While these ingredients are often preferable, they present a challenge. General Mills switched out artificial dyes for natural ones in Trix cereal. Customer outrage followed. Many found the earthier tones depressing, despite no change in flavor. Chemicals and all, they wanted the original back. The company eventually switched back, opting to prioritize color.

但是，儘管今天的消費者對不同顏色的食品的味道有所期待，但人們更希望使用天然的原材料。這些天然的材料是更可取的選項，但它們也意味着挑戰。General Mills 公司對 Trix 穀物中的天然染料進行了人工染色，引起了消費者的強烈不滿。 儘管味道沒有改變，但很多人還是覺得這種土黃色很怪異。較之化學藥品，他們更想要原有的食品顏色。該公司最終改變了主意，選擇優先考慮顏色。

翻譯：櫻桃味榴蓮少女