It is said that there’s no such thing as a free lunch, but even if you manage to bag a bargain meal, it will not taste as good as a more expensive option, according to scientists。

俗話說天底下沒有免費的午餐，但科學家表示，即使你享用了便宜飯菜，它的味道嘗起來也沒有昂貴飯菜好哦。

A new study has found that restaurant goers who pay more for their meals think the food is tastier than if it is offered for a smaller price。

一項新的研究發(fā)現，用餐者認為花費更多的食物比便宜食物的味道好。

The experts think that people tend to associate cost with quality and this changes their perception of how food tastes。

專家們認為這是因為人們將花費與食品質量聯系起來，從而改變了他們對食物口味的認知。

Scientists at Cornell University in New York studied the eating habits of 139 people enjoying an Italian buffet in an upstate restaurant。

紐約康奈爾大學的科學家研究了在州北部餐館享受意式自助餐的139位顧客的食用習慣。

The price of the food was set by the researchers at either $4 (￡2.40) or $8 (￡4.70) for the all-you-can-eat meal。

研究者們對管飽自助餐定價為4美元或8美元。

Customers were asked to rate how good the food tasted, the quality of the restaurant and to leave their names。

用餐者們被要求評價食物口味和餐廳檔次，然后留下個人姓名。

The experiment revealed that the people who paid $8 (￡4.70) for the food enjoyed their meal 11 per cent more than those who ate the ‘cheaper’ buffet。

實驗顯示，支付8美元的人們對食物的好評度比支付較少價格的人們高11%。

Interestingly those that paid for the $4 (￡2.40) buffet said they felt guiltier about loading up their plates and felt that they over ate。

有趣的是，那些支付4美元的人們說對于在盤子裝滿食物感到罪惡，他們覺得自己吃太多了。

However, the scientists said that both groups ate around the same quantity of food in total, according to the study presented at the Experimental Biology 2014 meeting this week。

然而，根據這周發(fā)表在2014年《實驗生物學》會議上的研究結果，科學家們表示兩組人群食用的食物總量大致是一樣的。

Brian Wansink, a professor of consumer behaviour at the university, said: ‘We were fascinated to find that pricing has little impact on how much one eats, but a huge impact on how you interpret the experience.’

該大學的消費行為研究教授Brian Wansink說：“我們很不可思議地發(fā)現價格對于人們進食的分量沒什么影響，但對于人們如何評價食物卻有很大影響。”

He thinks that people enjoyed their food more as they associated cost with quality and that small alterations to a restaurant can change how tasty people find their meals。

他認為當人們把食物價格與品質等同時會更享受自己的食物。餐館對價格的微調會改變人們對飯菜的看法。

In a previous study, researchers from the university showed that people who eat in dim lighting consume 175 less calories than people who eat in brightly lit areas。

在先前的一項研究中，該大學研究者發(fā)現人們在昏暗燈光下比明亮環(huán)境下攝入的食物熱量少175卡路里。