What's your opinion on spicy (辛辣的) food? Some people cannot handle even the smallest amount of chili peppers (辣椒) in their dinner while others can't get enough of them.
Scientists have long been puzzled by why some people love the chili while others loathe it. Plenty of research has been done on the subject, dating as far back as the 1970s. Previous results showed that a love of chilies is related to childhood experiences, and that cultural influences affect our taste too. But the latest study has found that a person's love of spicy food may be linked to his or her personality more than anything else, CBC News reported.
"We have always assumed (猜想) that liking drives intake — we eat what we like and we like what we eat. But no one has actually directly bothered to connect personality with intake of chili peppers," said Professor John E. Hayes from Pennsylvania State University, who led the study.
But before you look at the study, you should first know that "spicy" is not a taste, unlike sour, sweet, bitter and salty taste. It is, in fact, a burning feeling that you feel on the surface of your tongue. This got scientists thinking that maybe a love of spicy food is brought about by people's longing for thrill, something they usually get from watching action movies or riding a roller coaster (过山车).
In the study, 97 participants (参与者), both male and female, were asked to fill out questionnaires (调查问卷) about their personality, for example, whether they like new experiences or tend to avoid risks. They were then given a glass of water with capsaicin (辣椒素), the plant chemical that makes a chili burn, mixed into it.
By comparing the answers to the questionnaire and what participants said they felt about the spicy water, researchers found that those who tended to enjoy action movies or take risks were about six times more likely to enjoy the spicy water.
Interestingly, we used to believe that the reason why some people can withstand (耐受) spicy food is that their tongues have become less sensitive to it. However, this latest study has found otherwise. "It's not that it doesn't burn as badly, but that you actually learn to like the burning feeling," Hayes explained.
