Attention-deficit destroys our fun with food

In a collection of studies published in the journal Psychological Science, Kathleen Vohs, a psychological scientist at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, and colleagues conducted a series of experiments to see how nonfunctional mealtime rituals affect our perception and consumption of certain foods.

In the first study, a group of participants were given chocolate and a set of specific instructions: “Without unwrapping the chocolate bar, break it in half. Unwrap half of the bar and eat it. Then, unwrap the other half and eat it.”

The other participants were allowed to scoff down the chocolate bar unreservedly.

The findings revealed that the ritual-performing participants not only savored and rated the chocolate more highly, but were also willing to pay more for it than the second group.