Do you regularly find yourself halfway through a tub of hummus without knowing how it happened or feel physically incapable of not polishing off the entire bucket of popcorn? We’re right there with you and it turns out, there’s a scientific reason why we can’t stop snacking like that.
A new studyfrom Stevens Institute of Technology finds that the simple act of eating with your hands makes certain foods more appealing. The research finds that for people who have a lot of self-control and regularly control their food consumption, directly touching food makes the eating experience more enjoyable because of an enhanced sensory response.
For the study, participants were split into two groups - one ate cheese cubes with a toothpick and the other used their fingers - and the ones who directly touched the cheese reported it being tastier and more satisfying, so they felt like eating more of it. The idea is that we can manipulate our self-control using our senses, something to consider the next time we’re finishing off an entire bag of chips.