Impulsive Research Of People With Spicy Food Preferences

Spicy food is widely spread all over the world,and has formed a unique taste culture in Sichuan,Hunan and other places in China.A large number of studies have proved that there is a strong relationship between taste preference and personality.However,there are few studies on the relationship between spicy food preference and impulsiveness.They are only studied at the self-reported questionnaire level and in different cultural backgrounds,the results of the study are not consistent.Therefore,this study mainly uses questionnaires,behavioral and event-related potentials to explore the relationship between spicy food preference and impulsivity,enriching the theoretical content of taste preference and personality relationship,and increasing the influence of dietary factors for impulsive research,enriched its theoretical foundation.In addition,specific impulses to food-related cues can predict spicy food craving.If an individual has a higher spicy food-related impulsivity,it will increase the likelihood of developing into a craving for spicy food,increase external consumption,and excessive consumption of spicy food,thus causing adverse consequences for the individual.Therefore,this study also includes the specific impulsiveness of hot food-related cues,which has important practical significance for public health.Study 1 used a zero-acquaintance procedure,selected 94 college students,and found that people infer that others are impulsive to the extent that they report liking spicy foods.Study 2examined the relationship between the preference of spicy food and impulsive personality,and adopted the two questionnaires of “Spicy Food Preference Scale” and “Barratt Impulsiveness Scale”to measure 500 college students and control irrelevant variables,such as age,ethnicity,and emotional state.The results showed that there was a significant positive correlation between the spicy food preference and the Barratt impulsiveness Scale score,motor impulsiveness and no planning impulsiveness dimension,and there was no significant correlation with the cognitive impulsiveness dimension.Study 3 based on the frequency of spicy food intake and the score of the "Spicy Food Preference Scale",41 people with hot food preference and 38 non-spicy food preference personswere selected for the general clue delay discount task and the spicy food-related clue delay discount task to investigate if there is a difference in general and spicy food-related impulsivity between those who prefer spicy foods and those who do not like spicy foods,the probability of selecting the immediate option and the area under the curve are impulsive indicators.The statistical results show that on the general stimulus delay discount task,people who like spicy food and those who do not like spicy food have no significant difference in the probability of selecting instant options and the area under the curve;on the spicy food-related clue delay discount task,people who like spicy food have a higher probability of choosing the instant option,and the area under the curve is smaller.Study 4 used the stop signal task paradigm,and found that in the general clue stop signal task,people who prefer spicy food have higher false alarm rate and longer stop signal reaction time than those who hate spicy food.In the spicy food-related clue stop signal task,there was no significant difference between the subjects who preferred spicy food and the subjects who did not like spicy food in the correct rate and the false negative rate of the Go trail,but the subjects who prefer spicy food have longer stop signal reaction time and lower accuracy of stop trail than those who hate spicy food.Study 5 selected high group 31 and 27 low group according to the hot food preference questionnaire score and frequency of spicy food intake for general cues Go/Nogo task and hot food-related cues Go/Nogo task.The behavioral results showed that there was no significant difference between the two groups in the Go reaction and the Nogo error rate,and the Go response to the spicy food-related clues was longer than to letter.The ERP results showed that in the general cue Go/Nogo task,the amplitude of N2 b and P3 of the subjects who preferred spicy food was significantly smaller than that of the subjects who did not prefer spicy food,and there was no significant difference in the components N1,P2 and N2 a between the two groups,which may mean that it was more difficult for the subjects who preferred spicy food to inhibit the dominant response.The average amplitude of the N1 and P3 components of the subjects who like spicy food in the hot food-related clue Go/Nogo task were significantly smaller than those who did not like spicy food.There was no significant difference between the two groups in P2,N2 a and N2 b components.The N1 and P3 volatility means that subjects who prefer spicy food have more early attention to resource allocation for spicy food-related stimuli,and have more impulsive behaviors on hot food-related cues.In view of the above five studies,the following conclusions were drawn:(1)In the zero-acquaintance procedure,it was found that people inferred that others are impulsive to the extent that they report liking spicy foods.(2)The spicy food preference score was significantly positively correlated with the impulsive personality trait.The impulsive personality score of the subjects who preferred the spicy food was significantly higher than the subjects who did not like the spicy food.(3)In the general clue delay discount task,there was no significant difference between the two groups of subjects;in the hot food-related clue delay discount task,the impulsive level of the subjects who preferred the spicy food was significantly higher than the subjects who did not like the spicy food.That is,subjects who preferred spicy food differed from the control group only in the specific impulse decision of the hot food-related clue.(4)In the general and spicy food-related clue stop signal task,the subjects who preferred spicy food had higher impulsivity than the control group.In the general related cues Go/Nogo task,subjects who preferred spicy food had smaller N2 b and P3 amplitudes than the control group.In the hot food-related clue Go/Nogo task,subjects who preferred spicy food had smaller N1 and P3 amplitudes than the control group.That is,the two tasks simultaneously prove that subjects who prefer spicy food have higher impulsive behaviors on general clues and hot food-related cues,and it is more difficult to suppress superior reactions and be more reckless.