Prokop Pavol, Fancovicová Jana
Department of Biology, Faculty of Education, Trnava University, Trnava, Slovakia.
Anthropol Anz. 2012;69(1):71-83.
Although diversity of fruit/seed colouration has received a great amount of attention since Darwin, little is known about its role in eating preferences in humans. We have determined that humans prefer certain fruits/seeds over others and that their willingness to eat them has been significantly influenced by the perceived aesthetic of the presented fruits and seeds. Participants were unable to discriminate between edible and poisonous fruits/ seeds based on their colour. Females rated all the groups of fruits/seeds as more attractive than males with this supporting the role of females in picking fruit in our evolutionary past. Red fruits were rated as more attractive than green or brown fruits. The results support the idea that fruit/seed colouration plays an important role in plant--disperser coevolution and that aesthetic judgment in humans have been shaped by natural selection.
尽管自达尔文时代以来，果实/种子颜色的多样性就备受关注，但人们对其在人类饮食偏好中的作用却知之甚少。我们已经确定，人类更喜欢某些果实/种子而非其他的，并且他们食用这些果实/种子的意愿受到所呈现的果实和种子的视觉美感的显著影响。参与者无法根据颜色区分可食用和有毒的果实/种子。女性对所有组别的果实/种子的评价都比男性更具吸引力，这支持了女性在我们进化史上采摘果实的作用。红色果实比绿色或棕色果实的评价更高。这些结果支持了这样一种观点，即果实/种子颜色在植物与传播者的共同进化中起着重要作用，并且人类的审美判断是由自然选择塑造的。
