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Two bowls of food were placed in front of overweight dogs,
超重狗狗身前有两碗饭，
one with a more appealing meal and the other empty or containing food they did not like as much.
一碗是更有吸引力的食物，另一碗是空的或含有它们不喜欢的食物。
Hungarian researchers found that normal weight dogs continued to obey instructions to look for a second bowl for food
匈牙利研究人员发现，正常体重狗狗会按照指示去第二碗寻找食物，
while the obese animals refused after a few rounds.
而肥胖狗狗在到处溜达几圈后没有这么做。
The results were surprising since the researchers had expected the overweight dogs to do anything for food.
研究结果令人惊讶，研究人员原本以为超重狗狗会为食物做任何事。
We expected that the overweight dog would see a neutral situation positively too,
我们想看到的是，超重狗狗能在不好不坏的情况下积极乐观，
that is they would expect the pot to contain food no matter how much energy required for them.
它们应该希望的是盆中盛有食物，不管这要耗费多少能量。
The main thing is to find some food but in this test we saw the opposite.
最重要的是找到一些食物，但是在这次测试中我们看到了相反的结果。
The overweight dogs took a negative view and did not expect to find food in the neutral place.
超重狗狗有负面情绪，在不好不坏的情况下它们没期望找到食物。
This means, the researchers say that the overweight canines tried to maximize their food intake from the higher quality food
研究人员称这意味着，超重犬科动物试图最大限度地从高质量食物中摄取食物，
and hesitated to do the task when the food reward was uncertain.
一旦食物奖励不确定，它们就会犹豫不决。
Our explanation for this is that they go for the sure thing.
我们对此的解释是，它们只会去做确定的事情。
If a situation is uncertain and they cannot find food,
如果形势不确定，它们找不到食物，
then they are unwilling to invest energy in searching for it.
那么它们就不愿意投入精力去寻找食物。
For them the main thing is to find the right food with the least energy.
对它们来说，最重要的是花最少的精力寻找最对的食物。
This is where we can draw a parallel with human obesity where food rewards and a negative psychological state are behind obesity.
这与人类肥胖者的情况类似，他们也同样有食物奖励和消极心理情绪的影响。
So dogs which share our living environment may be good stand-ins for scientists studying the causes and consequences of obesity.
因此，与人类一同生活的狗狗或许是科学家研究肥胖成因和影响的最佳替代品。
They have very similar social cognitive capacity to humans.
它们与人类有非常相似的社会认知能力。
So for dogs and many humans, good food is a reward worth waiting for.
所以对于狗狗和人类而言，美食是值得等待的奖赏。
Deborah Block, VOA News.
VOA新闻，黛博拉·博洛克报道。
