PS264 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Ibm Officevision, Externals, Externality
Document Summary
Humans have evolved a number of mechanisms to guard against eating natural toxins. First line of defense is smell & taste. Second line of defense is gagging, spitting, & vomiting. During pregnancy-nausea is a protective mechanism against eating toxins-protects the developing fetus. One single experience getting sick with food- humans can learn to avoid that particular food. We have learned that the benefits of cooking outweigh the costs. Ancestors-learned to cook because when they didn"t cook, they got sick. The reasons people cook today is likely the cause of cultural conditioning our food preferences are largely learned and the mechanism that governs these preferences is taste. When we eat, we go through the process of sampling make sure we don"t poison ourselves-if new foods don"t make us sick and if they provide us with nutrients, they become accepted and, over time, can even become preferred.
