Overall, research participants who saw photos of planets preferred pictures that had been printed on glossy paper, but the preference for shininess was much more pronounced among participants who had first eaten eight thirst-inducing salty crackers, says a team led by Katrien Meert of Ghent University in Belgium. This and other experiments suggest that people’s widespread affinity for reflective surfaces

— even small children preferred glossy to nonglossy pictures of Santa Claus (2.26 versus 2.74 on a 1-to-4 scale with 1 being ‘most preferred’) — stems from a biological attraction to sources of water, the researchers say.

(Source: Journal of Consumer Psychology)

Published in Dawn, Economic & Business, December 22th , 2014