Abstract Perceived naturalness is an increasingly important aspect of consumer choice. A number of factors, including the involvement of human action, are known to influence perceptions of naturalness in the food domain. However, the effect of biological agents remains unknown. The first study, therefore, compared the effect of biological and human action on the perceived naturalness of treated spring water. Four strategies for adjusting the mineral concentration of spring water were proposed in the study: mineral addition, using acids and bases to adjust pH thereby re-solubilising precipitated minerals, pH adjustment by microbes already present in the water or by microbes brought in from another spring. Results showed that of the four treatments, microbes inherent to the spring water had the least negative effect on perceived naturalness when compared to the other three treatments, all of which involved some form of human action. This implies that biological agents have a less negative effect on perceived naturalness than human agents. The second study examined, based on the link between perceived naturalness and healthiness, whether human action would have a less negative impact on perceived naturalness if it improved the healthiness of the final product. We hypothesised that action that improved the healthiness of water would not reduce perceived naturalness. Our hypothesis was, however, disproved. Water with elemental concentrations adjusted to recommended levels was seen as healthier but less natural, suggesting that healthiness and naturalness are judged separately so that even where healthiness is increased, human action still results in lower perceived naturalness.

中文翻译：

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感知水的自然性：生物制剂的作用和有益的人类行为

摘要 感知自然性是消费者选择中越来越重要的一个方面。众所周知，包括人类行为在内的许多因素会影响对食品领域自然性的看法。然而，生物制剂的作用仍然未知。因此，第一项研究比较了生物和人类行为对处理过的泉水的感知自然性的影响。研究中提出了四种调节泉水矿物质浓度的策略：添加矿物质、使用酸和碱调节 pH 值从而重新溶解沉淀的矿物质、通过水中已经存在的微生物或从另一个泉水带入的微生物调节 pH 值. 结果表明，在四种处理中，与其他三种处理方式相比，泉水中固有的微生物对自然感的负面影响最小，所有这些处理方式都涉及某种形式的人类行为。这意味着生物代理对感知自然性的负面影响比人类代理小。第二项研究基于感知的自然性和健康之间的联系，研究了人类行为如果提高了最终产品的健康性，对感知的自然性的负面影响是否会更小。我们假设改善水健康的行为不会降低感知的自然性。然而，我们的假设被推翻了。元素浓度调整到推荐水平的水被认为更健康但不太自然，