Food and Music

Recent research demonstrated that noise unconnected to the target stimulus can alter taste perception of food, but it is not clear whether similar effects might be seen with respect to alcohol. This is particularly important, as it might help explain previous reports of higher/faster alcohol consumption in loud music environments. In the between subjects experiment here, participants (n = 80) completed standardised taste and olfactory tests, followed by a taste test of alcoholic beverages varying in strength in a randomly allocated distractive or control condition.

Distractive conditions were either music, shadow (listening and repeating a news story) or shadow and music . We found that exposure to music led to higher sweetness ratings compared to all remaining groups. Interestingly, discrimination of alcohol strength was impaired for individuals in the S-Music compared to remaining groups which was accompanied by increased negative mood.

we accept that using an experimental design decreases ecological validity, especially in contrast to the earlier study. However, we contend that the knowledge learned from the work here in controlled conditions outweigh these disadvantages and further provide a paradigm for future experimental research in this area. Interestingly, given the possible connection between music liking and sweetness (discussed above), it could be that in more naturalistic environments (e.g. bars, clubs), where presumably patrons have a general liking for the accompanying music, for music to have an even greater effect on sweetness.

we accept that using an experimental design decreases ecological validity, especially in contrast to the earlier study ). However, we contend that the knowledge learned from the work here in controlled conditions outweigh these disadvantages and further provide a paradigm for future experimental research in this area.

Interestingly, given the possible connection between music liking and sweetness (discussed above), it could be that in more naturalistic environments (e.g. bars, clubs), where presumably patrons have a general liking for the accompany

we found that social drinkers exposed to music, perceived a range of alcoholic beverages as sweeter and less bitter compared to those in the no music and other distracting conditions.

Additionally, listening to the same music whilst performing a shadowing task resulted in impaired discrimination of alcohol strength. These findings help explain previous observational work on the effects of music on alcohol consumption suggesting that music can alter the taste of alcohol which can therefore have serious consequences to individuals in noisy drinking environments.