Music While Eating Changes How Food Tastes
- 10 years ago
According to researchers at Oxford University, music or sounds that are heard while eating can enhance how a person perceives the taste of their food. They call the effect sonic seasoning, and researchers are saying it might be able to decrease the amount of unhealthy ingredients like excess sugar and salt that is used to make food more flavorful.
According to researchers at the University of Oxford, music or sounds that are heard while eating can enhance how a person perceives the taste of their food.
They call the effect sonic seasoning, and researchers are saying it might be able to decrease the amount of unhealthy ingredients like excess sugar and salt that is used to make food more flavorful.
Charles Spence, professor of experimental psychology at Oxford University who worked on the study is quoted as saying: "You can prime the brain for sweetness by playing a high pitched sound… Simply by changing the environment it can have a big impact on flavour. In the future we may see companies creating sensory apps which play while you are eating their product to alter the taste."
Spence’s first sonic experiment involved giving subjects bacon and egg flavored ice cream.
When they ate the ice cream to the sound of bacon sizzling they reported being able to taste more of the bacon flavor, and when the sound of chickens clucking was played, the egg flavor stood out more.
Further experiments have shown that brass instrument’s low pitched tones are associated with the bitter taste of caffeine, and piano music gives people a higher perception of sweet tastes.
According to researchers at the University of Oxford, music or sounds that are heard while eating can enhance how a person perceives the taste of their food.
They call the effect sonic seasoning, and researchers are saying it might be able to decrease the amount of unhealthy ingredients like excess sugar and salt that is used to make food more flavorful.
Charles Spence, professor of experimental psychology at Oxford University who worked on the study is quoted as saying: "You can prime the brain for sweetness by playing a high pitched sound… Simply by changing the environment it can have a big impact on flavour. In the future we may see companies creating sensory apps which play while you are eating their product to alter the taste."
Spence’s first sonic experiment involved giving subjects bacon and egg flavored ice cream.
When they ate the ice cream to the sound of bacon sizzling they reported being able to taste more of the bacon flavor, and when the sound of chickens clucking was played, the egg flavor stood out more.
Further experiments have shown that brass instrument’s low pitched tones are associated with the bitter taste of caffeine, and piano music gives people a higher perception of sweet tastes.