Musical flavor: the effect of background music and presentation order on taste
研究背景音乐的愉悦度如何影响连续品尝两个相同食品时的味觉体验和偏好，发现愉悦音乐能提升评价，且先听愉悦音乐时差异更明显。
Purpose In many food marketing contexts products are sampled while music is played in the background. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether changing the pleasantness of background music while tasting two identical products in succession may influence the experience of taste and preference. Design/methodology/approach Two studies were conducted. In Study 1, 60 participants were asked to taste two identical cookies, one with pleasant and one with unpleasant background music, in differing orders. In Study 2, 60 participants tasted two cookies with two unpleasant musical pieces and 60 participants tasted two cookies with pleasant background music. Participants were asked to evaluate each cookie and indicate which cookie they preferred. Findings In Study 1, a main effect of music was found, with cookies tasted with pleasant background music evaluated as better than those tasted with unpleasant background music. In addition, an interaction between presentation order and music was found, with a stronger difference in evaluation between the cookies when the first is tasted with pleasant background music. In Study 2, no main effect of music was found. A primacy effect was found, with higher evaluations for the first tasted cookie. Research limitations/implications The studies considered only one type of product, which in itself is pleasant-tasting. Further studies, using other products, are thus needed to allow generalization. Practical implications A discerning use of background music in consumer settings involving sampling of a sequence of products may aid marketers in maximizing music’s effect on product evaluation and choice. Originality/value Although the effect of music on taste has been previously studied, this is the first research to examine presentation order effects of music pleasantness on the experience of taste. The pleasantness of background music is integrated into the experience of taste, and food marketing strategies should take into account how the order in which different musical pieces are heard may influence consumers’ evaluation and preference for sampled products.