Musical priming effects on food preference

Abstract

How music can influence our pleasure for food? When we listen to the music, informations that arrives to the brain to be interpreted may recall, or prime, certain thoughts and feelings that have implications for our attitudes and behaviors. Could the thoughts primed by music influence what people actually perceive via another of the senses, in this case taste? Results of present experiment suggest that hearing a certain background music while eating some foodstuffs can increase arousing and pleasure in a manner consistent with intrinsic informational aspects of music. According to this it is possible to sentence that people's response may change toward product in a positive way if we match some music congruently with product perceived qualities. Marketers have long understood the importance of background music in enhancing consumer's experience satisfaction. The results are discussed in terms of their theoretical implications for research on music and consumer behavior, particularly there is a need to determine whether such effects might be determined by a cognitive response, an affective response or both.
Keywords: music; consumer behavior; consumer psychology; musical priming; musical fit; consumer preferences.