More Volume, More Alcohol
A new study finds that music has a direct influence on the taste of booze
The Press Association reports that a new study by Dr Lorenzo Stafford, a psychologist from the University of Portsmouth, has found that alcohol tastes sweeter when loud music is playing and the noise could make it difficult for drinkers to judge how much they are consuming.
Dr Lorenzo said: "Since humans have an innate preference for sweetness, these findings offer a plausible explanation as to why people consume more alcohol in noisy environments."
"The study found that sweetness perception of alcohol was significantly higher in the music compared to control and other distracting conditions, which is a novel finding and to our knowledge, not seen previously," Dr Stafford added.
"This is an interesting finding as we might have expected the music, in addition to repeating a news story, to exert a more distracting effect on taste judgment. It appears that our primary sense of taste is somewhat immune to very distracting conditions, but is indeed influenced by music alone.
"Researching multi-sensory perception is a growing field of study and an interesting area to explore. Although individuals might well expect to consume more alcohol in club type environments anyway, it is important they understand how environment can potentially influence over-consumption and act accordingly."
The findings are published in the journal Food Quality and Preference and the research was funded by Alcohol Research UK - a charity which aims to increase understanding of the harmful effects of alcohol.