Saturday 31 May 2008

Taste? Or just keeping up with the Jones...



Just read a great article (www.physorg.com/news119531708.html) about how drinking pleasure is influenced by the cost of your glass of plonk - neuroeconomics at its best!
Now, everyone has encountered the restaurant mark-up -- a bottle of wine in a restaurant will cost you at least a third more than it would from a bottle shop: the price for ambience, a friendly sommelier and glassware usage, shall we say.
A price that actually does make us value, and even enjoy, the bottle more as it turns out, according to a recent study from Antonio Rangel of CalTech (pictured)...Rangel looked at the brains of 20 individuals using functional magnetic resonance imaging as they imbibed what they were told were five different samples of Cabernet Sauvignon, priced at £2.50, £5.00, £17.50, £22.50, and £45. The drinkers consistently reported preferring the £45 bottle to the £5 and the £22.50 bottle to the £17.50; indeed, for many of them their medial orbital frontal cortex, which is active when people experience pleasure, showed correlating activity with the tasting of the preferred, more expensive bottles.

There were further twists incorporated into the experiment, though - the "five" samples were actually only three: the £5.00 wine was actually the £45 wine, and the £22.50 sample also came from the same bottle as the £17.50 sample. The £45 wine was adored by all, the £5.00 not so much...and when the subjects were given all 5 samples without prices provided, the £2.50 sample was actually the overall favorite.

So basically, although the sample size was rather small, the conclusion one might take from this experiment would be that most people are better off with Parker points, and their concomitant pricing scales - if you think something is valuable, then you will be more likely to gain pleasure from it...and price helps us to appreciate our experiences more.

However, this maenad would beg to differ...PLEASE dear readers, drink enough wine so that you know what YOU like, what YOU value -- so that no matter what Parker points or price are attributed to your alcoholic grape indulgence, YOU know what you're appreciating. Independent indulgence is the only way...



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