Price influences perceived taste?

Does the price of food and drinks influence their taste?

Expectations can greatly influence the perceived experience, which is also known as the placebo effect. Expectations of food or drinks may be affected by their price tag, which may then influence the perceived taste.

This study investigated whether a difference in price can influence the perceived pleasantness of the exact same wine. Participants were tasting the same wine twice: once while they were told it was sold for 5 dollars and once when they were told it was sold for 45 dollars. Perceived pleasantness was assessed using a 6-point questionnaire. In addition, functional MRI was used to assess the activity of the brain region that is associated with experienced pleasantness.

Participants indeed perceived the wine as much more pleasant when they thought it was sold for 45 dollars compared to 5 dollars. In addition, there was greater activity in the brain region associated with experienced pleasantness.

Therefore, expecting foods or drinks to taste good based on external factors such as price or branding will likely result in a more pleasant experience.

Study:
Plassmann et al. Marketing Actions Can Modulate Neural Representations of Experienced Pleasantness. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 2008