Tastes of music

Summary. The use of background music as a part of the multisensory experience of food enjoyment has been the subject of considerable interest both in applied contexts and in laboratory research. Numerous studies have documented that music can impact food consumption in general, however, relatively few have investigated the effects of music that corresponds crossmodally to taste characteristics. This paper reports on the effects of crossmodally congruent (vs. incongruent) music pairing on perceived congruence, pleasantness, and future consumption intention of the product, as measured during a chocolate tasting experience with different taste accents. The results confirm that a congruent pairing – based on a recent database of music tracks associated with taste labels (Guedes et al., 2023a) – significantly enhances multisensory experience, increasing perceived congruence, pleasantness in a bidirectional manner (i.e., not only of the product but also of the music track), and the intention to consume the product in the future. The results of this study support the potential relevance of systematically selecting the type of auditory stimulation in order to improve consumer experience in applied contexts.