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Does price change how wine tastes? The $90 label study

Perception. Study No. 2.

Label a wine $90 and people rate it more pleasant than the same wine labelled $10

In 2008 researchers at Caltech gave 20 volunteers what they were told were five different wines, each with its price, while a brain scanner recorded their responses. There were only three wines. A $5 wine was also served as $45, and a $90 wine was also served as $10.

The volunteers rated the $90 wine more pleasant when it carried the $90 label. The medial orbitofrontal cortex, the part of the brain that tracks how much we enjoy something, was more active as well. In a later tasting with no prices shown, the same volunteers preferred the cheapest of the three wines.

The wine	Label shown	Result
$90 bottle	$10	Rated less pleasant
$90 bottle	$90	Rated more pleasant, with more activity in the brain’s reward region
All three	No price	The cheapest was preferred

The plate

Plate reading: Label it $90 and the same wine tastes better, with an engraving of two identical wine glasses, one carrying a price tag.

Twenty volunteers, one brain scanner. Caltech researchers poured what they called five wines. There were three. A $5 bottle was also served as $45. A $90 bottle was also served as $10.

The same $90 wine, twice. Shown as $10: rated less pleasant. Shown as $90: rated more pleasant, with more activity in the brain's reward region. Plassmann et al., PNAS, 2008.

Then the prices came off. In a later tasting with no prices shown, the volunteers preferred the cheapest of the three wines.

Save this for the next wine list you open. Pass it on: send it to the friend who orders by price.

Sources

Plassmann H, O’Doherty J, Shiv B, Rangel A. “Marketing actions can modulate neural representations of experienced pleasantness.” PNAS 2008;105(3):1050–1054: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
The full paper, from the Rangel lab at Caltech: rnl.caltech.edu

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