hi folks.

anyone know anything about this?

mike

I don't think I posted this here. Researchers at California Institute of Technology, Stanford and the National Institutes of Health published an article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in January titled "Marketing actions can modulate neural representations of experienced pleasantness."

Essentially, participants were given a series of wine samples and asked how they tasted. When given the same wine twice but told that it was a much higher priced vintage, MRI brain scans showed that the participants experienced more pleasure drinking the supposedly 'better' and more expensive wine.

Study Abstract: http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/105/3/1050
News Story: http://www.neurosciencemarketing.com/blog/articles/why-expensive-wine-tastes-better.htm

Fortunately, my budget only allows me enjoy the more moderately-priced teas. :)