Musical and Non-Musical Sounds Influence the Flavour Perception of Chocolate Ice Cream and Emotional Responses

Auditory cues, such as real-world sounds or music, influence how we perceive food. The main aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of negatively and positively valenced mixtures of musical and non-musical sounds on the affective states of participants and their perception of chocolate ice cream. Consuming ice cream while listening to liked music (LM) and while listening to the combination of liked music and pleasant sound (LMPS) conditions gave rise to more positive emotions than listening to just pleasant sound (PS). Consuming ice cream during the LM condition resulted in the longest duration of perceived sweetness. On the other hand, PS and LMPS conditions resulted in cocoa dominating for longer. Bitterness and roasted were dominant under the disliked music and unpleasant sound (DMUS) and DM conditions respectively. Positive emotions correlated well with the temporal sensory perception of sweetness and cocoa when consuming chocolate ice cream under the positively valenced auditory conditions. In contrast, negative emotions were associated with bitter and roasted tastes/flavours under the negatively valenced auditory conditions. The combination of pleasant music and non-musical sound conditions evoked more positive emotions than when either was presented in isolation. Taken together, the results of this study support the view that sensory attributes correlated well with emotions evoked when consuming ice cream under different auditory conditions varying in terms of their valence.