How does music affect eating behavior among humans - Book Report/Review Example

Section/# Food and Music The researchers in this particular article discuss the direct correlation that has been supposed for quite some time with relation to the fact that listening to music has an effect on the overall amount of food that is consumed. As such, the research involved 78 college students whose baseline food intake was chronicled for a period of time. Once this was complete, additional environmental factors, length of average meal duration and other factors were chronicled for a period of seven days.

After such a point in time, the researchers began the study with relation to the presence of music on the eating habits of the test group. Varying types and levels of music were added where volume, speed, and number of individuals present during the meal were all exchanged and measured between the different meals. Such change in factors helped to provide a varied baseline upon which inference to the original research could be drawn. The data that was gathered helped to prove, as hypothesized, that the presence of music has a direct correlation to the overall amount of food that is consumed during a given meal.

The relevant data suggested that the number of people that are present during the meal, presence of beverages, and meal duration also have a net positive correlation on the amount of food consumed. The study also was able to draw inference the type of music that most directly attributed to the consumption of greater quantities of food. Of particular interest is the fact that the study was able to draw inference with regards to the type of music that was being played and seek to determine the level of change that this effected on the overall level of food consumed.

From a purely psychological standpoint the prevalence of such data and inference is of extreme interest due to the fact that individuals eating habits can sought to be changed based on such information. Further, the economy of the food and beverage industry will likely draw useful inference from such information. Although the study itself was well conducted, there was one element of the way in which it was built and executed that gave this author pause with regards to considering its overall merit within the field of scholarly research.

Due to the fact that only college students were chosen to participate, it leaves one to wonder the rigor of the study with helping to explain the actions and habits of a wider swath of the general population. Though the inference that was drawn is no doubt useful, a better investigatory study would have included a broader demographic to include those that were both old and young as well as those from a more culturally and ethnically diverse population than what the university student necessarily portends.

Work Consulted Stroebele, Nanette, and John M de Castro. "Listening To Music While Eating Is Related To Increases In Peoples Food Intake And Meal Duration." Appetite 47.3 (2006): 285-289. MEDLINE. Web. 27 Nov. 2012.