Bad news for audiophiles?

While I have no doubt that expectation bias can often be of significance when it comes to both wine and audio, did anyone notice the markings on the vertical axis of the graph shown at the link Geoff provided in the OP? That axis representing "signal change in mOFC," which was claimed to correspond to activity in the brain's pleasure center.

The biggest difference in "signal change in mOFC" between the wine as believed to cost $10 and the same wine as believed to cost $90, which occurred about 12 seconds after tasting was begun, amounted to about 0.6%. Doesn't sound like much of a difference to me.

Also, I note that even when the wine was believed to cost $90 the pleasure increase went to zero only 19 seconds after tasting was begun. I'd therefore have to think that the wine simply wasn't very good. I wonder what the results might have been if they had used a 1982 Chateau Mouton Rothschild instead :-)

Concerning some of the broader audio-related issues that have been discussed in this thread, it seems to me to be self-evident that the correlation between performance and price generally tends to lie somewhere in the middle ground between 0 (no correlation) and 1 (perfect correlation). And I wouldn't be surprised if on occasion expectation bias were to assume as much significance as differences in personal preference.

Best regards,
-- Al

07-03-15: Onhwy61
The retail cost of a bottle of wine is closely tied to the market value of real estate where the wine is produced. Expensive vineyards produce expensive wines.

I'd expect the converse to often be true as well. A property which produces higher quality and thus often more expensive wine, due in part to its soil characteristics and the local climate, will as a result have greater value as real estate.

Best regards,
-- Al