I was at another, informal wine tasting last night and along with the usual tasting, the owner did three blind tastes with the crowd. After pouring, he asks if it's new or old world, going from person to person. Then he asks what country, province or state it came from followed by what the varietal is. It's all done aloud and rather fun to do.
Doing it that way, I see no angle where confirmation bias resides as it's a blind tasting. One can will it to be something but it won't make it so. Case in point: on the second round I got it right with it being new world. I also got it right with it being from California. Where I messed up with is I changed my mind as to the type of grape. When I first smelled and tasted it, my inner self said clearly, this is a Cab. But the more I discussed it as the pours continued, the more I started to doubt it and came up with some lame rationalizations as to why. I even said it was a Cab and then asked if it was okay to change my mind, which the owner allowed (with a look I'll never forget) and said it was a Merlot.
The point is, confirmation bias ain't gonna make it so. That, and although a nice analogy at first blush, wine tasting involves two senses with smell being the strongest of any of our senses when it comes to invoking memories, and you can't really taste all that well without a great sense of smell. Our hearing only involves one sense, which is further down the ladder when it comes to invoking and recalling memories as it was initially meant to keep us safe and tells us where to look.
We've only learned at a later stage of our development to enjoy sounds and relate to what pleases us. First and foremost, it's the type of music that draws us in and not its accurate reproduction. That comes later. Take any properly sorted out system and music we don't like will not appeal to us. It would be very difficult to determine if a system was better sounding listening to music we don't like or are unfamiliar with. It has to be music we enjoy and then refining the system can start.
You can rationalize away guessing the correct wine, despite knowing deep down what it is, but I can't see someone doing the same when it comes to listening to something and choosing the wrong, inferior sounding set up. A different set of variables are involved. We don't listen the same way we taste.
All the best,
Nonoise
