Shiv and his team used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to determine if brand marketing activities, in addition to creating inferences of quality, can actually affect the ‘real’ quality of the brand experience. Although researchers have previously used fMRI scans to gauge brain activity, this new study is one of the first to test subjects as they consumed a product—in this case, wine—in order to determine if changes in extrinsic brand attributes—in this case, price—had any affect in the brand experience.

According to Shiv, “We always have known that price influences perceptions of quality. What we were curious about, now that we know this, is whether this perception benefit is just psychological, or whether price can influence the true pleasure.”

Participants in the study were asked to drink five different Cabernet Sauvignons that retailed for $5, $10, $35, $45 and $90 per bottle, respectively. In actuality, there were only three bottles of wine in the study. The $5 wine was also labeled $45, and the $10 wine was also labeled $90. The third wine was labeled its true $35 retail price. The wines were administered in random order, price being the only identifier.

The fMRI showed that the participants had a higher experienced pleasantness (EP) when they thought the wine cost more. “If you think about it, the brain should only be influenced by the core components of the wine — its chemical composition. It should not be influenced by something like price,” Shiv said. “But in the study we found a functional change in activity in different areas of the brain despite the same chemicals being experienced.”

Interestingly, when the same wines were administered without price identification, the participants favored the $5 bottle over the others.