The aim of this study was to examine how taste and music exert an effect on the state of mind of children. Eighty-three children were assessed, both male and female, between the ages of five and ten. The participants were asked to taste both sweet and bitter solutions in the absence of music and in the presence of music rated as happy and sad, and afterwards, to judge the state of mind resulting from the experiment. The judgment of the children's state of mind changed in the presence of a bitter taste and happy music, in which case the state of mind changed from sad to happy. In the presence of a sweet taste and sad music, the mood changed from happy to sad. Future experiments could evaluate children carrying out tasks that present contexts of actual items of food in association with musical stimulation.
Music; Auditory perception; Taste perception; Child psychology
