Robot or human musicians? The modulating role of perceived performer on how music influences food choices

Previous research has shown that music robots may reshape people's perceptions of music and health-related behaviors. We investigated how the perceived identity of the music performers (humans or robots) influenced people's music-induced mental imagery and modulated the effect of music on food choices. Across three experiments, participants were led to believe that the music they heard was performed either by humans or robots. In Experiment 1, we assessed the content of music-induced mental imagery. In Experiment 2, we examined participants' food choices while they were listening to nature- or urban-related music. In Experiment 3, we directly manipulated music-induced mental imagery by guiding participants toward nature- or urban-related imagery during the food choice task. The results revealed that participants who believed the music was performed by humans chose vegetable-forward meals more frequently when their music-induced imagery was nature-related rather than urban-related. However, this effect was less pronounced when they believed the music was performed by robots, presumably due to the reduced accuracy of their mental imagery. Collectively, these findings suggest that beliefs about the music performers influence both aesthetic perceptions and food-related behaviors during music listening, which provide insights into using human-robot musical interactions to promote healthier behaviors.