Chew that beat! How music tempo influences eating behaviors and emotions

Music has the power to influence mood and food-related behaviors, including taste perception, appetite and food choices. Among the many technical variables, music tempo is one of those that seem to influence eating behavior the most, affecting the speed of eating and drinking and meal duration. To further investigate this phenomenon, we developed an experiment aimed to understand how music at different beats per minute (BPM) affects eating behaviors and how emotions evoked by music interplay in this context. A total of 124 subjects participated in the study, randomly divided into two subgroups who listened to music at 145 BPM (fast tempo) and 85 BPM (slow tempo), respectively. The subjects' eating behaviors were studied by analyzing video recordings, by measuring leftovers, and by means of a questionnaire. Our study showed that subjects who listened to slow tempo music were more relaxed, spent more time eating, chewed more times and for longer than those who listened to fast tempo music, thus confirming the influence of musical tempo on eating behavior. In particular, this is the first study to report that slow tempo music may increase the number of chews and total chewing duration.