Does Glass Size and Shape Influence Judgments of the Volume of Wine?

Background

Judgments of volume may influence the rate of consumption of alcohol and, in turn, the amount consumed. The aim of the current study was to examine the impact of the size and shape of wine glasses on perceptions of wine volume.

Methods

Online experiment: Participants (n = 360; recruited via Mechanical Turk) were asked to match the volume of wine in two wine glasses, specifically: 1. the Reference glass holding a fixed reference volume, and 2. the Comparison glass, for which the volume could be altered until participants perceived it matched the reference volume. One of three comparison glasses was shown in each trial: ‘wider’ (20% wider but same capacity); ‘larger’ (same width but 25% greater capacity); or ‘wider-and-larger’ (20% wider and 25% greater capacity). Reference volumes were 125ml, 175ml and 250ml, in a fully factorial within-subjects design: 3 (comparison glass) x 3 (reference volume). Non-zero differences between the volumes with which participants filled comparison glasses and the corresponding reference volumes were identified using sign-rank tests.

Results

Participants under-filled the wider glass relative to the reference glass for larger reference volumes, and over-filled the larger glass relative to the reference glass for all reference volumes. Results for the wider-and-larger glass showed a mixed pattern across reference volume. For all comparison glasses, in trials with larger reference volumes participants tended to fill the comparison glass less, relative to trials with smaller reference volumes for the same comparison glass.

Conclusions

These results are broadly consistent with people using the relative fullness of glasses to judge volume, and suggest both the shape and capacity of wine glasses may influence perceived volume. Perceptions that smaller glasses contain more than larger ones (despite containing the same volume), could slow drinking speed and overall consumption by serving standard portions in smaller glasses. This hypothesis awaits testing.

Below:  Reference volumes when presented in the different glasses

Full article at:   http://goo.gl/wRwiJA

By:   

Rachel Pechey, Dominique-Laurent Couturier, Theresa M. Marteau

Behaviour and Health Research Unit, Institute of Public Health, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Angela S. Attwood, Marcus R. Munafò

MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (IEU), UK Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies, School of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kindom

Nicholas E. Scott-Samuel, Andy Woods

School of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom

Andy Woods

Crossmodal Research Laboratory, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom

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