Sorry, I misinterpreted your reply. My apologies.
Somehow, in almost all of the discussion of this paper, few people have bothered to look at the actual paper. Indeed, itâs quite dismaying that Boing Boing doesnât even link to it, and instead links to some sort of blog rant completely mangling the paper in order to support their preexisting views on the price of things.
In the actual paper, participants were not asked to choose between top-level and mediocre performers. They were instead asked to choose between âthe top three ďŹnalists in each of 10 prestigious international classical music competitions.â That sort of judgement would be expected to be extremely difficult. Since, however, that wasnât difficult enough, participants were asked to make these judgements based only on â6 [second] clips of the top performances.â
Since comparisons to wine seem to abound here, this would be like asking participants in a study to compare three $200 bottles of wine by drinking shots of them. Unsurprisingly, expert participants didnât fare any better than novices in such an odd setup.
Itâs very possible that, given only a six second clip, more information about the performance quality can be gleaned from video, and how the performer moves, rather than such a short bit of audio, which may in fact simply be a distraction. Note that in examining why video was more useful, it was found that static visual cues, like the appearance of the performer, were not particularly important, while asking participants to choose the performer being most âpassionate,â âmotivated,â or âcreativeâ ended up with them choosing the winners significantly (though as with the entire paper, not vastly) higher than chance. In other words, the movements of the performer, which are reasonably part of the performance, are what seemed to matter most in such short segments.
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I have been reading about bias and one of the most common heuristic errors is, when confronted by a hard problem, to substitute a simpler one and use that answer. It could be when confronted with having to make a judgement with such limited material many choose (unconsciously) to use visual cues to assess something as vague as âpassion.â
So this paper becomes a study in frustration more than expertise.
Also love your point that the performance of the musician is as much a part of the work as the notes on the page. Music is first a performance medium and the entire performance should be considered the standard, not some artificial sub-part that shows up on an audio recording. The entire environment of music performance has evolved in concert with our enjoyment of it. (see what I did there?)
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Reviewing, there was a hint of snark in my remark. Unintended, but there. So I apologize also.
Olive oil is graded based on acidity. 73% of the imported olive oil marked âextra virgin,â arenât pure olive oil and fail to meet US and International standards. They are often mixed with other oils to lower the acidity which gets them past spot checks, but also reduces the flavor substantially. I assure you that the McEvoyâs extra virgin olive oil (lovely, but shockingly expensive) sitting in my cabinet has just a strong of an olive taste as any virgin grade olive oil.
Of course, the same study found that 44% of US consumers prefer the taste of rancid olive oil (learned behavior?) so who knows?
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Thank you, Cegev. I couldnât have said it better myself. I donât see much that can really be concluded given the flawed methodology.
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In support of this: the thing that struck me immediately doesnât necessarily apply to all instrumental performances, butâI once saw Olga Kern in performance, and was bowled over. So was the piano. She used her whole body in the same way that someone in the hammer throw uses their whole bodyâit was incredible! If the field were limited to the creme de la creme (those unlikely to hit wrong notes, forget the piece, etc. 
) Iâm sure that the quality of athleticism as in her playing would be visually evidentâit isnât like theyâre talking hairstyles or facial expression!
(p.s.: just because we donât all aspire to the sophisticated abilities of the master sommelier doesnât mean that the distinctions they reliably perceive donât exist, and even the linked article acknowledges this. Kinnnddddd of an asshole headline.)
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Itâs a bit sad, lonely and exclusive if you can only enjoy a glass of bubbly surrounded by jewels (and jewel thieves).
Krogerâs Extra Virgin plastic 1 litre bottle. Best price-per-ounce on the shelf (some of the olive oils that arenât âextra virginâ are cheaper, but too olive-y for my taste) and with a flavor profile that my chef buddy gave the OK to after trying it at my house. which is subjective on his part, but part of the reason weâre buddies in the first place is that heâs a practical kind of guy. I wasnât really aware of âflavor profilesâ in EVOO, I just went for price; his assessment was an ancillary benefit, for whatever thatâs worth.
That is incredibly expensive booze.
I shared a bottle of ÂŁ300 wine with someone a couple of days back (they had been given it as a gift). It was fucking horrible. Iâve had incredible wines that cost around ÂŁ20-ÂŁ40, but this was a massive disappointment.
Iâve had cheap wines were nicer than expensive ones. Not always, but enough that it pisses me off.
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The word âsnobberyâ actually has a definition. Liking good things isnât the definition. If youâre willing to insult people not only for being uncool, but even for being cool in the wrong way, youâre definitely headed in that direction, such as the OP.
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Home brewing is a rather popular hobby in Canada. Go figure.
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This is why I tend to sit at the back (in the center somewhere) with my eyes closed. Fools think Iâm a bad audience because Iâm ânot paying attentionâ.
Similarly, I suspect this is why so many people thought Susan Boyle was godâs gift to song for a little while. Not because of the quality of her singing but rather the quality of her singing vs. their expectations of what that singing would sound like, which were based on her appearance.
Well, if you enjoy getting a hangover from 3 drinks, you can drink the plastic bottle stuffâŚ
Iâve had $30/ bottle beer before, and it can be worth it. Usually only if itâs 750ml and says âBarley Wineâ on it somewhere though.
At the same time, if you assume costs more= tastes better, you are truly a fool. John Cleese had a special on wine and the takeway from it really was âbuy what you like and donât let anyone tell you that you shouldnât like it.â
In Japan, they drink red wine chilled, which eliminates a lot of the flavor. After trying a significant number of $15-20 bottles that I could get at the local stores, and being extremely disappointed, I realized that a $7 bottle of Australian wine was the best wine I could get in that town. I eventually became convinced that european makers unload their crappy wine that doesnât work out in East Asia, because drinking it cold, you canât tell the difference, so they can gat rid of it without diluting their brands.
Well, not really: itâs all about how long you boil the maple sap. Here in New Brunswick, people generally prefer the stronger, more maple-y syrup, so itâs boiled a little longer. In Quebec, people like their syrup sweeter, so the sap is boiled a little less.
All the time I lived in Montreal, I missed the stronger, sharper, more woody flavour of the NB maple syrup.
