Why you might be about to see a lot more round glasses in pubs

A study published in PLoS ONE has found that people tend to drink 60% faster when they are drinking out of a round glass than when they drink out of a glass with straight edges. Participants also misjudged the halfway point of curved glasses to be lower than on straight glasses. This is something that hasn’t been researched before but that the drinks industry seems to have known for quite some time. Interestingly, the effect was only present in the alcohol condition (and not in the soft drink condition).

Somewhat amusingly, the researchers conclude:

“Glass shape appears to influence the rate of drinking of alcoholic beverages. This may represent a modifiable target for public health interventions.”

I’m fairly sure it will be the drink industry and not public health that will benefit from these findings, but we shall have to wait and see.

Reference:

Attwood AS, Scott-Samuel NE, Stothart G, & Munafò MR (2012). Glass shape influences consumption rate for alcoholic beverages. PloS one, 7 (8) PMID: 22912776

via Owen Phillips

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