(Foodandwine) - If you’re looking to feel validated in your conservative wine-buying habits, look no further. A new study found that a high price tag on a bottle of wine tricks our brains into thinking it tastes better than a lower-priced bottle, even when the wines are identical.

Scientists from INSEAD Business School and the University of Bonn studied the decision-making center in the brain to track price biases, which lead people to believe a $25 bottle of wine tastes better than a $15 one. When drinking the more expensive bottle, our brains convince us it tastes better than the cheaper one, even when the wines are exactly the same, just labeled with different prices. This phenomenon is known as the “marketing placebo effect.”

The 30 participants in the study—half women, half men, all around age 30—tasted wines lying down in an MRI scanner, and before each tasting, they were shown the price. Each time, they tasted the same “average-to-good quality red” that retailed at 12 euros, but the price was shown as 3, 6 and 18 euro for each tasting. After tasting, they were asked to rate the wines.