The Coachella Valley has quite a few buffets and if you really want to enjoy your meal at one, make sure you pay a good deal of money for it. Seriously, the amount of cash you spend will dictate how much you like your meal.

That is according to a study where researchers had 139 people eat at a buffet in New York. Some diners paid $4 for their Italian meal, while others paid $8. No one knew how much the other spent and all of the food was the same. Then researchers tracked the eaters over the next couple of weeks.

Surprise! Those who paid $8 for their buffet rated their pizza as 11 percent better tasting than those who only paid $4. Also, the people who paid less claimed that their pizza tasted worse and worse with each slice.  The $8 group had no such reaction.

David Just, one of the authors of the study, told The Atlantic:

“People set their expectation of taste partially based on the price—and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. If I didn’t pay much it can’t be that good. Moreover, each slice is worse than the last. People really ended up regretting choosing the buffet when it was cheap.”

(H/T Foodbeast)