IAT, consumer behaviour and the moderating role of decision-making style: An empirical study on food products

This article discusses the reasons why the study of consumer preferences requires indirect measures. Particularly, the research is focused on the use of the Implicit Association Test (IAT). The main aim of the present research is to verify the usefulness of the IAT in situation of ambivalent attitudes, such as in the food domain. On the basis of the relationship between interest/motivations and visual attention, the first study explores the effect of implicit associations on consumers’ visual behaviour on food labels. Moreover, the predictive and incremental validities of the IAT over traditional self-report measures on subjects’ intention to buy were tested in the specific field of food purchases, where attitudes can be ambivalent. Finally, the role of preference for intuition or deliberation in the decision-making process as a moderator of the relationship between the IAT score and the intention to buy was assessed. The second and the third studies aim to verify the same moderation pattern in real behavioural choices between tasty/healthy foods and between different food brands. Overall, the results (1) show the effect of implicit (and not explicit) associations on the way in which consumers read the information on food packaging; (2) demonstrate that the IAT enhances the understanding of consumer preference, intention to buy, and choices among different products, especially in domains where attitudes could be ambivalent; and (3) support the moderating role of the decision-making style. Overall, the research supports the employment of the IAT in consumer research

How do implicit/explicit attitudes and emotional reactions to sustainable logo relate? A neurophysiological study

Food package labels can be used to influence consumers’ evaluation and purchasing behaviour, fostering sustainable consumption. Therefore, it is important to understand consumers’ emotional reaction to food package labels that convey sustainable information. The aim of the present research is to get a better understanding of the relation between consumers’ attitudes and emotional reactions often used to measure the effectiveness of a communication. Particularly, we focused on recyclability, assessing participants’ prior explicit and implicit attitudes towards recyclability and their emotional reaction to food packages featuring logos of (non-)recyclability. The emotional reaction was measured both at an explicit and at an implicit level, using direct (self-reported) and indirect (eye movement, facial expressions and pupil dilation) techniques respectively. Results showed that explicit attitudes predicted self-reported emotions, while implicit attitudes predicted the spontaneous emotional reactions, highlighting the importance to assess both explicit and implicit attitudes. Moreover, results showed that the relation between the time that people looked at the logo and the spontaneous emotional reaction was contingent upon the participant's implicit attitudes. Finally, a follow-up analysis revealed that people with positive implicit attitudes towards recyclability were faster in detecting the recyclable logo and spent more time on processing the logo which on its turn resulted in better emotional reactions. Thus, the results suggest that implicit attitudes influence both visual attention and emotional reactions. Overall, the research contributes to a better understanding of the relation between prior attitudes and emotional reactions to food packaging, and supports the use of an approach that comprises both direct and indirect measures of attitudes and emotions

A neuroscientific method for assessing effectiveness of digital vs. print ads: using biometric techniques to measure cross-media ad experience and recall

Marketers can choose among various media to convey advertising, ranging from printed advertising on paper to websites through the Internet and mobile through smartphones and tablets. Which medium is the most effective in terms of information memory or reading behavior is not clear, however. In this study, advertisements from an Italian newspaper were presented in three media formats: website (through the Internet with a desktop PC), paper, and a PDF version displayed on a tablet device. Responses to the same news and advertising were measured with eye tracker, electroencephalography brain scanner, and memory test

Neuromarketing empirical approaches and food choice: A systematic review

Consumers' food choices are often driven by reasons of which consumers are not fully aware. Decision-making about food is influenced by a complex set of emotions, feelings, attitudes, and values that are impossible to assess simply by asking consumers their opinions. Indeed, traditional techniques, such as self-reports or interviews, mainly allow the measurement of conscious and rational reactions to a product or advertising. Recently, there has been a rapidly growing interest in the multidisciplinary field of “neuromarketing,” which takes advantage of neuroscientific techniques to study consumer behavior. This discipline applies neuroscientific methods and tools that allow the measurement of consumers' emotional and spontaneous reactions in a more objective and observable way. The aim of this paper is (a) to describe neuromarketing's underlying assumptions, techniques, and the advantages of this perspective, examining the scientific literature on the use of neuromarketing in food studies; and (b) to suggest best practices to apply this novel approach in the food marketing domain, with a specific focus on non-invasive methods. Finally, although the perception of nutritional elements has already been explored, the health content of labels, the presence of additives, and the evaluation of the information conveyed by food packaging remain other possible elements of interest in future food neuromarketing research

Novel Food-Based Product Communication: A Neurophysiological Study

The steady increase in the global food demand requires alternative sources. Food sources from invertebrates could be a viable alternative. Despite a growing interest in terrestrial invertebrates as novel food, Western consumers have to cope with fears and taboos. This research aims to investigate possible communication strategies of novel food through labels. To understand the complexity underlying food choice and novel food attitude, two studies were carried out. In Study 1, the main drivers in the food decision-making process were identified. Based on these results, in Study 2, two different food labels for crackers made with earthworm flour were designed. Applying a neurophysiological approach, we measured participants’ neuropsychophysiological activation and behavioural response while watching food labels. A video on nutritional and ecological issues was shown to consumers to reduce aversion towards earthworms as food. The results in Study 1 indicate health and sensory dimensions as the major drivers in food choice. The data of Study 2 supported the effectiveness of the statement about nutritional qualities of the products on male participants, who tend to have a more positive reaction than female participants toward the novel product made with earthworm flour when the label’s claim focuses on nutritional advantages. Limitations and practical implications are discussed

Wine label and consumer evaluation. Findings from an eye-tracking study

In food labels evaluation, visual attention is a crucial way to acquire information due to its close relation to higher-order cognitive processes (Plassmann et al., 2011) For this reason, eye-tracking techniques have a great potential for assessing consumers\u2019 perception of food labels. The aim of this research is to evaluate the importance of different label attributes of wine and the effects. Forty consumers, 20 expert sommeliers and 20 consumers without wine expertise, were exposed to 8 different wine labels. During the labels' exposure, participants\u2019 eye movements were recorded using an eye tracker. After each label\u2019s exposure, participants expressed their evaluation filling in self-reports. Relying on gaze behaviour quantitative data, we analyzed the importance of label attributes, such as brand or ingredients. Secondly we verified if there is a difference in visual attention behaviour between the two groups. We expected that the expertise affects the attention on specific information from labels. Thirdly, relying on recent evidences on the relation of visual attention with appreciation and saliency (Milosavljevic et al., 2012), we hypothesized that more fixations on a label\u2019s element are related with a better evaluation. We tested this relation in the whole sample and for each group separately. Results showed that wine labels were explored in terms of visual attention in different ways between experts and inexperts as some areas were significantly more watched by sommeliers, while some others by inexperts