How consumers are affected by product descriptions in online shopping: Event-related potentials evidence of the attribute framing effect

The impact of brand longevity on consumers' purchase intention: An ERP study

This study aims to investigate the neural correlates of brand longevity on consumers' purchase intention by applying the event-related potentials (ERP) method. Behaviorally, in contrast to the short longevity condition, participants in the long longevity condition showed a high purchase rate and a shorter reaction time (RT). In addition, at the neural level, the long longevity condition elicited a decreased N400 and an increased LPP compared to the short longevity condition. This study demonstrated that brand longevity has a positive impact on consumers' purchase intention. The results of this study extend research on brand heritage.

Neural correlates of the non-optimal price: an MEG/EEG study

Introduction

Setting the right price is crucial for effectively positioning products in the market. Conversely, setting a "non-optimal price"-one that is perceived as much lower or higher than the product's true market value-can negatively influence consumer decisions and business results.

Methods

We conducted two electroencephalography (EEG) studies and one magnetoencephalography (MEG) study to investigate brain mechanisms underlying the perception of prices during a price judgment task. In each trial, participants were exposed to a mobile phone image (iPhone, Nokia, or Xiaomi) followed by a price, and instructed to judge whether the price was high or low based on a target word ("cheap" or "expensive").

Results

In both EEG experiments, we found a strong N400-like response to the incongruent target words following prices that substantially differed from the real market value of the mobile phone. The MEG experiment extended these findings by localizing the brain source of the price-related, M400-like response, the magnetic counterpart to the N400 component, in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) implicated in value-based and reward-based learning, respectively. Our results demonstrate that both the brain sources and the timing of the price-related M400 response differed from those of the standard M400 evoked by semantically incongruent words.

Discussion

Overall, our results suggest that the N400-like response can serve as a neural marker of price-product incongruity, with potential applications in consumer research.

A systematic review on EEG-based neuromarketing: recent trends and analyzing techniques

Neuromarketing is an emerging research field that aims to understand consumers' decision-making processes when choosing which product to buy. This information is highly sought after by businesses looking to improve their marketing strategies by understanding what leaves a positive or negative impression on consumers. It has the potential to revolutionize the marketing industry by enabling companies to offer engaging experiences, create more effective advertisements, avoid the wrong marketing strategies, and ultimately save millions of dollars for businesses. Therefore, good documentation is necessary to capture the current research situation in this vital sector. In this article, we present a systematic review of EEG-based Neuromarketing. We aim to shed light on the research trends, technical scopes, and potential opportunities in this field. We reviewed recent publications from valid databases and divided the popular research topics in Neuromarketing into five clusters to present the current research trend in this field. We also discuss the brain regions that are activated when making purchase decisions and their relevance to Neuromarketing applications. The article provides appropriate illustrations of marketing stimuli that can elicit authentic impressions from consumers' minds, the techniques used to process and analyze recorded brain data, and the current strategies employed to interpret the data. Finally, we offer recommendations to upcoming researchers to help them investigate the possibilities in this area more efficiently in the future.

Promotion framing effects on the purchase of hedonic-utilitarian bundles: ERPs evidence of the moderating role of income source

Prior studies suggest that people are susceptible to the promotion framing effect. Yet it's still unknown if income source moderates the effect of promotion frame on consumer decision-making and the underlying neural responses. The current study applied the event-related potentials (ERPs) approach to exploring the moderating role of income source (hard-earned income and windfall income) on the promotion framing effect in a cross-category bundling context. Two promotion frames were created with identical total prices for a cross-category bundle that included both hedonic and utilitarian products. The behavioral results showed that income source moderated the effect of promotion frame on neural responses and purchase decision-making. When participants obtained a hard-earned income, they showed an attenuated N2, an enlarged LPP amplitude, and a higher purchase rate in the hedonic (vs. utilitarian) freebie condition; but when they obtained a windfall income, the effect of promotion frame disappeared. Overall, the conclusions have important ramifications for both theory and practice.

The Influence of Green Product Type, Message Framing, and Anticipated Pride on Green Consumption Behavior: An Event-Related Potential (ERP) Study

Different types of green products require different marketing approaches to promote individual green purchasing behaviors. Previous studies have focused only on the effects of message framing on the promotion of different types of green products; however, little is known about the role of underlying emotions. Using event-related potentials (ERPs), this study investigated the neural responses to message framings and anticipated pride in green product types to assess their level of influence on green consumption. Participants in this study were randomly assigned to the anticipated pride versus control groups, and asked to make green consumption decisions involving different types (self- vs. other-interested) of green products, utilizing both gain and loss framing. The behavioral results demonstrated that participants in the anticipated pride group made more green product purchase choices than those in the control group. The ERP results showed that within the loss framing of the control group, other-interested green products induced larger N400 and smaller late positive potential (LPP) amplitudes than self-interested green products, whereas the results showed the opposite trend for the anticipated pride group. These results indicate that although individuals might have biases in their motivation that lead them to focus on self-interested green products, anticipating pride reduces cognitive conflicts and increases their motivation to focus on other-interested green products in the context of loss.

Event-related potentials evidence of how location contiguity influences consumer purchase intentions

Geographical information plays an important role in understanding consumers' decisions and behavior. However, few research has investigated the effect of location contiguity on consumers' purchase intention. By applying event-related potentials (ERPs) method, the current study investigated the neural mechanism of location contiguity on consumers' purchase intentions. Behaviorally, compared with the location incongruence condition, participants in the location congruence condition demonstrated a higher purchase rate and a shorter reaction time (RT). Moreover, the location congruence condition elicited a decreased N400 and an increased LPP compared to the location incongruence condition. This study illustrated a positive relationship between location contiguity and consumers' purchase intention. The results of our study will be useful for both researchers and practitioners.

The Influence of Tourist Attraction Type on Product Price Perception and Neural Mechanism in Tourism Consumption: An ERP Study

Background

Tourism consumption is a topic with heated debates in tourism research, and pricing tourism products is a crucial task for tourism managers. Different types of tourist attractions offer different experiences to tourists, which affect their price perceptions and purchase decisions.

Methods

This study combined questionnaires and event-related potentials (ERPs) measures to explore the magnitude of psychological conflict and the degree of emotional arousal that consumers experience when faced with different prices of goods in different scenic types.

Results

The questionnaire results showed that attraction type influenced consumers' price perceptions and that consumers were willing to pay higher prices for products in attractions. The ERP results implied that in the early stage of cognition, attraction type did not affect consumers' perceptual processing, while price information attracted consumers' cognitive attention. In the late stage of cognition, attraction type, and price information jointly influenced consumers' decision-making, and consumers tended to accept high prices of products in entertainment attractions and cultural attractions, but consumers were more sensitive to the price of products in cultural attractions and less tolerant to price increases.

Conclusion

The study elucidated how price information influenced consumers' purchase decisions of tourism products at different stages of the dual-process theory, which can assist tourism managers in devising different pricing strategies and positioning strategies based on the attributes of attractions, to enhance product sales and revenues. This would further the vision of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) of "tourism fostering economic development".

Be Careful When Using Peer-Influence on Nudging Solicitation: Evidence of Potential Negative Effect from a Sample of Chinese University Students

PURPOSE

Peer information is now commonly used in solicitation. However, scholars have long focused on testing its effectiveness on increasing the donation amount without paying attention to its potential negative effects on donors. Thus, the current study employs high vs low peer donation amount (HPDA vs LPDA) information to explore its effect on "how-much-to-donate" decisions and the corresponding neural and psychological reactions at the same time.

PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS

Student samples from a Chinese university and behavioral experiments with the event-related potential (ERP) method were used in this study.

RESULTS

The behavioral results are consistent with previous research in which HPDA was positively associated with higher donation levels. ERP results show the mechanisms behind decision-making can be summarized into a cognitive approach represented by cost-benefit analysis and an affective approach represented by reward perception. More surprisingly, in contrast to the behavioral results, LPDA elicits higher level of reward perception than HPDA.

CONCLUSION

The results indicate that although HPDA leads to higher levels of donation, donors do not show higher levels of reward anticipation at the neurological level, indicating the increment of donation may come at the cost of donors. Theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.

Group identity modulates bidding behavior in repeated lottery contest: neural signatures from event-related potentials and electroencephalography oscillations

A contest usually involves expenditures, termed "overbidding," exceeding the theoretical Nash equilibrium. A considerable number of studies have shown that group identity can affect decision-making and competitive behavior, thus providing a new perspective on alleviating the overbidding problem. How group identity influences brain activity when competitors bid in different groups is not yet clear, however. In this study, we implemented group identity manipulation into the lottery contest game and we recorded behavioral and electroencephalography (EEG) data at the same time. Two experimental treatments were conducted to study the effect of group identity on bidding behavior. The event-related potentials (ERP) and event-related oscillations (ERO) techniques were utilized to explore brain activity differences caused by participants' different bidding behaviors under in-group and out-group conditions. Behavioral results showed that individual expenditure was significantly lower when bidding with in-group opponents than with out-group opponents. Analyses of EEG results revealed that compared to in-group conditions, greater N2 amplitudes and theta power were found under out-group conditions. To extend previous studies, we performed supplementary analysis to explore whether enhancement of group identity had effects on conflict alleviation. Behavioral results indicated that individual expenditure was significantly lower after enhancing group identity when bidding with in-group, and EEG results showed more negative N2 amplitudes, smaller P3 amplitudes and larger theta power after enhancing group identity. Collectively, these findings indicate that group identity modulated bidding behavior, and they provide insight into a mechanism to de-escalate group conflict by enhancing group identity.

A Bibliometric Analysis of Consumer Neuroscience towards Sustainable Consumption

Consumer neuroscience is a new paradigm for studying consumer behavior, focusing on neuroscientific tools to explore the underlying neural processes and behavioral implications of consumption. Based on the bibliometric analysis tools, this paper provides a review of progress in research on consumer neuroscience during 2000–2021. In this paper, we identify research hotspots and frontiers in the field through a statistical analysis of bibliometric indicators, including the number of publications, countries, institutions, and keywords. Aiming at facilitating carbon neutrality via sustainable consumption, this paper discusses the prospects of applying neuroscience to sustainable consumption. The results show 364 publications in the field during 2000–2021, showing a rapid upward trend, indicating that consumer neuroscience research is gaining ground. The majority of these consumer neuroscience studies chose to use electroencephalogram tools, accounting for 63.8% of the total publications; the cutting-edge research mainly involved event-related potential (ERP) studies of various marketing stimuli interventions, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)-based studies of consumer decision-making and emotion-specific brain regions, and machine-learning-based studies of consumer decision-making optimization models.

Recognition Mechanism of Dangerous Goods Marks: Evidence from an Event-Related Potential Study

Dangerous goods marks are the most effective means of alerting individuals to the potential dangers associated with the transport of dangerous goods. In order to gain a better understanding of how dangerous goods marks convey risk information, the cognitive processing of dangerous goods marks was examined by measuring event-related potentials (ERPs). We recruited 23 participants, and their ERP data were recorded. We discovered that the dangerous goods marks elicited a larger P200 amplitude and a smaller N300 amplitude, indicating that, compared to other marks, the dangerous goods marks exhibited stronger warning information and drew more attention from the subjects. Simultaneously, dangerous goods marks elicited insufficient emotional arousal in individuals. Therefore, these findings suggest that the designs of dangerous goods marks need to be improved, such as improving the graphic consistency. Changes in ERP patterns can be used to measure the risk perception level of dangerous goods marks, which can be used as an accurate indicator of the effectiveness of warning sign design. In addition, this study provides a theoretical foundation for the cognitive understanding mechanism of dangerous goods marks.

Intertemporal Decision-making and Risk Decision-making Among Habitual Nappers Under Nap Sleep Restriction: A Study from ERP and Time-frequency

Sleep restriction affects people's decision-making behavior. Nap restriction is a vital subtopic within sleep restriction research. In this study, we used EEG to investigate the impact of nap sleep restriction on intertemporal decision-making (Study 1) and decision-making across risky outcomes (Study 2) from ERP and time-frequency perspectives. Study 1 found that habitual nappers restricting their naps felt more inclined to choose immediate, small rewards over delayed, large rewards in an intertemporal decision-making task. P200s, P300s, and LPP in our nap-restriction group were significantly higher than those in the normal nap group. Time-frequency results showed that the delta band (1 ~ 4 Hz) power of the restricted nap group was significantly higher than that of the normal nap group. In Study 2, the nap-restriction group was more likely to choose risky options. P200s, N2s, and P300s in the nap deprivation group were significantly higher than in the normal nap group. Time-frequency results also found that the beta band (11 ~ 15 Hz) power of the restricted nap group was significantly lower than that of the normal nap group. The habitual nappers became more impulsive after nap restriction and evinced altered perceptions of time. The time cost of the LL (larger-later) option was perceived to be too high when making intertemporal decisions, and their expectation of reward heightened when making risky decisions-believing that they had a higher probability of receiving a reward. This study provided electrophysiological evidence for the dynamic processing of intertemporal decision-making, risky decision-making, and the characteristics of nerve concussions for habitual nappers.

Ratings or Sales? The Neural and Psychological Processes of Online Experience Product Purchase: Evidence from a Sample of Chinese University Students

Extrinsic cues are ubiquitous in daily commodity consumption scenarios, not to mention online consumption scenarios. Among the many online cues, monthly sales and product ratings are two of the most representative. Some scholars have researched the impact of these cues on consumer decision making, but only search products have been investigated. Based on previous research, this article expanded the types of products to experience products and further explored consumer purchase behaviours and the underlying purchase processes influenced by these two extrinsic cues with the assistance of a neuroscience tool, event-related potentials (ERPs). The behavioural results indicated that the subjects decided mainly based on ratings, while the effect of sales was continuously inhibited. The ERP results further suggested that consumers recognised low ratings and low sales as more negative stimuli than high ratings and high sales, as larger P2 amplitudes were observed. Following the early processing of these cues, low ratings were considered unacceptable and evoked more significant emotional conflicts than high ratings, which was reflected by larger N400 amplitudes. Moreover, in the late stage, high ratings, which activated evaluation categorisation and produced more significant emotional arousal than low-rating conditions, guided the formation of purchase intention and reflected greater LPP amplitudes. Theoretical and managerial implications were discussed.

A systematic review of the prediction of consumer preference using EEG measures and machine-learning in neuromarketing research

Introduction

The present paper discusses the findings of a systematic review of EEG measures in neuromarketing, identifying which EEG measures are the most robust predictor of customer preference in neuromarketing. The review investigated which TF effect (e.g., theta-band power), and ERP component (e.g., N400) was most consistently reflective of self-reported preference. Machine-learning prediction also investigated, along with the use of EEG when combined with physiological measures such as eye-tracking.

Methods

Search terms ‘neuromarketing’ and ‘consumer neuroscience’ identified papers that used EEG measures. Publications were excluded if they were primarily written in a language other than English or were not published as journal articles (e.g., book chapters). 174 papers were included in the present review.

Results

Frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) was the most reliable TF signal of preference and was able to differentiate positive from negative consumer responses. Similarly, the late positive potential (LPP) was the most reliable ERP component, reflecting conscious emotional evaluation of products and advertising. However, there was limited consistency across papers, with each measure showing mixed results when related to preference and purchase behaviour.

Conclusions and implications

FAA and the LPP were the most consistent markers of emotional responses to marketing stimuli, consumer preference and purchase intention. Predictive accuracy of FAA and the LPP was greatly improved through the use of machine-learning prediction, especially when combined with eye-tracking or facial expression analyses.

Peer effects of working capital management: Considering the moderating effect of knowledge flow

An important form of human learning and cognition is imitation. In environments where uncertainty is more incremental, imitation of peers is a natural response to uncertainty. While there are substantial literature documenting peer effects in other settings, the study of peer effects in working capital management is novel; little research exists on peer effects in working capital management and their impact mechanism. Using data of China’s listed firms from 2010 to 2021, we empirically demonstrate significant peer effects due to working capital management. Firstly, we find that the behavior of working capital management of firms in the same industry is positively related to a firm’s working capital management. We used peer firms’ target debt ratio as an instrumental variable to address potential endogeneity problem. Secondly, the moderating effects test shows that the positive relationship between the behavior of working capital management of firms in the same industry and a firm’s working capital management behavior is moderated by knowledge flow. Meanwhile, the peer effects in the high group of knowledge flow are greater than that of in the low group of knowledge flow. The study is based on the Active Intermodal Matching theory of psychology. It enriches the research findings on the moderating effect of peer effects and has important implications for policymaking to stimulate the economy.

ERP Study of Mine Management System Warning Interface under Fatigue

Due to the large volume of monitoring data in mines, concentrating on and reviewing the data for a long period of time will easily cause fatigue. To study the influence of different visual codes of early-warning interfaces on the response of individuals who are fatigued, the changes in the subjective fatigue and corresponding frequency waves are compared before and after a fatigue-inducing task, as well as using event-related potential to study the behavioral data and EEG signals of subjects who participated in an oddball task on an early-warning interface. The results showed that all 14 subjects became fatigued after the fatigue-inducing task, and the amplitude of P200 when text is used in a fatigued state was the largest, with the longest latency. The subjects showed a slower reaction time and a reduced accuracy rate, thus indicating that in designing a warning interface, when text rather than color is used as a visual code, the operating load will be larger, mental load is increased, and attention resources are consumed. The experimental results provide the basis for the design and evaluation of early-warning interfaces of mine management systems.

How does the use of simultaneous contrast illusion on product-background color combination nudge consumer behavior? A behavioral and event-related potential study

Color, as one of the most critical visual factors influencing consumer decisions, has been widely used in e-commerce marketing. However, the effects of product-background saturation combination on consumers’ willingness to purchase products with different heaviness attributes (e.g., heaviness-positive products or heaviness-negative products) have not been conclusively determined. The current study demonstrated the effects of product-background saturation combination on product heaviness perception and its downstream consequences. Based on behavioral method, study 1 showed that a patch of color placed in a pale background (the saturation of the background is lower than the saturation of the color patch) was perceived as visually heavier than that in a colorful background (the saturation of the background is higher than the saturation of the color patch). Study 2 applied event-related potentials (ERPs) method to explore the underlying neural mechanisms of how the interactions between the presentation modes and the product types affect consumer decisions. Behaviorally, compared to the colorful background, the pale background would lead to a higher purchase rate for the heaviness-positive products, whereas the opposite results were found for the heaviness-negative products. Furthermore, for both the heaviness-positive and heaviness-negative products, a shorter reaction time would be observed in the pale background condition than in the colorful background condition. Neurophysiologically, the pale background would result in smaller N2 component and larger P3 component compared to the colorful background for the heaviness-positive products, while the reverse held for the heaviness-negative products. Smaller N2 component implies decreased perceptual conflicts and larger P3 component implies increased decision confidence, suggesting that e-retailers should present heaviness-positive products with pale backgrounds and heaviness-negative products with colorful backgrounds.

The Neural and Psychological Processes of Peer-Influenced Online Donation Decision: An Event-Related Potential Study

With the rapid development of information and communication technology (ICT), social media-based donation platforms emerged.¹ These platforms innovatively demonstrate peer information (e.g., number of donated peers) on the donation page, which inevitably brings the peer influence into donors’ donation decision process. However, how the peer influence will affect the psychological process of donation decisions are remained unknown. This study used the number of donated peers to examine the effects of peer influence on donors’ donation decisions and extracted event-related potential (ERP) from electroencephalographic data to explore the underlying psychological process. The behavioral results indicated that the number of donated peers positively influenced donors’ willingness to donate. The ERP results suggested that a larger number of donated peers might indicate a higher level of conformity and greater perceived emotional rewards, as a larger P2 amplitude was observed. Following the early processing of emotional stimuli, cognitive detection of decisional risk took place, and the donors reckoned a smaller number of donated peers as a high potential risk, which was reflected by a larger N2 amplitude. In the later stage, the larger number of donated peers, which represented a higher magnitude of prospective emotional rewards, led to a higher incentive to donate, and reflected in a larger amplitude of P3. Additionally, implications and future directions were discussed.

Interplay of Message Frame and Reference Point on Recycled Water Acceptance in Green Community: Evidence from an Eye-Tracking Experiment

Public rejection of recycled water hinders the application of recycled water use projects in green communities. An effective information outreach strategy could help to overcome this obstacle. This study used message frames and reference points as control variables to design experimental materials and conduct eye-movement experiments to determine the effect of different information promotion strategies. The results of the study show that: (1) compared with the loss frame, the gain-framed messages are more effective; (2) self-referencing messages are more suitable for recycled water use promotion than other-referencing messages; (3) message frame (gain vs. loss) and reference point (self vs. others) have an interactive effect on the public’s information cognitive behavior; (4) the average duration of fixations for advertising message plays an intermediary role in the path of message frame and reference point jointly influencing the public acceptance. This study provides managerial implications for determining information dissemination strategies for applying recycled water-use projects in green communities.

To Each Their Own: The Impact of Regulatory Focus on Consumers’ Response to Online Information Load

Contrary to the common view that more information is always better, too much information can damage decision quality. Building on existing literature, this study identified regulatory focus as a critical factor influencing the effect of information load (IL) on online consumer decisions and used event-related potentials (ERPs) to uncover its underlying neural mechanism. Behavioral data showed that promotion-focused participants would spend less time making purchasing decisions in the low IL condition than in the high IL condition. However, no significant difference was found for prevention-focused participants. In contrast to the high IL condition, ERP data indicated that the low IL condition recruited more attentional resources at the early stage of rapid automated processing (larger P2 component), leading to reduced long-term memory conflict (smaller N2 component), and resulting in enhanced decision confidence (larger P3 component) for those with a promotion focus. However, we observed either weakened or even opposite outcomes for those with a prevention focus. These findings generally shed light on when e-retailers should provide large/small amounts of product information in online environments.

How Are Consumers Affected by Taste and Hygiene Ratings When Ordering Food Online? A Behavioral and Event-Related Potential Study

With the rapid development of the take-out industry, taste and hygiene ratings as social-based information have been frequently used by online food-ordering platforms to facilitate consumer purchases. The present study aims to uncover the effects of taste and hygiene ratings on online food-ordering decision by incorporating behavioral and neural approaches. The behavioral results showed that a high taste rating induced a higher ordering intention than a low taste rating, and that a high hygiene rating induced a higher ordering intention than a low hygiene rating. The effect of hygiene rating on ordering intention was moderated by taste rating. Hygiene rating had a greater impact on ordering intention when the taste rating was high (vs. low). In addition, inconsistency between taste and hygiene ratings increased the cognitive load and took more time for decision-making. The event-related potential (ERP) data revealed that consumers paid more attention to a high (vs. low) taste rating in the early cognitive process, which was reflected by a larger P2. Subsequently, a more negative N2 was elicited by conflicting ratings than consistent ratings when the taste rating was low. In the relatively late decision-making process, a larger P3 was evoked by consistent than conflicting ratings, suggesting that consumers had more confidence in their decisions for consistent ratings. These findings could help restaurants understand the roles of taste and hygiene rating cues in affecting consumer behavior and prompt those restaurants to adopt effective measures to increase online sales.

The Effectiveness of Price Promotions in Purchasing Affordable Luxury Products: An Event-Related Potential Study

Similar to traditional luxuries, affordable luxuries enjoy a high level of perceived product quality and perceived social status, but the effectiveness of price promotions of purchasing affordable luxury products is different from that of traditional luxuries. In order to further investigate the purchases of affordable luxuries, we used event-related potential (ERP) technology to reveal the formation of the purchase intention toward affordable luxuries at original prices (high or low) and current prices (discounted or non-discounted). Compared with the high-priced affordable luxury without a price promotion and the low-priced affordable luxury with a price promotion, consumers showed a stronger intention toward the high-priced affordable luxury with a price promotion, by weighing up three factors, perceived product quality, perceived social status, and perceived monetary saving at the behavioral level. A shorter reaction time emerged in the price promotion condition than in the absent price promotion condition when the original price was low. At the neural level, a decrease in N2 amplitude was found in the high original price and discounted current price condition than the high original price and non-discounted current price condition and the low original price and discounted current price condition, respectively, suggesting that the price information of the latter two conditions might not be the expectation information of subjects, and thus, the enhanced conflict is produced. The high-priced affordable luxury product without a price discount evoked a more positive LPP amplitude than the high-priced affordable luxury product with price promotions or than the low-priced affordable luxury item without price promotions, demonstrating that participants could regard the former as an evaluative inconsistent condition and the latter as evaluative consistent conditions. These results are helpful to better understand the effects of price promotions on purchasing affordable luxury products at different original prices.

The Influence of Industry Leaders’ Behavior on the Decisions of Common Enterprise Leaders in Enterprise Clustering: An Event-Related Potential Study

Purpose

This study aims to explore the influence of industry leaders’ behavior on common enterprise leaders’ decisions in enterprise clustering by recognizing top executives’ cognitive processes of brains.

Methods

Twenty-one real top executives from twelve textile enterprises were recruited in the lab experiment, and decisions about whether entering an industrial zone under two conditions of following an industry leader or a common enterprise were designed as the experiment task. Throughout the formal experimental task, participants’ electroencephalograms were recorded.

Results

The behavioral results preliminarily proved the effect of industry leaders’ behaviors on the real top executives’ decisions in common enterprises: participants had a higher acceptance rate with a shorter reaction time in the condition of following an industry leader rather than that in the condition of following a common enterprise. Event-related potential results indicated that choices of following an industry leader led to a more positive perception of emotional valence (reflected by a smaller P2 amplitude) and better evaluation categorization and greater decision confidence (reflected by a larger late positive potential amplitude) than choices of following a common enterprise.

Conclusion

Top executives from common enterprises tend to evaluate industry leaders’ behaviors better than other common enterprises’ behaviors, and they tend to make a similar business decision to keep their enterprises consistent with these industry leaders.

Cultural Variability in the Attribute Framing Effect

An intriguing phenomenon that arises from decision making is that the decision maker’s choice is often influenced by whether the option is presented in a positive or negative frame, even though the options are, de facto, identical to one another. Yet, the impact of such differential framing of equivalent information, referred to as the attribute framing effect, may not be the same for every culture; rather, some cultures may be more readily influenced by the differentially valenced frames than others (i.e., showing a greater difference in evaluation in a positive vs. negative frame). The present study investigates to what extent and why cultures may differ in their sensitivity to the attribute framing effect. Participants were recruited from South Korea and the United States, cultures characterized by their focus on prevention and promotion, respectively, to test for the cultural variability in the attribute framing effect. The results revealed that Korean participants were markedly more influenced by the valence of the frame than North American participants. Regulatory focus explained why Koreas showed a greater sensitivity toward the attribute framing effect than North Americans. Specifically, a greater prevention (vs. promotion) orientation of Korean participants led them to show a greater evaluation gap in the positive and negative frames. Implications for cultural significance on the attribute framing effect are discussed.

Context and the Perceived Fairness of Price Increases Coming out of COVID-19

OBJECTIVE

As the U.S. economy responds to prolonged COVID-19 disruptions, it is important to understand what factors affect the perceived fairness of pandemic-driven price increases.

METHODS

Participants read a vignette and rated how fair they found a pandemic-driven price increase. Versions vary (1) the source (hardware-store products or bus fare), (2) the magnitude of the price increase (6 percent or 18 percent), and (3) the tone of an initial description of COVID (positive or negative).

RESULTS

The price increase was perceived to be fairer when it involved the hardware store or when it was smaller. The relationship between fairness and magnitude was context-specific, as fairness perceptions were insensitive to the magnitude of the price increase in the bus scenario or when the initial description of COVID had a positive tone.

CONCLUSION

Retailers and municipalities may face different fairness constraints as they consider pandemic-driven price increases. The tone of COVID information may affect price fairness through its impact on sensitivity to magnitude.

A Review of EEG and fMRI Measuring Aesthetic Processing in Visual User Experience Research

In human-computer interaction, the visual interaction of user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) plays an important role in enriching the quality of daily life. The purpose of our study analyzes the use of brain-computer interface (BCI), wearable technology, and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to explore the aesthetic processing of visual neural response to UI and UX designs. Specifically, this review aims to understand neuroaesthetic processing knowledge, aesthetic appreciation models, and the ways in which visual brain studies can improve the quality of current and future UI and UX designs. Recent research has found that subjective evaluations of aesthetic appreciation produce different results for objective evaluations of brain research analysis. We applied SWOT analysis and examined the advantages and disadvantages of both evaluation methods. Furthermore, we conducted a traditional literature review on topics pertaining to the use of aesthetic processing knowledge in the visual interaction field in terms of art therapy, information visualization, website or mobile applications, and other interactive platforms. Our main research findings from current studies have helped and motivated researchers and designers to use convincing scientific knowledge of brain event-related potential, electroencephalography, and fMRI to understand aesthetic judgment. The key trend finds that many designers, artists, and engineers use artistic BCI technology in the visual interaction experience. Herein, the scientific methods applied in the aesthetic appreciation to human-computer interface are summarized, and the influence of the latest wearable brain technology on visual interaction design is discussed. Furthermore, current possible research entry points for aesthetics, usability, and creativity in UI and UX designs are explicated. The study results have implications for the visual user experience research domain as well as for interaction industries, which produce interactive projects to improve people's daily lives.

Neural Responses to Mandatory and Voluntary Donation Impact Charitable Giving Decisions: An Event-Related Potentials Study

The present study aimed to explore the influence of donation amounts on donation decisions in different donation contexts and to reveal the psychological mechanisms. Furthermore, we focused on how to enhance individuals' intention to donate voluntarily. We designed an experiment on donation decisions, employing event-related potentials (ERPs) to probe the effect of psychological mechanisms on donation decisions by detecting the neural basis of donation decision-making. Based on S-O-R (stimulus-organism-response) theory, we used donation contexts and donation amounts (stimuli) to induce psychological activity in the participants (organism) and then influence individual donation decision behaviors (response). Moreover, we applied psychological reactance (PR) theory to discuss the effect of donation context on decisions and the corresponding psychological process. The behavioral results showed that donation contexts (mandatory vs. voluntary) were significantly related to the donation amounts (i.e., less vs. more money that the charity received than money that the participants donated). At the ERP level, compared with mandatory donation, voluntary donation evoked a larger P2 amplitude when the charity received less money. In addition, a larger mean amplitude of LPP was elicited by voluntary donation compared to mandatory donation. This study provides practical implications for charity organizers to guide people to donate voluntarily.

Neural Bases of Brand Reputation Effect on Extension Evaluation: An ERPs Study

Brand extension, as a marketing strategy, is frequently utilized by enterprises to produce new products. There exist several critical factors determining its success, such as brand reputation and perceived fit. The present study adopts the event-related potentials (ERPs) method to explore the underlying neural mechanism of the joint influence of the two factors on consumers’ evaluation of brand extension. Specifically, consumers were presented with a brand with corporate social responsibility (CSR) or corporate ability (CA) reputation, following attached to an extension product (high fit vs. low fit). And then, they were given a 5-point scale to report their acceptance intention (AI) toward the brand extension. Behavioral data showed a higher AI and a shorter reaction time for high fit in contrast to low fit conditions. For low fit conditions, consumers were more inclined to accept the extension product with a brand with CSR than CA reputation. Neurophysiologically, CSR reputation evoked a larger P2 amplitude and LPP amplitude than CA reputation. Moreover, the low fit conditions elicited a more positive LPP amplitude than the high fit conditions in the context of a brand with a CSR reputation. Yet, for a brand with a CA reputation, the effect of perceived fit was not found. These results may reflect early attention resources engagement and altruistic motivation at the late stage during brand extension evaluation. The findings provided neurological evidence for which of the two types of brand reputation (CSR vs. CA) have a more positive effect on brand extension.

The effect of reviewer's review volumes on online consumer reviews' perceived usefulness: An event-related potential study

What is the most useful online consumer review? Consumers face the challenge of identifying useful online consumer reviews, some of which might have been manipulated by retailers. Reviewer's review volumes is the past behavior of a reviewer which is one of the most important cues of the reviewer expertise. While reviewer cues are receiving increasing attention, the effect of reviewer's review volumes on the perceived usefulness of online consumer review remains under-explored. This research explored the underlying neural mechanism of reviewer's review volumes on the perceived usefulness of online consumer reviews by applying the event-related potentials (ERPs) approach. Behaviorally, a higher perceived usefulness rate and reduced reaction time were observed for the high-review-volume condition compared to the low-review-volume condition, indicating that the high-review-volume condition was more desirable to the participants. At the neural level, the high-review-volume condition elicited an attenuated N2 and an increased LPP compared with the low-review volume condition, suggesting a more positive evaluation of the high-review volume condition. These results showed the positive impact of the reviewer's review volumes on the perceived usefulness of online consumer reviews and its potential neural substrates.

The Effect of Product Image Dynamism on Purchase Intention for Online Aquatic Product Shopping: An EEG Study

Purpose

The normalization of epidemic prevention and control triggered a fierce scuffle in the e-commerce of fresh food, as well as for aquatic products online shopping. The main difficulty for consumers to buy fresh food online has always been information asymmetry. Previous study reported that the image is still the primary information source to address information asymmetry. Yet, few studies have focused on the image presentation of aquatic products in e-commerce. The current study aims to probe the effect of perceived movement of e-commerce pictures on purchase intention of aquatic products. Further, we examine how consumers’ cognitive conflict and emotion occur when purchasing specific aquatic products with different image dynamism.

Methods

Twenty-eight subjects participated in an experiment with a 2-level product category (fresh vs frozen) × 2-level image dynamism (static vs dynamic) design. During the experiment, participants were asked to rate their purchase intention after they browse the experimental stimulus. We recorded subjects’ electroencephalograms (EEGs) throughout the experiment.

Results

Behaviorally, participants’ purchase intention for the dynamic image was significantly greater than that for the static image, regardless of aquatic product categories. At the neural level, we found that dynamic image produced less cognitive conflict and aroused consumers’ positive feelings, which were reflected in decreased N2 amplitudes and latency as well as increased LPP (late positive potential) amplitude, respectively. This effect was enhanced for fresh aquatic products.

Conclusion

Although picture dynamism only increases perceived movement, it can still induce positive emotions toward the product and lead to a greater purchase intention. The current study emphasized the value of the neuroscience method in revealing consumer cognition and emotion duration product evaluation.

Why Do You Trust News? The Event-Related Potential Evidence of Media Channel and News Type

Media is the principal source of public information, and people's trust in news has been a critical mechanism in social cohesion. In recent years, the vast growth of new media (e.g., internet news portals) has brought huge change to the way information is conveyed, cannibalizing much of the space of traditional media (e.g., traditional newspapers). This has led to renewed attention on media credibility. The study aims to explore the impact of media channel on trust in news and examine the role of news type. Twenty-six participants were asked to make trust–distrust decisions after reading a variety of news headlines from different media channels while undergoing electroencephalography (EEG) monitoring. The electrophysiological results showed that, for hard news (e.g., important news related to public life), the new media condition elicited smaller N100 and larger P200 amplitudes than the traditional media condition. However, for soft news (e.g., entertainment, and non-related to vital interest), there was no significant difference. The study suggests that the fitness of media channel and news type may influence the evaluation of news, impacting participants' affective arousal and attention allocation in the early stage and influencing trust in news. These results provide neurocognitive evidence of individuals' trust toward hard and soft news consumed via different media channels, yielding new insights into trust in media and contributing to media trust theory.

Event-related brain response to visual cues in individuals with Internet gaming disorder: relevance to attentional bias and decision-making

This study investigated attentional bias toward game-related cues in Internet gaming disorder (IGD) using electrophysiological markers of late positive potential (LPP) and identifying the sources of LPP. In addition, the association between LPP and decision-making ability was investigated. The IGD (n = 40) and healthy control (HC; n = 39) participants viewed a series of game-related and neutral pictures, while their event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. LPPs were calculated as the mean amplitudes between 400 and 700 ms at the centro-parietal (CP3, CP1, Cpz, CP2, and CP4) and parietal (P3, P1, Pz, P2, and P4) electrode sites. The source activations of LPP were estimated using standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (sLORETA). In addition, decision-making ability was evaluated by the Cambridge Gambling Task. Higher LPP amplitudes were found for game-related cues in the IGD group than in the HC group. sLORETA showed that the IGD group was more active in the superior and middle temporal gyri, which are involved in social perception, than in the HC group, whereas it was less active in the frontal area. Individuals with IGD have deficits in decision-making ability. In addition, in the HC group, the lower the LPP when looking at the game-related stimuli, the better the quality of decision-making, but not in the IGD group. Enhanced LPP amplitudes are associated with emotional arousal to gaming cues and decision-making deficits in IGD. In addition, source activities suggest that patients with IGD perceive game-related cues as social stimuli. LPP can be used as a neurophysiological marker of IGD.

The Impact of Social Crowding on Consumers' Online Mobile Shopping: Evidence from Behavior and ERPs

Purpose

Social crowding refers to the extent of social presence and proximity to others. A large number of studies have explored the effect of social crowding on consumers' feelings and behaviours in real shopping scenes, whereas few studies have examined the potential marketing effect of social crowding on online mobile consumption behaviour despite mobile commerce's increasing popularity in recent years. The current intends to explore the effect of social crowding on online mobile purchase and its underlying neural basis.

Methods

The current study employed a questionnaire survey and an implicit panic buying experiment, in which the participants were asked to press the button as soon as possible to buy the showed product. A 2-level social crowding (low vs high) × 2-level feedback of panic buying (success vs fail) design was employed to test the negative impact of social crowding on consumers' online mobile purchase intention by using electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings.

Results

Behaviorally, participants showed higher purchase intention in low social crowding environment compared with the high crowding condition. The event-related potentials (ERPs) results indicated that consumers had a higher affective/motivational evaluation (reflected in a smaller feedback-related negativity (FRN) amplitude) regarding the successful rather than the failing feedback in the low social crowding condition. However, this difference was not detected in the high social crowding condition. Meanwhile, more attentional resources (reflected in a greater P300 amplitude) were directed toward processing the feedback outcomes in the low rather than the high social crowding condition.

Conclusion

The current study provided neurophysiological response that social crowding negatively influences consumers' online purchase intention. Some implications for theory and practice were also discussed.

The Effect of Reviewers' Self-Disclosure of Personal Review Record on Consumer Purchase Decisions: An ERPs Investigation

Personal review record, as a form of personally identifiable information, refers to the past review information of a reviewer. The disclosure of reviewers' personal information on electronic commerce websites has been found to substantially impact consumers' perception regarding the credibility of online reviews. However, personal review record has received little attention in prior research. The current study investigated whether the disclosure of personal review record influenced consumers' information processing and decision making by adopting event-related potentials (ERPs) measures, as ERPs allow for a nuanced examination of the neural mechanisms that underlie cognitive processes. At the behavioral level, we found that the purchase rate was higher and that the reaction time was shorter when the review record was disclosed (vs. when it was not), indicating that the disclosed condition was more favorable to the participants. Moreover, ERPs data showed that the disclosed condition induced an attenuated N400 component and an increased LPP component relative to the undisclosed condition, suggesting that the former condition gave rise to less cognitive and emotional conflict and to more positive evaluations. Thus, by elucidating potential cognitive and neural underpinnings, this study demonstrates the positive impact of reviewers' disclosure of personal review record on consumers' purchase decisions.

Picking Your Brains: Where and How Neuroscience Tools Can Enhance Marketing Research

The use of neuroscience tools to study consumer behavior and the decision making process in marketing has improved our understanding of cognitive, neuronal, and emotional mechanisms related to marketing-relevant behavior. However, knowledge about neuroscience tools that are used in consumer neuroscience research is scattered. In this article, we present the results of a literature review that aims to provide an overview of the available consumer neuroscience tools and classifies them according to their characteristics. We analyse a total of 219 full-texts in the area of consumer neuroscience. Our findings suggest that there are seven tools that are currently used in consumer neuroscience research. In particular, electroencephalography (EEG) and eye tracking (ET) are the most commonly used tools in the field. We also find that consumer neuroscience tools are used to study consumer preferences and behaviors in different marketing domains such as advertising, branding, online experience, pricing, product development and product experience. Finally, we identify two ready-to-use platforms, namely iMotions and GRAIL that can help in integrating the measurements of different consumer neuroscience tools simultaneously. Measuring brain activity and physiological responses on a common platform could help by (1) reducing time and costs for experiments and (2) linking cognitive and emotional aspects with neuronal processes. Overall, this article provides relevant input in setting directions for future research and for business applications in consumer neuroscience. We hope that this study will provide help to researchers and practitioners in identifying available, non-invasive and useful tools to study consumer behavior.

Framing Effects on Online Security Behavior

We conducted an incentivized lab experiment examining the effect of gain vs. loss-framed warning messages on online security behavior. We measured the probability of suffering a cyberattack during the experiment as the result of five specific security behaviors: choosing a safe connection, providing minimum information during the sign-up process, choosing a strong password, choosing a trusted vendor, and logging-out. A loss-framed message led to more secure behavior during the experiment. The experiment also measured the effect of trusting beliefs and cybersecurity knowledge. Trusting beliefs had a negative effect on security behavior, while cybersecurity knowledge had a positive effect.

Message framing and self-conscious emotions help to understand pro-environment consumer purchase intention: an ERP study

Message framing plays an important role in advertising strategies and has been studied from various perspectives in different behavioral researches. In this study Event Rated Potentials technique helped to examine the neural mechanism of message framing effect on self-conscious emotions of pride and guilt regarding consumer purchase intention in the context of green marketing. Behavioral results showed that participants ranked higher on positive framing compared to negative framing. ERP results declared that N1 component was elicited by positive framed message with emotion of pride and guilt, reflecting use of attentional resources to acquire potential benefits at first stage of processing emotional information. At the second stage P2 was higher for negative framing containing pride and guilt slogan, showing more attention towards processing emotional information about potential loss. At the third stage LPP component portray that both positive and negative framing is supported by guilt emotion when processing emotional information in decision making. Our results delivered strong evidence that how purchase intention can be mediated by message framing under the pride and guilt emotions in the context of green marketing.

Attentional and emotional brain response to message framing in context of green marketing

Background

Message framing plays an important role in advertising strategies and has been studied from various perspectives in different behavioral studies.

New method

This study employs the event-related potential technique to examine attentional and emotional brain processing as influenced by message framing in the context of green marketing.

Results

The behavioral results demonstrated that purchase preference was higher under positive framing compared to negative and neutral framing.

As per the event-related potential results, negative framing elicited a larger P1 component, which reveals that in the first stage of processing information, threatening information attracted more attention. In the second and third stage, N170 and P3, respectively, were higher for positive framing, demonstrating that there was more attention toward the processing of non-threatening emotional information.

Comparison with existing method: Message Framing has been previously examined with behavioral methods. We for the first time examined it with a neuroscientific method like Event Related Brain Potential technique in a green marketing context.

Conclusion

Our results compared to behavioral studies provide stronger evidence from underlying neural perspective for how message framing can be affected by attentional and emotional brain responses in the context of green marketing.

Self-Initiated Actions Under Different Choice Architectures Affect Framing and Target Evaluation Even Without Verbal Manipulation

Logically equivalent but different descriptions (i.e., manipulation of verbal expressions) affect decision-making in a phenomenon known as the framing effect. A choice architecture changes decision-makers’ actions, which in turn create different frames, but little is known about whether the frame created by their action can change their judgments. We examined whether self-initiated action induced by a choice architecture changed evaluations. In two experimental studies (N = 271), we found that self-initiated actions whose final goal was completely the same and for which no verbal expressions were manipulated led to different evaluations. In particular, we found that a difference in the placement of rewards, which required participants to behave differently, changed their ratings of satisfaction with the rewards. This study provides evidence that the framing effect can occur without verbal manipulation. This finding advances our understanding of how participants’ actions lead to different evaluations.

Differential Effects of Monetary and Social Rewards on Product Online Rating Decisions in E-Commerce in China

Humans can change their behaviors to obtain environmental rewards (e.g., money, food, and sex). However, our knowledge regarding how rewards affect human behaviors by priming and whether there are differences among types of rewards is limited. This study focused on whether monetary and social rewards have different priming effects on product rating decisions in e-commerce by using a behavioral experiment and event-related potentials (ERPs). Using cash/discount coupons as a monetary reward and greeting cards as a social reward, the behavioral data showed that unsatisfactory products with a monetary reward induced a less negative consumer attitude than those with a social reward or no reward; additionally, such products were associated with a longer reaction time while rating products than those with a social reward, reflecting that monetary rewards made it more difficult for the subjects to rate unsatisfactory products than social rewards. The P2, N2, and P3 components of the ERP data were evaluated. Unsatisfactory products caused negative emotion, which could be compensated more by the monetary reward than the social reward as reflected by a smaller P2 amplitude. Due to the compensation effect of the monetary reward, unsatisfactory products were associated with more decision conflict than the social reward as reflected by a more negative N2 amplitude, which is consistent with the behavioral results. However, in the subsequent controlled process, regardless of whether the products were satisfactory or unsatisfactory, the monetary reward caused more attention reallocation and was more motivating than the social reward as reflected by a larger P3 component. These findings have implications for the marketing strategy of online sellers and value of online reviews and suggest attaching importance to ethical issues induced by monetary rewards in rating behaviors.

Focus to an attribute with verbal or numerical quantifiers affects the attribute framing effect

People find positive attribute frames (e.g., 75% lean) more persuasive than negative ones (e.g., 25% fat). In three pre-registered experiments, we tested whether this effect would be magnified by using verbal quantifiers instead of numerical ones (e.g., 'high % lean' vs. '75% lean'). This moderating effect of quantifier format was predicted based on previous empirical work and two non-exclusive accounts of framing effects. First, verbal quantifiers are presumed to be a more intuitive format than numerical quantifiers, so might predispose people more to judgement biases such as the framing effect. Second, verbal quantifiers draw a greater focus to the attributes they describe. This could provide a linguistic signal that the positive frame is better than the negative one. In three experiments, we manipulated the attribute frame (positive or negative) and the quantifier format (verbal or numerical) between-subjects, and quantity pairs (e.g., 5% fat and 95% lean or 25% fat and 75% lean) within-subjects. We also tested if participants focused more on the attributes in the frame, by measuring whether participants selected causal sentence completions about the beef that focused on why it had fat meat or lean meat. Results showed a robust framing effect, which was partially mediated by the focus of the sentence completions. However, the verbal format did not increase the magnitude of the framing effect. These results suggest that a focus on the attribute contributes to the framing effect, but contrary to past work, this focus is not different between verbal and numerical quantifiers.

Symbolic Product Superiority in the Neural Salience of Compensatory Consumption Behavior

To cope with self-threat being induced by personal setbacks in daily life, compensatory consumption, especially on symbolic product, has been found to do valuable help to resolve discrepancies between ideal and actual self-concept. Conforming to symbolic self-completion theory, the current study adopted event-related potentials to explore the objective information processing stages in self-concept-impaired status (the defeat group) on a neural level. The behavioral results replicated previous findings that the defeat group gained stronger purchase intention for symbolic products than utilitarian products. The electrophysiological data demonstrated that perceptual difficulties for products in preliminary stage (N1) were steady among conditions, and after that, information processing separation emerged. In contrast to the individuals with a draw experience, those with a defeat experience raised highly focused attention (P2) and eager expectation (N2) for products, especially for symbolic ones. Meanwhile, symbolic (vs. utilitarian) products also evoked a higher emotional arousal level and slowed the diminishment of involved attentional resource (late positive potential) at late cognitive processing stage. Taken together, the sequential integration of multiple neural indicators contributes to elucidating the processing stages of compensatory consumption behavior.

The Brand Scandal Spillover Effect at the Country Level: Evidence From Event-Related Potentials

The spillover effect of brand scandals commonly exists, and this effect will damage the image of the company, industry or even country in which the scandal occurred. Most previous studies on the brand scandal spillover effect have mainly focused on the corporate and industry levels. However, with the development of brand internalization and media technology, the spillover effect at the country level is becoming increasingly common. In the current study, we conducted an event-related potentials study to explore the spillover effect of brand scandals on the country level as well as its underlying neural basis. Specifically, we compared consumers’ attitudes toward countries of origin with different stereotypes during different types of brand scandals. When a competence scandal took place in a competence stereotype country, a larger P2 mean amplitude was elicited compared to a warmth stereotype country. When a morality scandal took place in a warmth stereotype country, a larger LPP mean amplitude was induced compared to a competence stereotype country. We explain the current results based on expectancy violations theory. When competence scandals take place in competence stereotype countries, there will be a greater degree of violation of expectations compared with that in warmth stereotype countries, which leads to a negative evaluation of the country of origin. When morality scandals take place in warmth stereotype countries, people had a stronger negative emotional arousal when morality scandals happened in the warmth stereotype country.

The Neural Basis of Herding Decisions in Enterprise Clustering: An Event-Related Potential Study

Herding behavior refers to the social phenomenon in which people are intensely influenced by the decisions and behaviors of others in the same group. Although several recent studies have explored the neural basis of herding decisions in people’s daily lives (e.g., consumption decisions), the neural processing of herding decisions underlying enterprise behavior is still unclear. To address this issue, this study extracted event-related potentials (ERPs) from electroencephalographic data when participants (i.e., top executives in real enterprises) performed a choice task in which they judged whether to let their enterprises settle in an industrial zone when the occupancy rate of the industrial zone was either low or high. The behavioral results showed that participants had a higher acceptance rate in the high occupancy rate condition than in the low one, suggesting the existence of herding tendency in top executives’ business decisions. The ERP results indicated that anticonformity choices induced a larger N2 amplitude than herding choices, demonstrating that participants might experience larger perceived risk and more decision conflict when they processed anticonformity choices. In contrast, we observed that herding choices induced a larger LPP amplitude than anticonformity choices, hinting that participants might experience better evaluation categorization and higher decision confidence when they processed herding choices. Based on these results, this study provides new insights into the neural basis of herding decisions made by top executives in business.

Don't trick me: An event-related potentials investigation of how price deception decreases consumer purchase intention

As a kind of information deception, price deception is adopted by some online sellers as an approach to mislead the consumers into buying their products. However, when consumers have sufficient knowledge about the price information, the effect of price deception on their purchase decision making remains elusive. Therefore, behavioural and event-related potentials measures were combined to investigate this issue. Behaviourally, a higher purchase rate and reduced reaction time were observed in the truthful condition relative to the deceptive condition, suggesting that the truthful condition was more favourable to the participants. At the neural level, the truthful condition triggered an attenuated N2 and an increased LPP compared with the deceptive condition, indicating less cognitive and decisional conflict and more positive evaluation of the truthful condition. Taken together, these results revealed the negative impact of price deception on purchase decision making and its potential neural substrates.

When does the discount look more attractive: neural correlates of discount framing effect in the purchase of bundles

Bundling, as a common selling strategy, is often used along with a price discount. However, relatively little is known about the neural correlates of discount framing effect in the bundling context. In the current study, we recorded event-related potentials while participants were performing a virtual shopping task in which they had to decide whether or not to buy bundles. Each bundle consisted of a relatively high-priced product and a relatively low-priced product, and three discount frames with practically identical total prices were devised for each bundle. The price reduction was described either as a discount on the individual component [discount on the high-priced product (DH); discount on the low-priced product (DL)] or on the overall bundle (DB). Behavioral data showed that DH and DB led to higher purchase rate than DL. Electrophysiological data revealed increased P300 amplitudes for DH and DB relative to DL, which was suggestive of the cognitive process of evaluative categorization. In addition, attenuated LPP amplitudes were observed for DH and DL compared with DB, indicating higher cognitive load for DH and DL. Overall, these results demonstrate the discount framing effect in the purchase of bundles and the potential neural correlates of this effect.

Neurological effects of product price and evaluation on online purchases based on event-related potentials

In order to better understand how price and evaluation impact consumers' decision making, this research examined the neural bases underlying consumers' cognition of the two important clues when shopping online. An ERP experiment was conducted involving 19 Chinese students and the behavior data revealed that product price and evaluation significantly influenced their willingness to purchase mobile phones online, and the speed with which they made purchase decisions supported cue-diagnosis theory. Further, ERP results indicated three neural stages of decision-making: early automatic cognition with emotional valence and negativity bias effects elicited by product evaluation ratings, an evaluation stage exhibiting an attention, and a final stage featuring an evaluation-categorization pattern associated with pleasurable sensations. Specifically, those three neural stages of online decision-making were coded with corresponding event-related potentials in brain, that is, N1 and P2 in automatic cognition stage, P300 in evaluation phase, LPP in concluding phase. Hence, the research results reveal neurological effects of product price and evaluation on online purchases and deepen our comprehension of consumers' cognitive process.