Shaping consumption propensity through the emotional response evoked by nutritional labels: Evidence from an fMRI study

The study aims to investigate a) the ability of nutritional labels in pictorial and textual form to guide consumption choices applying the dual-coding theory; b) the effectiveness of a new type of pictorial label (i.e. the body label) that appeals to the self-congruence theory and to positive emotio...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Food research international Vol. 125; p. 108547
Main Authors: Zerbini, Cristina, Luceri, Beatrice, Marchetti, Antonella, Di Dio, Cinzia
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Canada Elsevier Ltd 01.11.2019
Subjects:
brain
cognition
Dual-coding theory
Emotional response
experimental design
fMRI
food choices
healthy diet
ideal body weight
issues and policy
magnetic resonance imaging
nutrition labeling
Nutritional label
Overweight
Self-congruence theory
Self-congruence theory
fMRI
Nutritional label
Dual-coding theory
Emotional response
Overweight
ISSN:0963-9969, 1873-7145, 1873-7145
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The study aims to investigate a) the ability of nutritional labels in pictorial and textual form to guide consumption choices applying the dual-coding theory; b) the effectiveness of a new type of pictorial label (i.e. the body label) that appeals to the self-congruence theory and to positive emotional response. The research hypotheses were tested trough a 2x4x2 fMRI experimental design with 2 levels of product version (regular vs light), 4 levels of label type (text vs traffic light vs star rating vs body) and 2 levels of group of people (normal weight vs overweight). The body light label generates more brain activation in areas involved in the reward circuit compared to the body regular one, and compared to all the other types of labels for both versions, only in the overweight subject group. Furthermore, the star rating label has the worst performance in orienting healthy food choices as it requires more cognitive effort. The results are of interest to policy maker's strategies and to out-of-store and in-store communication strategies with the aim to contract the excessive body-weight phenomenon. [Display omitted] •Body light label generates greater brain activation compared to other labels.•Star rating label appears to be less intuitive and more cognitive demanding.•The study has useful implications for the healthy choices promotion.•The results are of interest to policy maker to contract the overweight phenomenon.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:0963-9969
1873-7145
1873-7145
DOI:10.1016/j.foodres.2019.108547