Salient nutrition labels increase the integration of health attributes in food decision-making
Every day, people struggle to make healthy eating decisions. Nutrition labels have been used to help people properly balance the tradeoff between healthiness and taste, but research suggests that these labels vary in their effectiveness. Here, we investigated the cognitive mechanism underlying value...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Cambridge University Press
2016-09-01
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| Series: | Judgment and Decision Making |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.sjdm.org/16/16620/jdm16620.pdf |
| _version_ | 1797707852526125056 |
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| author | Laura Enax Ian Krajbich Bernd Weber |
| author_facet | Laura Enax Ian Krajbich Bernd Weber |
| author_sort | Laura Enax |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Every day, people
struggle to make healthy eating decisions. Nutrition labels have been used to
help people properly balance the tradeoff between healthiness and taste, but
research suggests that these labels vary in their effectiveness. Here, we
investigated the cognitive mechanism underlying value-based decisions with
nutrition labels as modulators of value. More specifically, we used a binary
decision task between products along with two different nutrition labels to
examine how salient, color-coded labels, compared to purely information-based
labels, alter the choice process. Using drift-diffusion modeling, we
investigated whether color-coded labels alter the valuation process, or whether
they induce a simple stimulus-response association consistent with the
traffic-light colors irrespective of the features of the item, which would
manifest in a starting point bias in the model. We show that color-coded labels
significantly increased healthy choices by increasing the rate of preference
formation (drift rate) towards healthier options without altering the starting
point. Salient labels increased the sensitivity to health and decreased the
weight on taste, indicating that the integration of health and taste attributes
during the choice process is sensitive to how information is displayed. Salient
labels proved to be more effective in altering the valuation process towards
healthier, goal-directed decisions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T06:13:38Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5d2f0b5833e64b8f8046610a14ddb954 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1930-2975 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T06:13:38Z |
| publishDate | 2016-09-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Judgment and Decision Making |
| spelling | doaj.art-5d2f0b5833e64b8f8046610a14ddb9542023-09-03T02:49:12ZengCambridge University PressJudgment and Decision Making1930-29752016-09-01115460471Salient nutrition labels increase the integration of health attributes in food decision-makingLaura EnaxIan KrajbichBernd WeberEvery day, people struggle to make healthy eating decisions. Nutrition labels have been used to help people properly balance the tradeoff between healthiness and taste, but research suggests that these labels vary in their effectiveness. Here, we investigated the cognitive mechanism underlying value-based decisions with nutrition labels as modulators of value. More specifically, we used a binary decision task between products along with two different nutrition labels to examine how salient, color-coded labels, compared to purely information-based labels, alter the choice process. Using drift-diffusion modeling, we investigated whether color-coded labels alter the valuation process, or whether they induce a simple stimulus-response association consistent with the traffic-light colors irrespective of the features of the item, which would manifest in a starting point bias in the model. We show that color-coded labels significantly increased healthy choices by increasing the rate of preference formation (drift rate) towards healthier options without altering the starting point. Salient labels increased the sensitivity to health and decreased the weight on taste, indicating that the integration of health and taste attributes during the choice process is sensitive to how information is displayed. Salient labels proved to be more effective in altering the valuation process towards healthier, goal-directed decisions.http://journal.sjdm.org/16/16620/jdm16620.pdfnutrition labels decision-making diffusion model drift rate value-based decision makingNAKeywords |
| spellingShingle | Laura Enax Ian Krajbich Bernd Weber Salient nutrition labels increase the integration of health attributes in food decision-making Judgment and Decision Making nutrition labels decision-making diffusion model drift rate value-based decision makingNAKeywords |
| title | Salient nutrition
labels increase the integration of health attributes in food
decision-making |
| title_full | Salient nutrition
labels increase the integration of health attributes in food
decision-making |
| title_fullStr | Salient nutrition
labels increase the integration of health attributes in food
decision-making |
| title_full_unstemmed | Salient nutrition
labels increase the integration of health attributes in food
decision-making |
| title_short | Salient nutrition
labels increase the integration of health attributes in food
decision-making |
| title_sort | salient nutrition labels increase the integration of health attributes in food decision making |
| topic | nutrition labels decision-making diffusion model drift rate value-based decision makingNAKeywords |
| url | http://journal.sjdm.org/16/16620/jdm16620.pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT lauraenax salientnutritionlabelsincreasetheintegrationofhealthattributesinfooddecisionmaking AT iankrajbich salientnutritionlabelsincreasetheintegrationofhealthattributesinfooddecisionmaking AT berndweber salientnutritionlabelsincreasetheintegrationofhealthattributesinfooddecisionmaking |