Gazing behavior, choice and color of food: Does gazing behavior predict choice?

Abstract This study investigated the effect of food color on gazing behavior using eye-tracking technology and the correlation between gazing behavior and choice decision. Tobii T60 eye-tracker was used for analyzing the gazing behavior of consumers. Images of three different food products with three different colors each (yellow, green, pink) were used as stimuli. Seventy-three subjects were recruited; color blind individuals were excluded from the test. After the eye tracking procedure, the test persons had to decide which sample they preferred. Results show that the colors of the used food products significantly affected the gazing behavior and the choice. Fixation count and visit duration correlated significantly in a positive way with choice rate. This insight highlights the importance of visual attraction for the choosing behavior and it might open the chance to predict choice behavior measuring gazing behavior.

[1]  Andrew Hollingworth,et al.  Eye Movements During Scene Viewing: An Overview , 1998 .

[2]  A. Rangel,et al.  Multialternative drift-diffusion model predicts the relationship between visual fixations and choice in value-based decisions , 2011, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[3]  L. Ou,et al.  The Relationship Between Visual Perceptions and Taste Expectations Using Food Colours , 2012 .

[4]  Howard R. Moskowitz,et al.  Extending rule developing experimentation to perception of food packages with eye tracking. , 2009 .

[5]  Oleg V. Komogortsev,et al.  Body mass index moderates gaze orienting biases and pupil diameter to high and low calorie food images , 2011, Appetite.

[6]  Ian Krajbich,et al.  Visual fixations and the computation and comparison of value in simple choice , 2010, Nature Neuroscience.

[7]  M. Hautzinger,et al.  Attentional Processing of Food Pictures in Individuals with Anorexia Nervosa—An Eye-Tracking Study , 2011, Biological Psychiatry.

[8]  Matt Field,et al.  Eye movements to smoking-related cues: effects of nicotine deprivation , 2004, Psychopharmacology.

[9]  Svetlana Bialkova,et al.  An efficient methodology for assessing attention to and effect of nutrition information displayed front-of-pack , 2011 .

[10]  Doris Jaros,et al.  Appearance Properties—A Significant Contribution to Sensory Food Quality? , 2000 .

[11]  A. Thybo,et al.  A method to measure the effect of food appearance factors on children’s visual preferences , 2011 .

[12]  Food Attractiveness and Gazing Behaviour , 2010 .

[13]  A. Rangel,et al.  Biasing simple choices by manipulating relative visual attention , 2008, Judgment and Decision Making.

[14]  Nazlin Imram,et al.  The role of visual cues in consumer perception and acceptance of a food product , 1999 .

[15]  L. Engelen,et al.  Amount of ingested custard dessert as affected by its color, odor, and texture , 2004, Physiology & Behavior.

[16]  E. Köster Diversity in the determinants of food choice: A psychological perspective , 2009 .

[17]  J. Schanda Expectations and the Food Industry: The Impact of Color and Appearance , 2004 .

[18]  F. Clydesdale COLOR PERCEPTION AND FOOD QUALITY , 1991 .

[19]  Evonne J. Charboneau,et al.  Obese adults have visual attention bias for food cue images: evidence for altered reward system function , 2009, International Journal of Obesity.

[20]  Joseph H. Goldberg,et al.  Identifying fixations and saccades in eye-tracking protocols , 2000, ETRA.

[21]  M. Ronnier Luo,et al.  Optimisation of food expectations using product colour and appearance , 2012 .

[22]  Antonio Rangel,et al.  The Decision Value Computations in the vmPFC and Striatum Use a Relative Value Code That is Guided by Visual Attention , 2011, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[23]  Harry T. Lawless,et al.  Color and Appearance , 1999 .