This study aimed to investigate the influence of visual symbols on the perception and evaluation of two fictitious products as well as the effect of demographic characteristics (nationality) on consumers' evaluations. A sample of 373 participants was split into two groups and two experimental conditions (products with Swiss symbols and products without Swiss symbols). One group of participants rated the packaging without a Swiss flag and the other one rated the same packaging with a Swiss flag. A semantic differential scale and the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM) were used to assess attitudes toward the products. Results confirm that there are differences between the two independent groups and that nationality has an effect on product perception and evaluation. Visual symbols such as a country flag can lead to a better product perception and evaluation. Finally, implications for research are discussed.

Consumer knowledge is seldom complete or errorless. Therefore, the self-assessed validity of knowledge and consequent knowledge calibration (i.e., the correspondence between self-assessed and actual validity) is an important issue for the study of consumer decision making. In this article we describe methods and models used in calibration research. We then review a wide variety of empirical results indicating that high levels of calibration are achieved rarely, moderate levels that include some degree of systematic bias are the norm, and confidence and accuracy are sometimes completely uncorrelated. Finally, we examine the explanations of miscalibration and offer suggestions for future research.

Recent trends in marketing have demonstrated an increased focus on in-store expenditures with the hope of "grabbing consumers" at the point of purchase, but does this make sense? To help answer this question, the authors examine the interplay between in-store and out-of-store factors on consumer attention to and evaluation of brands displayed on supermarket shelves. Using an eye-tracking experiment, they find that the number of facings has a strong impact on evaluation that is entirely mediated by its effect on visual attention and works particularly well for frequent users of the brand, for low-market-share brands, and for young and highly educated consumers who are willing to trade off brand and price. They also find that gaining in-store attention is not always sufficient to drive sales. For example, top-and middle-shelf positions gain more attention than low-shelf positions; however, only topshelf positions carry through to brand evaluation. The results underscore the importance of combining eye-tracking and purchase data to obtain a full picture of the effects of in-store and out-of-store marketing at the point of purchase.

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Geometric models impose an upper bound on the number of points that can share the same nearest neighbor. A much more restrictive bound is implied by the assumption that the data points represent a sample from some continuous distribution in a multidimensional Euclidean space. The analysis of 100 data sets shows that most perceptual data satisfy the geometric-statistical bound whereas many conceptual data sets exceed it. The most striking discrepancies between the data and their multidimensional representations arise in semantic fields when the stimulus set includes a focal element (e.g., a superordinate category) that is the nearest neighbor of many of its instances. Theoretical and methodological implications of nearest neighbor analysis are discussed.