In diverse social environments, recommendations from others have the power to change consumer behavior. In this study, we explore the influence of recommendations made by others with whom consumers have different degrees of familiarity on the cognitive processes of online shopping using event-related potentials (ERPs). Sixteen healthy university subjects were recruited for 2 experiment tasks. These subjects viewed a stimulus sequence of pictures of certain products that contained either recommendations from individuals with whom they had low familiarity or no recommendation. Several days later, they viewed the other stimulus sequence of the same product pictures but this time with either recommendations from individuals with whom they had high familiarity or no recommendation. Electroencephalogram data were recorded during the experiment. Compared to having no recommendations, the results showed that the ERP components N2 and P3 evoked by recommendations were different: The recommendations from low-familiarity individuals induced the largest average amplitude of N2, and the recommendations from high-familiarity individuals induced the largest average amplitude of P3. The results suggest that N2 reflects the process of identifying the recommendation information, and P3 reflects consumers’ propensity to purchase recommended products, or the cognitive process of selection based on value measurement. These findings indicate that recommendations may impact consumer responses and highlight the importance of careful consideration of social preferences in marketing.

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Background: Typhus group rickettsiosis (TGR), which is a neglected vector-borne infectious disease, including epidemic typhus and endemic typhus. We explored the lag effects and nonlinear association between meteorological factors and TGR incidence in Xishuangbanna Dai autonomous prefecture from 2005 to 2017, China. Methods: A Poisson regression with a distributed lag nonlinear model (DLNM) was utilized to analyze TGR cases data and the contemporaneous meteorological data. Results: A J-shaped nonlinear association between weekly mean temperature and TGR incidence was found. The cumulative exposure to weekly mean temperature indicated that the RR increased with the increment of temperature. Taking the median value as the reference, lower temperatures could decrease the risk of TGR incidence, while higher temperatures could increase the risk of TGR incidence and last for 21 weeks. We also found a reversed U-shaped nonlinear association between weekly mean precipitation and TGR incidence. Precipitation between 5 mm and 13 mm could increase the risk of TGR incidence. Taking the median value as the reference, no precipitation and lower precipitation could decrease the risk of TGR incidence, while higher precipitation could increase the risk of TGR incidence and last for 18 weeks. Conclusions: The prevention and control measures of TGR should be implemented according to climatic conditions by the local government and health departments in order to improve the efficiency.