Three minutes to change preferences: perceptual fluency and response inhibition

Abstract

Perceptual fluency and response inhibition are well-established techniques to unobtrusively manipulate preference: objects are devalued following association with disfluency or inhibition. These approaches to preference change are extensively studied individually, but there is less research examining the impact of combining the two techniques in a single intervention. In short (3 min) game-like tasks, we examine the preference and memory effects of perceptual fluency and inhibition individually, and then the cumulative effects of combining the two techniques. The first experiment confirmed that perceptual fluency and inhibition techniques influence immediate preference judgements but, somewhat surprisingly, combining these techniques did not lead to greater effects than either technique alone. The second experiment replicated the first but with changes to much more closely imitate a real-world application: measuring preference after 20 min of unrelated intervening tasks, modifying the retrieval context via room change, and generalization from computer images of objects to real-world versions of those objects. Here, the individual effects of perceptual fluency and inhibition were no longer detected, whereas combining these techniques resulted in preference change. These results demonstrate the potential of short video games as a means of influencing behaviour, such as food choices to improve health and well-being.

Factors influencing the visual deliciousness / eye-appeal of food

“…At the same time, however, research from Maille et al (2020) has shown that even something as simple as presenting graspable objects in the background (e.g., mugs, wine glasses, and yoghurt pots) can lead to an increase in the viewer's intention to purchase non-graspable target products Although Maille and colleagues' study concerned non-food products, the same principles might well be expected to apply in the case of edible food products. It is, though, best not to place anything (such as objects) between the viewer and the food (Cannon, Hayes, & Tipper, 2020;Makris, Hadar, & Yarrow, 2011;McKean, Flavell, Over, & Tipper, 2020), as this will likely interfere with the viewer's embodied mental simulation of eating the food thus, in turn, reducing their liking for what they see.…”

Interacting with food: Tasting with the hands

“…Ultimately, the ease (or fluency) versus difficulty of the bodily movements required to manipulate food from plate or bowl to mouth by means of different kinds of cutlery are very often culturally-determined and may either enhance, or impede, a diner's enjoyment of a particular food/multisensory eating experience (cf. McKean et al, 2020). As such, proprioceptive fluency (or disfluency) is another important factor that can enhance or negatively impact the experience of what we are eating.…”