Number representation is influenced by numerical processing level: an ERP study

Does mobile payment change consumers' perception during payment process? -An ERP study

Innovative payment methods have been getting worldwide attention. Exploring the mechanisms behind consumers' purchase behaviors modulated by different payment methods was critical but challenging. In this paper, we proposed a 2 (payment methods: cash payment vs mobile payment) × 2 (price levels of products: high vs low) Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) experiment to study the difference of cash payment and mobile payment on consumers' purchase intention of products in different price level from a neuroscience perspective. Greater P200 amplitude was found in mobile payment condition, which meant that mobile payment captured more early attention resources than cash. Larger N270 amplitude was found in cash payment condition as the participants had to spend more cognitive resources and struggled more when using cash. Moreover, lower N270 amplitude was found in high-price product condition, which indicated that when there were limited cognitive resources, the affective process played a dominating role. Specifically, buying the high-price products with mobile payment, the consumers would experience the pleasure of consumption more rather than the pain of paying. The study offers insights on the cognitive process of consumers when they pay with different methods.

Face-like configurations modulate electrophysiological mismatch responses

The human face is one of the most salient stimuli in the environment. It has been suggested that even basic face-like configurations (three dots composing a downward pointing triangle) may convey salience. Interestingly, stimulus salience can be signaled by mismatch detection phenomena, characterized by greater amplitudes of event-related potentials (ERPs) in response to relevant novel stimulation as compared to non-relevant repeated events. Here, we investigate whether basic face-like stimuli are salient enough to modulate mismatch detection phenomena. ERPs are elicited by a pair of sequentially presented visual stimuli (S1-S2), delivered at a constant 1-s interval, representing either a face-like stimulus (Upright configuration) or three neutral configurations (Inverted, Leftwards, and Rightwards configurations), that are obtained by rotating the Upright configuration along the three different axes. In pairs including a canonical face-like stimulus, we observe a more effective mismatch detection mechanism, with significantly larger N270 and P300 components when S2 is different from S1 as compared to when S2 is identical to S1. This ERP modulation, not significant in pairs excluding face-like stimuli, reveals that mismatch detection phenomena are significantly affected by basic face-like configurations. Even though further experiments are needed to ascertain whether this effect is specifically elicited by face-like configuration rather than by particular orientation changes, our findings suggest that face essential, structural attributes are salient enough to affect change detection processes.

The effects of brand familiarity and product category in brand extension: An ERP study

In this paper, neural features influenced by brand familiarity and category were investigated in a brand extension experiment by using conventional event-related potentials (ERPs) and time-frequency analysis. Twenty-four participants were required to decide whether to accept the extension of one brand (stimulus 1) to a certain product category (stimulus 2) in a 2 familiarity x 2 category paradigm. Stimulus 1 consisted of household appliance brands that had different degrees of familiarity (high familiarity vs. low familiarity) to a certain participant, and stimulus 2 consisted of two categories of products (high conflict vs. low conflict). Twenty-two sets of valid data were used for data analysis. We found greater N270 amplitudes in the low-familiarity brand condition and in the high-conflict product category condition, which meant that the participants had to devote more cognitive resources when the brand was less familiar and felt more conflict when the brand was extended to the high-conflict product category. According to the time-frequency analysis results, brand familiarity and product category were found to have a significant effect on the amplitude of theta-band power (4-7.5 Hz) at frontal electrodes in the time period of 270-340 ms. This result indicated that the activity of individual nodes of the language processing networks increased when the extension product category was mismatched with respect to the brand name and that the related memory of the brand was activated and the long-term memory was extracted when the participants faced the high-familiarity brand extension. The study provides an insightful view of how brand familiarity and category influence consumers' cognitive processes regarding brand extension.

A Facilitatory Effect of Perceptual Incongruity on Target-Source Matching in Pictorial Metaphors of Chinese Advertising: EEG Evidence

Using evoked response potentials, we investigated the implicit detection of incongruity during target-source matching in pictorial metaphors of Chinese advertising. Participants saw an image of a product (the target in a visual metaphorical relationship), and then made a same-different judgment in response to a second image (the source in a visual metaphorical relationship) which was (in)congruous to the first image in terms of shape and/or function. We collected behavioral (button-press reaction time and accuracy), and neural (N270, delta and theta band activity) measures. The time-frequency analysis showed faster processing of incongruous visual information. Moreover, shape and conceptual incongruity were associated with increased N270 amplitude as well as delta (1-3 Hz) and theta (4-8 Hz) band power. Noticeably, compared with conceptual incongruity, shape incongruity evoked a larger N270 amplitude and stronger delta and theta band oscillation. In addition, the average topographical analysis revealed a frontal and central distribution of the power activity. The analysis of attitudes towards the advertising metaphor pictures also proved the supportive role played by incongruity. In conclusion, incongruity facilitates target-source matching in pictorial metaphors of Chinese advertising. The findings obtained from the study are important to metaphor designs of advertising pictures.