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Wang Y, Di M, Li Y, Liu P, Zhao J, Wang Y. Two fundamentally different mechanisms by which unconscious information impairs behavioral performance: Evidence from fMRI and computational modeling. Neuroimage 2024; 297:120719. [PMID: 38971485 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2024.120719] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2024] [Revised: 06/04/2024] [Accepted: 07/02/2024] [Indexed: 07/08/2024] Open
Abstract
It is increasingly clear that unconscious information impairs the performance of the corresponding action when the instruction to act is delayed. However, whether this impairment occurs at the response level or at the perceptual level remains controversial. This study used fMRI and a computational model with a pre-post design to address this elusive issue. The fMRI results showed that when the unconscious information containing strong stimulus-response associations was irrelevant to subsequent stimuli, the precuneus in the parietal lobe, which is thought to be involved in sensorimotor processing, was activated. In contrast, when the unconscious information was relevant to subsequent stimuli, regardless of the strength of the stimulus-response associations, some regions in the occipital and temporal cortices, which are thought to be involved in visual perceptual processing, were activated. In addition, the percent signal change in the regions of interest associated with motor inhibition was modulated by compatibility in the irrelevant but not in the relevant stimuli conditions. Modeling of behavioral data further supported that the irrelevant and relevant stimuli conditions involved fundamentally different mechanisms. Our finding reconciles the debate about the mechanism by which unconscious information impairs action performance and has important implications for understanding of unconscious cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yongchun Wang
- School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, 710062, China; Shaanxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Behavior & Cognitive Neuroscience, Xi'an, 710062, China
| | - Meilin Di
- Student Mental Health Education Center, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, 710129, China
| | - Ya Li
- School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, 710062, China; Shaanxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Behavior & Cognitive Neuroscience, Xi'an, 710062, China
| | - Peng Liu
- School of Public Management, Northwest University, Xi'an, 710127, China
| | - Jingjing Zhao
- School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, 710062, China; Shaanxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Behavior & Cognitive Neuroscience, Xi'an, 710062, China
| | - Yonghui Wang
- School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, 710062, China; Shaanxi Provincial Key Laboratory of Behavior & Cognitive Neuroscience, Xi'an, 710062, China.
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2
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Hu M, Chang R, Sui X, Gao M. Attention biases the process of risky decision-making: Evidence from eye-tracking. Psych J 2024; 13:157-165. [PMID: 38155408 PMCID: PMC10990817 DOI: 10.1002/pchj.724] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2023] [Accepted: 11/29/2023] [Indexed: 12/30/2023]
Abstract
Attention determines what kind of option information is processed during risky choices owing to the limitation of visual attention. This paper reviews research on the relationship between higher-complexity risky decision-making and attention as illustrated by eye-tracking to explain the process of risky decision-making by the effect of attention. We demonstrate this process from three stages: the pre-phase guidance of options on attention, the process of attention being biased, and the impact of attention on final risk preference. We conclude that exogenous information can capture attention directly to salient options, thereby altering evidence accumulation. In particular, for multi-attribute risky decision-making, attentional advantages increase the weight of specific attributes, thus biasing risk preference in different directions. We highlight the significance of understanding how people use available information to weigh risks from an information-processing perspective via process data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mengchen Hu
- School of Psychology, Liaoning Collaborative Innovation Center of Children and Adolescents Healthy Personality Assessment and CultivationLiaoning Normal UniversityDalianChina
| | - Ruosong Chang
- School of Psychology, Liaoning Collaborative Innovation Center of Children and Adolescents Healthy Personality Assessment and CultivationLiaoning Normal UniversityDalianChina
| | - Xue Sui
- School of Psychology, Liaoning Collaborative Innovation Center of Children and Adolescents Healthy Personality Assessment and CultivationLiaoning Normal UniversityDalianChina
| | - Min Gao
- School of Psychology, Liaoning Collaborative Innovation Center of Children and Adolescents Healthy Personality Assessment and CultivationLiaoning Normal UniversityDalianChina
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3
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Eum B, Dolbier S, Rangel A. Peripheral Visual Information Halves Attentional Choice Biases. Psychol Sci 2023; 34:984-998. [PMID: 37470671 DOI: 10.1177/09567976231184878] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/21/2023] Open
Abstract
A growing body of research has shown that simple choices involve the construction and comparison of values at the time of decision. These processes are modulated by attention in a way that leaves decision makers susceptible to attentional biases. Here, we studied the role of peripheral visual information on the choice process and on attentional choice biases. We used an eye-tracking experiment in which participants (N = 50 adults) made binary choices between food items that were displayed in marked screen "shelves" in two conditions: (a) where both items were displayed, and (b) where items were displayed only when participants fixated within their shelves. We found that removing the nonfixated option approximately doubled the size of the attentional biases. The results show that peripheral visual information is crucial in facilitating good decisions and suggest that individuals might be influenceable by settings in which only one item is shown at a time, such as e-commerce.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brenden Eum
- Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology
| | | | - Antonio Rangel
- Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology
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4
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Walasek L, Brown GDA. Incomparability and Incommensurability in Choice: No Common Currency of Value? PERSPECTIVES ON PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2023:17456916231192828. [PMID: 37642131 DOI: 10.1177/17456916231192828] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/31/2023]
Abstract
Models of decision-making typically assume the existence of some common currency of value, such as utility, happiness, or inclusive fitness. This common currency is taken to allow comparison of options and to underpin everyday choice. Here we suggest instead that there is no universal value scale, that incommensurable values pervade everyday choice, and hence that most existing models of decision-making in both economics and psychology are fundamentally limited. We propose that choice objects can be compared only with reference to specific but nonuniversal "covering values." These covering values may reflect decision-makers' goals, motivations, or current states. A complete model of choice must accommodate the range of possible covering values. We show that abandoning the common-currency assumption in models of judgment and decision-making necessitates rank-based and "simple heuristics" models that contrast radically with conventional utility-based approaches. We note that if there is no universal value scale, then Arrow's impossibility theorem places severe bounds on the rationality of individual decision-making and hence that there is a deep link between the incommensurability of value, inconsistencies in human decision-making, and rank-based coding of value. More generally, incommensurability raises the question of whether it will ever be possible to develop single-quantity-maximizing models of decision-making.
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Wedel M, Pieters R, van der Lans R. Modeling Eye Movements During Decision Making: A Review. PSYCHOMETRIKA 2023; 88:697-729. [PMID: 35852670 PMCID: PMC10188393 DOI: 10.1007/s11336-022-09876-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2021] [Revised: 06/15/2022] [Accepted: 06/16/2022] [Indexed: 05/17/2023]
Abstract
This article reviews recent advances in the psychometric and econometric modeling of eye-movements during decision making. Eye movements offer a unique window on unobserved perceptual, cognitive, and evaluative processes of people who are engaged in decision making tasks. They provide new insights into these processes, which are not easily available otherwise, allow for explanations of fundamental search and choice phenomena, and enable predictions of future decisions. We propose a theoretical framework of the search and choice tasks that people commonly engage in and of the underlying cognitive processes involved in those tasks. We discuss how these processes drive specific eye-movement patterns. Our framework emphasizes the central role of task and strategy switching for complex goal attainment. We place the extant literature within that framework, highlight recent advances in modeling eye-movement behaviors during search and choice, discuss limitations, challenges, and open problems. An agenda for further psychometric modeling of eye movements during decision making concludes the review.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michel Wedel
- Robert H. Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-1815 USA
| | - Rik Pieters
- Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands
- Católica Lisbon School of Business and Economics, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Ralf van der Lans
- Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong
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Zuschke N. Order in multi‐attribute product choice decisions: Evidence from discrete choice experiments combined with eye tracking. JOURNAL OF BEHAVIORAL DECISION MAKING 2023. [DOI: 10.1002/bdm.2320] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/15/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Nick Zuschke
- Helmut‐Schmidt‐University/University of the Armed Forces Hamburg—Marketing Hamburg Germany
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7
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He L, Bhatia S. Complex economic decisions from simple neurocognitive processes: the role of interactive attention. Proc Biol Sci 2023; 290:20221593. [PMID: 36750198 PMCID: PMC9904951 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.1593] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Neurocognitive theories of value-based choice propose that people additively accumulate choice attributes when making decisions. These theories cannot explain the emergence of complex multiplicative preferences such as those assumed by prospect theory and other economic models. We investigate an interactive attention mechanism, according to which attention to attributes (like payoffs) depends on other attributes (like probabilities) attended to previously. We formalize this mechanism using a Markov attention model combined with an accumulator decision process, and test our model on eye-tracking and mouse-tracking data in risky choice. Our tests show that interactive attention is necessary to make good choices, that most participants display interactive attention and that allowing for interactive attention in accumulation-based decision models improves their predictions. By equipping established decision models with sophisticated attentional dynamics, we extend these models to describe complex economic choice, and in the process, we unify two prominent theoretical approaches to studying value-based decision making.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lisheng He
- SILC Business School, Shanghai University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China
| | - Sudeep Bhatia
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
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Wolf C, Belopolsky AV, Lappe M. Current foveal inspection and previous peripheral preview influence subsequent eye movement decisions. iScience 2022; 25:104922. [PMID: 36060066 PMCID: PMC9429799 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104922] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2022] [Revised: 06/20/2022] [Accepted: 08/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
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9
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Zilker V. Stronger attentional biases can be linked to higher reward rate in preferential choice. Cognition 2022; 225:105095. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105095] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2021] [Revised: 02/25/2022] [Accepted: 03/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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10
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Frömer R, Shenhav A. Filling the gaps: Cognitive control as a critical lens for understanding mechanisms of value-based decision-making. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2022; 134:104483. [PMID: 34902441 PMCID: PMC8844247 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.12.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2021] [Revised: 12/01/2021] [Accepted: 12/04/2021] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
While often seeming to investigate rather different problems, research into value-based decision making and cognitive control have historically offered parallel insights into how people select thoughts and actions. While the former studies how people weigh costs and benefits to make a decision, the latter studies how they adjust information processing to achieve their goals. Recent work has highlighted ways in which decision-making research can inform our understanding of cognitive control. Here, we provide the complementary perspective: how cognitive control research has informed understanding of decision-making. We highlight three particular areas of research where this critical interchange has occurred: (1) how different types of goals shape the evaluation of choice options, (2) how people use control to adjust the ways they make their decisions, and (3) how people monitor decisions to inform adjustments to control at multiple levels and timescales. We show how adopting this alternate viewpoint offers new insight into the determinants of both decisions and control; provides alternative interpretations for common neuroeconomic findings; and generates fruitful directions for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- R Frömer
- Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences, Carney Institute for Brain Science, Brown University, Providence, RI, United States.
| | - A Shenhav
- Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences, Carney Institute for Brain Science, Brown University, Providence, RI, United States.
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11
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Kraemer PM, Weilbächer RA, Mechera-Ostrovsky T, Gluth S. Cognitive and neural principles of a memory bias on preferential choices. CURRENT RESEARCH IN NEUROBIOLOGY 2022; 3:100029. [PMID: 36685759 PMCID: PMC9846459 DOI: 10.1016/j.crneur.2022.100029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/25/2021] [Revised: 01/31/2022] [Accepted: 01/31/2022] [Indexed: 01/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Value-based decisions depend on different forms of memory. However, the respective roles of memory and valuation processes that give rise to these decisions are often vaguely described and have rarely been investigated jointly. In this review article, we address the problem of memory-based decision making from a neuroeconomic perspective. We first describe the neural and cognitive processes involved in decisions requiring memory processes, with a focus on episodic memory. Based on the results of a systematic research program, we then spotlight the phenomenon of the memory bias, a general preference for choice options that can be retrieved from episodic memory more successfully. Our findings indicate that failed memory recall biases neural valuation processes as indicated by altered effective connectivity between the hippocampus and ventromedial prefrontal cortex. This bias can be attributed to meta-cognitive beliefs about the relationship between subjective value and memory as well as to uncertainty aversion. After summarizing the findings, we outline potential future research endeavors to integrate the two research traditions of memory and decision making.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Sebastian Gluth
- Department of Psychology, University of Hamburg, Germany
- Corresponding author. Von-Melle-Park 11, 20146, Hamburg, Germany.
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12
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Pirrone A, Reina A, Stafford T, Marshall JAR, Gobet F. Magnitude-sensitivity: rethinking decision-making. Trends Cogn Sci 2021; 26:66-80. [PMID: 34750080 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2021.10.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2021] [Revised: 10/05/2021] [Accepted: 10/05/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Magnitude-sensitivity refers to the result that performance in decision-making, across domains and organisms, is affected by the total value of the possible alternatives. This simple result offers a window into fundamental issues in decision-making and has led to a reconsideration of ecological decision-making, prominent computational models of decision-making, and optimal decision-making. Moreover, magnitude-sensitivity has inspired the design of new robotic systems that exploit natural solutions and apply optimal decision-making policies. In this article, we review the key theoretical and empirical results about magnitude-sensitivity and highlight the importance that this phenomenon has for the understanding of decision-making. Furthermore, we discuss open questions and ideas for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Angelo Pirrone
- Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK.
| | - Andreagiovanni Reina
- Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies on Artificial Intelligence (IRIDIA), Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Tom Stafford
- Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
| | | | - Fernand Gobet
- Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK
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13
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Motoki K, Saito T, Onuma T. Eye-tracking research on sensory and consumer science: A review, pitfalls and future directions. Food Res Int 2021; 145:110389. [PMID: 34112392 DOI: 10.1016/j.foodres.2021.110389] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/27/2020] [Revised: 04/11/2021] [Accepted: 05/03/2021] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Visual processing is a core cognitive element of sensory and consumer science. Consumers visually attend to food types, packaging, label design, advertisements, supermarket shelves, food menus, and other visible information. During the past decade, sensory and consumer science have used eye tracking to elucidate visual processing by consumers. This review paper summarizes earlier findings in terms of bottom-up (i.e., stimulus-driven) processing such as visual salience, size, and top-down (i.e., goal-driven) processing such as goals, task instructions, task complexity, and emotions. Downstream effects of gaze on choice are also reviewed. Pitfalls and future directions of eye-tracking research on sensory and consumer science are also discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kosuke Motoki
- Department of Food Science and Business, Miyagi University, 2-2-1 Hatatate, Taihaku, Sendai 982-0215, Japan.
| | - Toshiki Saito
- Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, 4-1, Seiryo-machi Aoba, Sendai, Japan.
| | - Takuya Onuma
- Department of Management and Business, Faculty of Humanity-oriented Science and Engineering, Kindai University, Fukuoka, Japan.
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14
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Peng-Li D, Mathiesen SL, Chan RCK, Byrne DV, Wang QJ. Sounds Healthy: Modelling sound-evoked consumer food choice through visual attention. Appetite 2021; 164:105264. [PMID: 33865905 DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2021.105264] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2020] [Revised: 04/08/2021] [Accepted: 04/09/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Food choice is a multifaceted construct that is not solely guided by our internal incentives. In fact, sensory scientist, consumer psychologists, and marketers have demonstrated that external ambient cues, including background music, can influence myriads of subconscious consumer behaviors, effectively leading to increased sales of food and beverages. However, the vast majority of literature in on this topic has thus far been confined to monocultural field studies in which the underlying mechanisms of food choice are unexplored. We therefore studied the explicit and implicit effects of custom-composed soundtracks on food choices and eye-movements in consumers from both 'East' and 'West'. Firstly, based on the results from a pre-study (N = 396), we composed a 'healthy' and 'unhealthy' soundtrack. Subsequently, we recruited 215 participants from China (n = 114) and Denmark (n = 101) respectively for in an in-laboratory eye-tracking food choice paradigm. For each culture, half of the participants listened to the 'healthy' soundtrack and the other half to the 'unhealthy' soundtrack during the experiment. Chi-square tests of independence revealed that across cultures, the healthy (vs. unhealthy) soundtrack led to more healthy food choices. Similarly, the generalized linear mixed models showed that the healthy soundtrack induced more and longer fixations on healthy (vs. unhealthy) food. Finally, a multiple mediation analysis signified a partial mediation effect of sound on food choice through the mediators of fixation duration, fixation count, and revisit count. Our results indicate that, with strategically chosen soundscapes, it is possible to influence consumers' decision-making processes and guide their attention towards healthier foods, providing valuable knowledge for local as well as global food business.
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Affiliation(s)
- Danni Peng-Li
- Food Quality Perception & Society Team, iSENSE Lab, Department of Food Science, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; Sino-Danish College (SDC), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
| | - Signe L Mathiesen
- Food Quality Perception & Society Team, iSENSE Lab, Department of Food Science, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Raymond C K Chan
- Neuropsychology and Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Derek V Byrne
- Food Quality Perception & Society Team, iSENSE Lab, Department of Food Science, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; Sino-Danish College (SDC), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Qian Janice Wang
- Food Quality Perception & Society Team, iSENSE Lab, Department of Food Science, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; Sino-Danish College (SDC), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
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