Organic or popular brands—food perception engages distinct functional pathways. An fMRI study

Kai Fehse,Fabian Simmank,Anikó Sztrókay-Gaul,Evgeny Gutyrchik,Benny Briesemeister

doi:10.1080/23311908.2017.1284392

Abstract

AbstractIntroduction: Organic food has become increasingly popular with consumers. People seem to recognize it as a valuable alternative to popular brands from conventional food producers. Still, the basis of such consumer behavior remains unclear, with the literature supporting motivations ranging from health-related to more hedonic. Methods: To investigate the underlying brain processes, we looked for neural correlates of the perceptions of two types of psychological added value that brands could provide (popular/organic). Eighteen subjects were exposed to logos of brands of either category for the very same types of food that was typed below the logo (i.e. French fries) and blood-oxygen-level dependent brain activation was recorded using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Results: The results show higher activations in medial prefrontal cortex for popular brands, as expected with respect to the existing literature on decision-making and self-control. For organic brands, we found relatively h...

Highlights

Organic food has become increasingly popular with consumers
People seem to recognize it as a valuable alternative to popular brands from conventional food producers
Eighteen subjects were exposed to logos of brands of either category for the very same types of food that was typed below the logo (i.e. French fries) and blood-oxygen-level dependent brain activation was recorded using functional magnetic resonance imaging

Summary

Introduction

Organic food has become increasingly popular with consumers. People seem to recognize it as a valuable alternative to popular brands from conventional food producers. Results: The results show higher activations in medial prefrontal cortex for popular brands, as expected with respect to the existing literature on decision-making and self-control. We found relatively higher activations in dorsolateral parts of the prefrontal cortex. The share of market for organic food is 2.9% in all of Europe and 3.5% in Germany (Willer & Kilcher, 2012). This contrasts with surveys suggesting that four out of five consumers are willing to pay more for organic food (Plaßmann, Hamm, & Sahm, 2009)

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion