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.
Highlights
The ability to change an individual’s behaviour has significant potential for many of the issues of the day, from changes in lifestyle to reduce energy consumption [1] and improved diet [2] to reducing interpersonal conflict [3]
We have demonstrated that both perceptual fluency and inhibition techniques can rapidly shift preference within our 3 min task
It would appear that perceptual fluency may be similar to inhibition, in that effects transfer beyond in-task experiences
Summary
The ability to change an individual’s behaviour has significant potential for many of the issues of the day, from changes in lifestyle to reduce energy consumption [1] and improved diet [2] to reducing interpersonal conflict [3]. One route to such behaviour change is to influence preference and choice, where royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rsos R. An increase in preference for stimuli such as healthier foods can lead to increased healthy food 2 consumption and improvements in health We approach this issue by considering the basic visualmotor processes that could be potentially manipulated while playing computer games. Brox et al [5], in reviewing video games designed to improve health, concluded that there is not enough evidence to decide which design principles are most effective, as there is a limited specification of design methodologies
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