Processing Fluency Research Articles

Breaking the vertical barrier: effects of vertical direction and rotation of an English loan brand name on product evaluation

PurposeThis study investigates the effects of vertical direction and rotation of English loan brand names in East Asian languages (Chinese and Korean) on processing fluency, perceived product quality and purchase intention.Design/methodology/approachFour experiments were conducted in China and Korea, employing a 2 (vertical direction: downward vs upward) X 3 (rotation: 0°/marquee vs 90° clockwise vs 90° counterclockwise) between-subjects factorial design.FindingsThe findings showed that when the English loan Chinese brand name was displayed downward, the marquee format was preferred, while counterclockwise rotation was favored when displayed upward. In Korean, clockwise rotation was preferred for downward presentation, while counterclockwise rotation was favored for upward presentation. The effects on purchase intention were mediated by processing fluency and perceived product quality.Practical implicationsThis research provides practical implications for global manufacturers and retailers, offering guidance on presenting brand names in East Asian languages and optimizing product packaging designs. For Chinese consumers, the marquee format is recommended for downward-oriented brand names, while counterclockwise rotation is effective for upward orientation. For Korean consumers, clockwise rotation is favored for downward presentation and counterclockwise rotation is preferred for upward presentation. Understanding linguistic habits allows the tailoring of brand presentations, enhancing brand perception and consumer responses.Originality/valueThis study contributes to understanding the role of cultural and linguistic influences on consumer information processing and product perception in vertical presentations of brand names.

Two levels in the feeling of familiarity

AbstractThis paper explores the role of phenomenology in the understanding of the cognitive processes of coupling/decoupling, defending the Wittgensteinian idea that phenomenology can play a crucial role as a description of immediate (social) experience. We argue that epistemic feelings can provide a phenomenological description of the development of a subject's everyday experience, tracking the transition from the processes of coupling/decoupling and recoupling with the world. In particular, the feeling of familiarity, whose key features can be considered the core of epistemic feelings, signals a novelty in the flow of experience that makes sense and is worthy of remarking on or even articulating. By describing the primary features and sources of the feeling of familiarity, we highlight a conceptual tension related to its sources, which could be based on processing both fluency and discrepancy. We proposed a solution to the conceptual tension by introducing two levels of the feeling of familiarity: epistemic and experiential.

Visual complexity in product design: How does the degree of elaborateness of the front‐pack image impact consumers' responses?

AbstractPrevious studies have documented the decisive impact of various product design elements on consumers' attitudes and decisions. However, research is missing on the impact of visual complexity. Using four studies that consider wine and perfume products, the present research manipulates visual complexity by focusing on the degree of elaborateness of front‐pack images. Using an affective priming task as an implicit technique, more positive automatically activated affective responses are shown for lower complexity designs (Study 1), in line with a processing‐fluency account. However, explicit measures show that higher complexity is associated with greater product evaluations (regarding esthetics, quality, prestige, trustworthiness, acceptable price, and purchase intention; Studies 2 and 3). In addition, more pronounced effects emerge for participants with higher sensitivity to design (Study 3). Finally, using an alternative implicit technique that does not involve very brief presentations of the products (implicit association test (IAT); Study 4), the association between higher complexity and product evaluation is also found under conditions of automaticity. Overall, this research provides insights into the diverging affective and cognitive effects of visual complexity. It suggests that the positive effect of lower complexity through higher processing fluency is restricted to responses that are affective and generated under conditions of automaticity that involve particularly low‐level processes. It also suggests that priming techniques based on very short presentations of the products' visuals may be unsuitable for examining responses to fairly complex concepts such as consumer products. On the whole, this research emphasizes that design complexity should receive more attention from consumer researchers and marketers.

Grounding the Restorative Effect of the Environment in Tertiary Qualities: An Integration of Embodied and Phenomenological Perspectives.

This paper proposes an integration of embodied and phenomenological perspectives to understand the restorative capacity of natural environments. It emphasizes the role of embodied simulation mechanisms in evoking positive affects and cognitive functioning. Perceptual symbols play a crucial role in generating the restorative potential in environments, highlighting the significance of the encounter between the embodied individual and the environment. This study reviews Stress Reduction Theory (SRT) and Attention Restoration Theory (ART), finding commonalities in perceptual fluency and connectedness to nature. It also explores a potential model based on physiognomic perception, where the environment's pervasive qualities elicit an affective response. Restorativeness arises from a direct encounter between the environment's phenomenal structure and the embodied perceptual processes of individuals. Overall, this integrative approach sheds light on the intrinsic affective value of environmental elements and their influence on human well-being.

Evidence of a metacognitive illusion in judgments about the effects of music on cognitive performance

Two experiments serve to examine how people make metacognitive judgments about the effects of task-irrelevant sounds on cognitive performance. According to the direct-access account, people have direct access to the processes causing auditory distraction. According to the processing-fluency account, people rely on the feeling of processing fluency to make heuristic metacognitive judgments about the distracting effects of sounds. To manipulate the processing fluency of simple piano melodies and segments of Mozart’s sonata K. 448, the audio files of the music were either left in their original forward direction or reversed. The results favor the processing-fluency account over the direct-access account: Even though, objectively, forward and backward music had the same distracting effect on serial recall, stimulus-specific prospective metacognitive judgments showed that participants incorrectly predicted only backward music but not forward music to be distracting. The difference between forward and backward music was reduced but not eliminated in global retrospective metacognitive judgments that participants provided after having experienced the distracting effect of the music first-hand. The results thus provide evidence of a metacognitive illusion in people’s judgments about the effects of music on cognitive performance.

Code-Mixing in Promotional Materials for Tourism: Effects of Format on Processing Fluency and Interest in Cultural Activities

We examined the effects of English-Hawaiian code-mixing in promotional materials for tourist activities on audiences’ message processing and interest in the activities promoted, and whether these outcomes depended on the format of translations for code-mixed terms. We found that code-mixing both disrupted fluency for potential tourists—which indirectly diminished interest—and boosted their interest in advertised cultural activities. These countervailing effects largely offset each other, although materials that included narrative translations of Hawaiian terms ultimately promoted greater interest than English-only texts.

Existing terminology related to antimicrobial resistance fails to evoke risk perceptions and be remembered

BackgroundAntimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global healthcare threat promoted by all use of antibiotics. Hence, reducing overuse of antibiotics is essential. The necessary behaviour change relies on effective public health communication, but previous information campaigns—while showing some successes—have fallen short in generating a lasting increase of public awareness. A potential reason for this is AMR-related terminology, which has been criticised as inconsistent, abstract and difficult to pronounce. We report the first empirical test of word memorability and risk association for the most frequent AMR-related health terms.MethodsAcross two surveys sampling 237 US and 924 UK participants, we test people’s memory for and the risk they associate with six AMR-related terms and thirty-four additional health risk terms (e.g., cancer). Participants also rate the terms on different linguistic dimensions including concreteness, familiarity, processing fluency and pronounceability.ResultsOur findings suggest that existing AMR-related health terms—particularly “AMR” and “Antimicrobial resistance”—are unsuitable for public health communication, because they score consistently low on both memorability and risk association. Out of the AMR terms, “Antibiotic resistance” and—to a lesser extent—“Drug-resistant infections” perform best. Regression analyses suggest that linguistic attributes (e.g., familiarity, processing fluency, pronounceability) are predictors of the terms’ risk association.ConclusionsOur findings highlight an urgent need to rename AMR with a memorable term that effectively signals the existential threat of AMR and thereby motivates a change in antibiotic use. The success of the revised term is likely to depend, at least partially, on its linguistic attributes.

Visual Aesthetic Quotient: Establishing the Effects of Computational Aesthetic Measures for Servicescape Design

Visual aesthetics play a pivotal role in attracting and retaining customers in service environments. Building on theories of environmental psychology, this study introduces a novel and comprehensive aesthetic measure for evaluating servicescape design, which is called as the “visual aesthetic quotient” (VAQ). This measure is presented as the ratio of the dimensions of order and complexity in servicescape's visual design, and it aims to provide an objective and holistic approach of servicescape design evaluation. In addition, we introduce and validate a pioneering method for quantifying order and complexity objectively using algorithmic models applied to servicescape images. We investigated and established the influence of the VAQ on the perceived attractiveness of servicescapes, developing its role further in this context. The entire approach was comprehensively and rigorously examined using four studies (social media analytics, eye-tracking, a field experiment, and an experimental design), contributing to conceptual advancement and empirical testing. This study provides a novel, computational, objective, and holistic aesthetic measure for effective servicescape design management by validating computational aesthetic measures and establishing their role in influencing servicescape attractiveness; testing the mediation of processing fluency and pleasure; and examining the moderating effects of service context.

No evidence that priming analytic thinking reduces belief in conspiracy theories: A Registered Report of high-powered direct replications of Study 2 and Study 4 from

Analytic thinking is reliably associated with lower belief in conspiracy theories. However, evidence for whether increasing analytic thinking can reduce belief in conspiracies is sparse. As an exception to this, Swami et al. (2014) showed that priming analytical thinking through a verbal fluency task (i.e., scrambled sentence task) or a processing fluency manipulation (i.e., difficult-to-read fonts) reduced belief in conspiracy theories. To probe the robustness of these effects, in this Registered Report, we present two highly powered (i.e., 95%) direct replications of two of the original studies (i.e., Studies 2 and 4). We found no evidence that priming analytic thinking through the scrambled sentence task (N = 302), nor the difficult-to-read fonts (N = 488) elicited more analytic thinking, nor reduced belief in conspiracy theories. This work highlights the need for further research to identify effective ways of inducing analytic thinking in order to gauge its potential causal impact on belief in conspiracies.

Neural sensitivity to facial identity and facial expression discrimination in adults with autism.

The fluent processing of faces can be challenging for autistic individuals. Here, we assessed the neural sensitivity to rapid changes in subtle facial cues in 23 autistic men and 23 age and IQ matched non-autistic (NA) controls using frequency-tagging electroencephalography (EEG). In oddball paradigms examining the automatic and implicit discrimination of facial identity and facial expression, base rate images were presented at 6 Hz, periodically interleaved every fifth image with an oddball image (i.e. 1.2 Hz oddball frequency). These distinctive frequency tags for base rate and oddball stimuli allowed direct and objective quantification of the neural discrimination responses. We found no large differences in the neural sensitivity of participants in both groups, not for facial identity discrimination, nor for facial expression discrimination. Both groups also showed a clear face-inversion effect, with reduced brain responses for inverted versus upright faces. Furthermore, sad faces generally elicited significantly lower neural amplitudes than angry, fearful and happy faces. The only minor group difference is the larger involvement of high-level right-hemisphere visual areas in NA men for facial expression processing. These findings are discussed from a developmental perspective, as they strikingly contrast with robust face processing deficits observed in autistic children using identical EEG paradigms.

B - 74 Using Cattell-Horn-Carroll Theory to Investigate the Structure of Executive Function in the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS).

To evaluate a series of published executive function factor models for the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS) and contrast these models with an a priori three-factor model based on Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) theory. This was a cross-sectional study using the 16 main achievement scores from the D-KEFS standardization sample, which includes three separate age-cohorts. We aimed to replicate previously reported factor models for the D-KEFS in the 20-to-49-year cohort (N = 361) using the approaches described in the original published studies. We also sought to use confirmatory factor analysis to contrast these models with an a priori three-factor model based on CHC theory. The previously reported models failed to replicate, despite a large number of iterations, suggesting that these models are not plausible for the D-KEFS. Initial observations indicated an admissible but poorly fitting three-factor CHC model. However model fit was improved by adding correlated residuals for scores obtained from similar tests, reflecting method effects. These methods effects, derived from one sample, replicated in the other two standardization samples. The final CHC model demonstrated good to excellent fit for the D-KEFS in all three samples, and displayed strong metric invariance across the three age-cohorts. The results highlight the importance of replication in neuropsychological assessment, and show that D-KEFS scores can be interpreted in line with CHC constructs of processing speed, fluid reasoning, and retrieval fluency.

A Cross-Cultural Study on the Role of Message Framing in the Promotion of Fair-Trade Buying Behavior

This cross-cultural study investigates the differential effects of message framing techniques in promoting fair-trade consumption between Eastern and Western cultures. A total of 414 Vietnamese participants from Vietnam and 342 American participants recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk were randomly assigned to two message framing conditions. It emphasizes the interconnected nature of fair-trade consumption behavior, influenced by message framing, processing fluency, and justice restoration effectiveness. The findings provide practical insights for marketers in effectively engaging consumers in purchasing fair-trade products. This study contributes to the literature by illuminating the impact of message framing strategies on consumer behavior toward fair-trade products in different cultural contexts. Marketers can leverage cultural orientations and message processing styles to develop more effective communication strategies for promoting fair-trade product adoption. Specifically, loss-framed messages may be more persuasive in increasing purchase intention among Vietnamese consumers, while gain-framed messages may resonate better with American consumers. Additionally, messages emphasizing the positive outcomes and benefits of fair-trade products for farmers and producers can enhance consumers’ likelihood of purchasing such products.

Separating the role of perceptual and conceptual fluency on masked word priming using event-related potentials

Masked word repetition increases “old” responses on an episodic recognition test (Jacoby & Whitehouse, 1989). This effect is commonly attributed to perceptual fluency; that is, unconscious perception of the prime speeds reading of the target and this fluency leads to elevated familiarity. Two experiments directly tested the claim that perceptual fluency is responsible for word priming effects. Experiment 1 held prime-target meaning constant and altered the physical characteristics of match primes (e.g., “RIGHT” primes “RIGHT”) by including both lowercase (e.g, “right”) and mixed case primes (e.g., “rIgHt”). If word priming effects are due to perceptual fluency, then lowering the perceptual overlap between the prime and target should decrease or eliminate word priming effects. Instead, all three conditions showed robust priming effects in the behavioral and ERP (i.e., N400) measures. Experiment 2 equated the prime-target perceptual features and lowered the conceptual overlap by using orthographically similar nonwords as primes (e.g., “JIGHT” primes “RIGHT”). Removing prime-target conceptual overlap eliminated behavioral evidence of priming and N400 ERP differences correlated with priming. The evidence suggests that word priming effects on episodic recognition memory are more likely a product of conceptual fluency than perceptual fluency.

Exploring Translanguaging during Metacognitive Strategy Use on L2 Listening and Writing Skills

Background: The educational concept of translanguaging has garnered significant attention over the past decade. Its significance in fostering language acquisition in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom has been increasingly acknowledged. However, there is an emerging necessity to strategically implement this pedagogical approach to enhance learning outcomes and improve overall effectiveness.
 Purpose: The present study sets out to investigate the influence of translanguaging during metacognitive strategy use and its impact on second language (L2) listening and writing abilities.
 Method: The present study employed sequential mixed-method research involving a pre- and post-test design. A total of 16 college students was purposively selected as samples and underwent 11 sessions of applying translanguaging during metacognitive strategy use (the intervention used).
 Results: Study results reveal a significant difference on participants’ pre- (x̄=9.19) and post- (x̄=15.56) listening comprehension tests. An increasing trend of improvement on their quizzes in terms of writing components namely: grammar and structure, content, lexical resource, logical order, and supporting details was also found. In addition, the components on “grammar and structure” and “supporting details” have improved considerably. The participants, likewise, perceived translanguaging as a normal and not a disrespectful practice for them as EFL learners. Qualitative findings revealed that participants have welcomed the use of the intervention as it aids them to process their listening comprehension and writing skills in L2.
 Conclusion: The pedagogical application of translanguaging approach during metacognitive strategy use is concluded as an agentive and facilitative pedagogical strategy that helps learners to not only improve their listening comprehension and writing skills but also promotes deeper cognitive fluency, improves L2 learning, and fosters them to become more involved in the learning processes of metacognitive planning, monitoring, and evaluating.

The effect of emotion type and similarity of experience on consumers' willingness to pay for cause‐related products: Construal level perspective

AbstractInformation complexity hinders consumer processing and reduces positive responses to cause‐related products. Previous studies on cause‐related marketing (CRM) have focused more on messaging effects on reducing information complexity, such as the presentation of the donation amount, cause description, and image displays. This study discusses the effect of construal fit on consumers' willingness to pay (WTP) for products sold through CRM by focusing on the emotional and perceptual aspects of prior experiences. Notably, sadness has a low‐level construal fit with a high similarity of experience, whereas happiness has a high‐level construal fit with a low similarity of experience. Study 1 employs a between‐subjects design, examining how the construal fit influences WTP for cause‐related products. The results of Study 2 reveal that when consumers are in a sad (happy) emotional state, the higher (lower) they perceive the similarity of their experiences with the cause, the greater their WTP increases owing to processing fluency. Study 3 reconfirms the mediating roles of perceptual and conceptual fluency irrespective of text‐based and visual advertisements for CRM, thus showing the robustness of the construal fit effect on the enhancement of the two types of processing fluency across advertising contexts. These findings contribute to the theoretical understanding of the construal fit between emotional and perceptual experiences in enhancing processing fluency in CRM and suggest that marketers can create a teaser ad that induces either a sad or similar experience or a happy or less similar experience before introducing a CRM campaign.

When consumers have difficulty understanding ads: How technical language lowers purchase intention

AbstractTechnical language refers to field‐specific professional terms that are unfamiliar to general consumers. Despite consumers' lack of familiarity with technical language, it is still used in advertisements for various products. Here, we find that technical language reduces consumers' willingness to purchase the advertised products because such language reduces their processing fluency (Study 1 and Study 2). We further show that (1) when consumers have relevant knowledge (Study 3) and (2) when the advertised product is a typical technology product (Study 4), the negative effect of technical language is attenuated. Together, these three findings constitute evidence that processing fluency is a mechanism by which consumers' purchase intention is decreased following their exposure to technical language in advertising, suggesting that using technical language in ads may not be the best option.

Consumers’ response to CSR statement type in social crowding

PurposeBased on the construal level theory, this research study examines the interactive effect between social crowding and corporate social responsibility (CSR) statement type on consumers' purchase intention.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted two empirical experiments on a total of 508 subjects.FindingsThere is an interactive effect between social crowding and CSR statement type on consumers' purchase intention. Specifically, in high social crowding situations, concrete CSR statements lead to consumers' higher purchase intention, while in low social crowding situations, abstract CSR statements lead to consumers' higher purchase intention. Self-construal and processing fluency play a moderating and mediating role in the mechanism.Originality/valueThis research study contributes to the theoretical understanding of the interaction between social crowding and CSR statements, enriching the field of consumer behavior research on social crowding. Additionally, it offers practical insights for enterprises on how to present CSR information in crowded situations.

Financially constrained consumer responses toward attribute- and goalframed advertisements

The global outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic has placed considerable financial constraints on people???s lives, which may have changed their attitude toward advertising. This study explored the differential persuasiveness of attribute- versus goal-framed advertising on consumers with various financial constraints. The results of two studies (ns = 93 and 79, respectively) showed that consumers with higher (vs. lower) financial constraints were more responsive to attribute-framed (vs. goal-framed) advertisements for a fictional airline, and that this relationship was mediated by processing fluency. This research contributes to the literature on message framing and offers guidance for marketers looking to improve their targeting through developing more tailored advertisements.

Legibility: Sinhala typeface featuresfor Directional Informative Sign Boards

Typefaces designed for the purpose of directional informative sign boards (DISB) communicate legible information related to drivers and passengers to navigate within road systems to: maintain road discipline and assist drivers to make instant decisions within a short period while operating a vehicle. The legibility of these typefaces works as a fundamental requirement. The reader's preference test (RPT) highlights that a typeface is unique due to its visual features–the anatomy of a typeface and it influences legibility performance, comprehension, memorability, priming, persuasion, perceptual fluency, and practical usage. This visual perception and the neurotic process of connecting human vision and brain is the intellectual cognition between; reader and information that acutely affects the reader to process information. When considering the amount of research work towards the advancement of DISB and typefaces designed for this purpose is at large within the western context, and more evident in Latin script but lacks in scripts such as Sinhala and Tamil within the Eastern regions. To fill this knowledge gap, the research contributes to Sinhala script discussed within the domain of typography research and proposes a draft typeface for Sri Lankan DISB. Considering legibility to be a required key factor in typefaces designed for the purpose of DISB the research methodology was structured into three stages. The first stage reviews legibility test methods, its measurements, testable factors usability and identifies the most relevant test to analyse typeface features. This section concludes by identifying RPT as the most relevant test with two variables: typeface personality traits and anatomy. Second stage adopts the two variables and tests six Sinhala typefaces that contain personality traits required for DISBs. It concludes with the identification of three typefaces that contain the required personality traits for DISB. The third stage analyses the anatomy of the three typefaces and proposes a draft Sinhala typeface for DISB. This stage redefines the two variables specific to Sinhala script and typography research. The stage concludes with a summary of the anatomical features of the proposed draft typeface and confirms a list of anatomical features required for Sri Lankan DISBs. The research also contributes to devel-oping a methodology to analyse Sinhala typefaces, and draft new typefaces for specified communicative purposes. As for further research, the research the draft typeface to be developed and tested to font and to adapt to similar scripts and advanced typography research

Fluent Processing Amplifies Affective Judgments

Abstract: The importance of processing fluency in evaluative judgments has been repeatedly demonstrated across many domains such as liking, beauty, and truth. However, a clear picture of the nature of processing fluency has yet to emerge. Fluent processing has been suggested to form evaluative judgments in a hedonic nature, in which existing judgmental tendencies always shift in a positive direction. Alternatively, fluency has been proposed to amplify evaluative judgments bidirectionally. However, uncertainty remains regarding the influence of processing fluency on pre-existing judgmental tendencies. Specifically, the extent to which the effect of stimuli belonging to specific categories varies within an individual remains unclear. This study assessed the influence of fluent processing on two specific categories (cats/spiders) using a visual search task. Fluency was manipulated by the set size of the stimuli and presentation duration. Fluency intensified pre-existing judgmental tendencies in two divergent directions: The initially favored stimuli were liked more, while the initially unfavored ones were liked less when the processing of stimuli was fluent. There was a significant correlation between favored and unfavored stimuli in terms of the magnitude of the effect, and such effect was influenced by visual attention, suggesting that processing fluency goes beyond a hedonic and unidimensional nature.