The role of visual attention on perception, valuation and choice of food products: eye tracking studies

This doctoral thesis investigates consumers' visual attention patterns and choices in the case of eco-labels commonly found in aquaculture products. Two laboratory studies have been conducted with Italian consumers of smoked/sea bass salmon. An integrated approach, combining qualita-tive and qualitative methods, has been used to explore consumers' preferences for eco-labels. More specifically, the role of top-down factors (related to consumers' characteristics, such as mo-tivation and attitudes) and bottom-up factors (related to the label's characteristics, such as size) on consumers' visual attention and choices have been explored. The first laboratory study examined whether consumers' attitudes towards environments and animal welfare influenced attentional capture and consumers' interest in eco-labels. The second study manipulated the size and saliency of the eco-labels to understand if attentional capture and consumers' interest in eco-labels would increase. In the case of this second study, a depth understanding was also searched through a semiotic analysis of the eco-labels. The finding shows that both top-down and bottom-up factors influence consumers' visual attention and choice. More specifically, Study 1 showed that attentional capture of the eco-labels was mainly guided by top-down factors such as consumers' interest in food naturalness, health concerns and the need for information. Saliency, a bottom-up factor, helps consumers maintain their interest in eco-labels. Indeed, the eco-labels with higher saliency are fixated for longer. Study 2 revealed that consumers' visual attention towards eco-labels could be enhanced by using bigger eco-labels with higher saliency. However, consumers' choices of aquaculture products were only determined by the size of the eco-labels. Hence, the aquaculture products carrying bigger eco-labels influence consumers' choices. Moreover, this thesis showed through a semiotic analysis that consumers preferred eco-labels with symbols (i.g., fish) and colours (blue) that intuitively made them think of aquaculture products.