The Effect of Global/Local Information Processing on Attention to Nutrition Labels: An Eye-Tracking Study

Nutrition labels are diet-related health policies. They help individuals improve food-choice decisions and reduce intake of calories and unhealthy food elements, like cholesterol. However, many individuals do not pay attention to nutrition labels or fail to appropriately understand them. According to the literature, thinking and cognitive styles can have significant effects on attention to nutrition labels. However, the effect of global/local processing on attention to nutrition labels have not been previously studied. Global/local processing encourages individuals to attend to the whole/specific parts of an object. In this study, we examined this effect using a lab experiment with eye-tracking technique. We hypothesized that individuals with a local processing pay more attention to nutrition labels including nutrition tables and traffic lights. An experiment was designed with two conditions: global and local information processing. Forty participants were randomly assigned to either global or local conditions and their information processing style was manipulated. Results supported our hypothesis for nutrition tables, but not for traffic lights

Keywords:

lab experiment , eye-tracking , nutrition labeling , global/local processing , individual differences