|
Field
Trial Title
|
Before
Nudging with Attribution Bias: Promoting Healthy Over Unhealthy Food Preferences
|
After
Nudging with Attribution Bias: Promoting Healthy Over Unhealthy Drink Preferences
|
|
Field
Abstract
|
Before
Diet-related diseases are a leading contributor to global morbidity, mortality, and rising health expenditures. Beyond direct health impacts, poor diets also impose large social and economic costs through lost productivity, increased healthcare demand, and long-term fiscal pressures on public systems. These challenges raise the importance of identifying behavioral mechanisms that systematically bias food choice and exploring how they can be leveraged to improve consumer diets. One such mechanism is attribution bias—the tendency for individuals to misattribute state-driven experiences to intrinsic product properties. While widely observed in behavioral studies, little is known about the internal mechanisms through which attribution bias shapes preferences, and whether this bias can be leveraged in behavioral nudges to steer individual choices away from unhealthy foods towards healthier alternatives. This study fills this gap by integrating behavioral and neuroeconomic methods to examine how hunger-induced attribution bias influences choice between healthy and unhealthy snack alternatives.
|
After
Diet-related diseases are a leading contributor to global morbidity, mortality, and rising health expenditures. Beyond direct health impacts, poor diets also impose large social and economic costs through lost productivity, increased healthcare demand, and long-term fiscal pressures on public systems. These challenges raise the importance of identifying behavioral mechanisms that systematically bias food choice and exploring how they can be leveraged to improve consumer diets. One such mechanism is attribution bias—the tendency for individuals to misattribute state-driven experiences to intrinsic product properties. While widely observed in behavioral studies, little is known about the internal mechanisms through which attribution bias shapes preferences, and whether this bias can be leveraged in behavioral nudges to steer individual choices away from unhealthy foods towards healthier alternatives. This study fills this gap by integrating behavioral and neuroeconomic methods to examine how thirst-induced attribution bias influences choice between healthy and unhealthy carbonated drink alternatives.
|
|
Field
Last Published
|
Before
February 18, 2026 09:15 AM
|
After
June 02, 2026 09:03 PM
|
|
Field
Primary Outcomes (End Points)
|
Before
1. Subjects' choices between the healthy and equivalent, unhealthy snack in the choice task will be compared between control and treatment.
2. Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) will be measured during the cue exposure task and key components (e.g., P1, N1, N2, P3, LPP, RewP) will be compared between control and treatment.
|
After
1. Subjects' choices between the healthy and equivalent, unhealthy carbonated drink in the choice task will be compared between the control and treatment.
2. Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) will be measured during the cue exposure task, and key components (e.g., P1, N1, N2, P3, LPP, RewP) will be compared between control and treatment.
|
|
Field
Experimental Design (Public)
|
Before
The experiment is conducted across two days. On the first day, subjects will consume a healthy snack under a control or treatment condition. On day two, they will make choices between the healthy snack and an equivalent, unhealthy alternative in a choice task. Neurophysiological indicators of preferences for the healthy and unhealthy snacks will also be collected during a cue exposure task.
|
After
The experiment is conducted across two days. On the first day, subjects will consume a healthy carbonated drink under a control or treatment condition. On day two, they will make choices between the healthy drink and an equivalent, unhealthy alternative in a choice task. Neurophysiological indicators of preferences for the healthy and unhealthy drinks will also be collected during a cue exposure task.
|
|
Field
Intervention (Hidden)
|
Before
The intervention aims to exogenously manipulate subjects' hunger level prior to consumption of a target snack, with the aim to vary consumption experience across treatments. Participants will be asked to fast for five hours prior to the experiment. They will then be randomly assigned to either the treatment or control group using computer-based randomization software. The treatment group will remain hungry, while the control group will receive a neutral snack (e.g., Ritz biscuits) to offset their hunger. Following hunger manipulation, both groups will be provided with a healthy food snack (e.g., Baked chips) to consume, after which they will rate their consumption experience. The treatment group is expected to report higher ratings since they consume the snack under an arousal state (hunger), resulting in a better consumption experience than subjects in the control, who are satiated before consuming the healthy snack.
|
After
The intervention aims to exogenously manipulate subjects' thirst level prior to consumption of a target carbonated drink, with the aim to vary consumption experience across treatments. Participants will be asked to refrain from drinking water or any fluids for five hours before the experiment. They will then be randomly assigned to either the treatment or control group using computer-based randomization software. The treatment group will remain thirsty, while the control group will receive a bottle of water to offset their thirst. Following thirst manipulation, both groups will be provided with a healthy carbonated drink (e.g., Poppi drink) to consume, after which they will rate their consumption experience. The treatment group is expected to report higher ratings since they consume the drink under an arousal state (thirst), resulting in a better consumption experience than subjects in the control group, who had their thirst offset before consuming the healthy drink.
|