The physiological mechanisms underlying consumer preferences towards organic food.

Abstract

Previous research has shown that organic food labeling may lead consumers to biased processing of their preferences, the physiological mechanisms behind this phenomenon are not understood. For the first time, this manuscript combines consumer valuation and physiological measures to investigate the explicit and implicit preference dimensions of organic food. The explicit dimension was measured using the expected and actual degree of liking of two identical - but differently labeled - pear juices (organic and non-organic) while the implicit dimension was measured using the activity of the mylohyoid muscle (MM) and the 3D kinematics of the hand, and arm movements. Our findings reveal that the MM was activated during the pre-action phase, where participants observed the organic-labeled product, which suggests a selective anticipatory motor preparation. Moreover, kinematic analyses indicated that participants reached for the organic-labeled pear juice with a shorter reaction time and with more targeted grasping movements compared to the non-organic-labeled juice. In addition, the presence of the organic label significantly influenced consumers' degree of liking. Using this novel approach, these results contribute to a better understanding of the physiological mechanisms underlying consumers' behaviors toward organic food products.