title: Influence of branding on preference-based decision making.
abstract: Branding has become one of the most important determinants of consumer choices. Intriguingly, the psychological mechanisms of how branding influences decision making remain elusive. In the research reported here, we used a preference-based decision-making task and computational modeling to identify which internal components of processing are affected by branding. We found that a process of noisy temporal integration of subjective value information can model preference-based choices reliably and that branding biases are explained by changes in the rate of the integration process itself. This result suggests that branding information and subjective preference are integrated into a single source of evidence in the decision-making process, thereby altering choice behavior.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, University of Glasgow, 58 Hillhead St., Glasgow G12 8QB, United Kingdom. marios.philiastides@gmail.com
authors.forename: Marios G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Philiastides
authors.forename: Roger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ratcliff
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002755:Choice Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D040541:Marketing; D008960:Models, Psychological; D011930:Reaction Time; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: bias; branding; cognitive processes; decision making; diffusion model; drift rate; evidence accumulation; judgment; preferences; response bias