title: Purchase decision-making is modulated by vestibular stimulation.
abstract: Purchases are driven by consumers' product preferences and price considerations. Using caloric vestibular stimulation (CVS), we investigated the role of vestibular-affective circuits in purchase decision-making. CVS is an effective noninvasive brain stimulation method, which activates vestibular and overlapping emotional circuits (e.g., the insular cortex and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)). Subjects were exposed to CVS and sham stimulation while they performed two purchase decision-making tasks. In Experiment 1 subjects had to decide whether to purchase or not. CVS significantly reduced probability of buying a product. In Experiment 2 subjects had to rate desirability of the products and willingness to pay (WTP) while they were exposed to CVS and sham stimulation. CVS modulated desirability of the products but not WTP. The results suggest that CVS interfered with emotional circuits and thus attenuated the pleasant and rewarding effect of acquisition, which in turn reduced purchase probability. The present findings contribute to the rapidly growing literature on the neural basis of purchase decision-making.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Bern Berne, Switzerland ; Center for Cognition, Learning and Memory, University of Bern Berne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Nora
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Preuss
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Bern Berne, Switzerland ; Center for Cognition, Learning and Memory, University of Bern Berne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Fred W
authors.initials: FW
authors.lastname: Mast
authors.affiliation: University Hospital of Psychiatry, University of Bern Berne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Gregor
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hasler
keywords: caloric vestibular stimulation; desirability; insula; neuromodulation; purchase decision-making