Projects and publications

FairSpeak

The FairSpeak research group  investigates in-store product-to-consumer communication on national and global markets with a view to both commercial effects and communicative fairness (in collaboration with researchers from CBS Marketing and Law as well as from DTU and Lund University). The Fairspeak project focused specifically on how consumers decode the different types of information presented on food packaging, relating this to theories about language processing and visual communication. Such information has to be decoded while shopping at the supermarket, but also when comparing products and services on the web or in choosing over-the-counter medicine. Among the key publications are:

• Smith, V., Barratt, D., Møgelvang-Hansen, P., & Wedel Andersen, A. U. (2022). Misleading Marketing Communication: Assessing the Impact of Potentially Deceptive Food Labelling on Consumer Behaviour. Springer International Publishing.
• Clement, J., Smith, V., Zlatev, J., Gidlöf, K., & Van de Weijer, J. (2017). Assessing information on food packages. European Journal of Marketing, 51(1), 219-237.
• Smith, V., Barratt, D., & Sørensen, H. S. (2015). Do natural pictures mean natural tastes? Assessing visual semantics experimentally. Cognitive Semiotics, 8(1), 53-86.
• Smith, V., Barratt, D., & Zlatev, J. (2014). Unpacking noun-noun compounds: Interpreting novel and conventional food names in isolation and on food labels. Cognitive Linguistics, 25(1), 99-147.
• Sørensen, H. S., Holm, L., Møgelvang-Hansen, P., Barratt, D., Qvistgaard, F., & Smith, V. (2013). Consumer understanding of food labels: Toward a generic tool for identifying the average consumer. The International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, 23(3), 291-304.

Visual communication

Visual communication is a main research area in CogLab. Key publications include:

• Barratt, D., Rédei, A., Innes-Ker, Å., & van de Weijer, J. (2016). Does the Kuleshov effect really exist? Revisiting a classic film experiment on facial expressions and emotional contexts. Perception, 45(8), 847-874.
• Barratt, D., & Bundesen, C. (2012). Attentional capture by emotional faces is contingent on attentional control settings. Cognition and Emotion, 26(7), 1223-1237.

The Global English  Business Communication Group (GEBCom)

The GEBCom Group investigates the consequences of using English as a lingua franca among non-native speakers of English in cross-national business interaction and in companies and organizations operating across national and cultural borders.

Loan officers' information processing

We investigate loan officers’ information search and decision making  using eye tracking to establish which types of information are used by loan officers when deciding whether or not to grant a loan to a company. This is a collaboration between CogLab and Nina Sormunen (CBS), Tuukka Järvinen (University of Vaasa) and Emma-Riikka Myllymäki (Aalto University). The results so far were presented at the 16th Nordic Accounting Conference at CBS.
 

Writing advice and text comprehension

Investigating how writing advice typically given in writing guides and language policies actually influences text comprehension. Publications to date

• Balling, L.W. 2013. Does good writing mean good reading? An eye-tracking investigation of the effect of writing advice on reading. Fachsprache, 35, pp. 2-23.
• Balling, L.W. 2013. Sprogpolitik malt i millisekunder. Nyt fra Sprognævnet, 2013/3, pp. 4-8.
• Balling, L.W. Writing Advice and Reading Comprehension: Two Different Issues? To appear in Journal of Technical Writing and Communication.

The emotional loadings of words in first and second languages

We investigate whether the emotional loadings affect eye movements in reading of first and second languages. This throws light on basic differences between first and second languages and also speaks to key issues to consider in relation to persuasion and marketing across first and foreign languages. Collaboration between Caroline Lehr (University College London) and CogLab.

Recent student projects

• Marianne Delattre (2016). How does visual complexity influence the memorization process? BA project, exchange student. Grenoble School of Management, France.
• Jeanette Søs Nielsen (2016). The use of persuasive strategies in campaign posters for organ donation. BA project, BA in Intercultural Market Studies, CBS.
• Saner Christopher Karabulut & Mikael Hansen (2016). Coca Cola going green. BA project, BA in Intercultural Market Studies, CBS.
• Sveinung F. Krågeland & Tor Magnus Breivik (2016). Anchoring in International Business. An Experimental Study of Debiasing the Anchoring Effect. Master thesis, Msc International Business. An investigation of the anchoring effect using eye-tracking, showing that the anchoring effect (lower before-prices making people more likely to buy a product on sale) can be reduced using a debiasing intervention and that this also shows up in eye movements.
• Andrea Ciceri (2016). Using consumer neuroscience to determine the importance of wine label attributes. Ph.D. thesis, visiting student. University of Milan, Italy.
• Louise Pram Nielsen (2015). Knowledge dissemination based on terminological ontologies: Using eye tracking to further user interface design. Ph.D. thesis, CBS.
• Mathias Bak, Scott Henry, Lanyang Li, Jaquelyn Parker, Jessica Tsai, & Yifan Wang (2015). Effects of cultural differences in survey design. Web Interaction Design and Communication using Social Media. BA elective, BA in Intercultural Market Studies, CBS.