Influence of Interpretation Aids on Attentional Capture, Visual Processing, and Understanding of Front-of-Package Nutrition Labels

Objective: To study the influence of 2 interpretational aids of front-of-package (FOP) nutrition labels (color code and text descriptors) on attentional capture and consumers' understanding of nutritional information. Design: A full factorial design was used to assess the influence of color code and text descriptors using visual search and eye tracking. Participants: Ten trained assessors participated in the visual search study and 54 consumers completed the eye-tracking study. Main Outcome Measures: In the visual search study, assessors were asked to indicate whether there was a label high in fat within sets of mayonnaise labels with different FOP labels. In the eye-tracking study, assessors answered a set of questions about the nutritional content of labels. Analysis: The researchers used logistic regression to evaluate the influence of interpretational aids of FOP nutrition labels on the percentage of correct answers. Analyses of variance were used to evaluate the influence of the studied variables on attentional measures and participants' response times. Results: Response times were significantly higher for monochromatic FOP labels compared with color-coded ones (3,225 vs 964 ms; P < .001), which suggests that color codes increase attentional capture. The highest number and duration of fixations and visits were recorded on labels that did not include color codes or text descriptors (P < .05). The lowest percentage of incorrect answers was observed when the nutrient level was indicated using color code and text descriptors (P < .05). Conclusions and Implications: The combination of color codes and text descriptors seems to be the most effective alternative to increase attentional capture and understanding of nutritional information.