Choice and goal framing effects in food evaluation: The roles of positive–negative asymmetry and decision sequence

Food choices in everyday life are typically made as a sequence of repeated decisions rather than as isolated choices. We previously developed a sequential preference-based task and demonstrated consistent effects of choice framing on food choice behavior. Building upon that, the present study investigated two forms of framing: choice framing, by comparing Binary and Defer tasks, and goal framing, by contrasting Positive- and Negative-selection instructions. Participants completed a virtual food-shopping task in which food images were presented sequentially and each item was either accepted (“Take”), rejected (“Leave”), or, in some tasks, temporarily postponed (“Wait”). To characterize stage-specific and temporal dynamics of food choice, both aggregate and sequential analyses were conducted. Aggregate analyses replicated previous findings that “Take” decisions required longer processing times in both image viewing and evaluation stages than “Leave” decisions, whereas the “Wait” decision elicited the longest processing times, reflecting greater decision uncertainty. Furthermore, Negative-selection tasks elicited a reversed trend in different decision stages and higher between-participant variability for “Wait” decisions compared to Positive-selection tasks, despite identical task structures, supporting theories of positive–negative asymmetry. Sequential analyses further showed that response dynamics systematically evolved across Choice Sequences in Positive-selection tasks, whereas such temporal modulation was largely absent under Negative-selection, suggesting sustained cognitive demand throughout the task. These findings demonstrate that food choice is a dynamic, multi-stage process and illustrate how integrating stage-specific and sequential analyses can reveal cognitive mechanisms that remain hidden in conventional aggregate analyses. The present study highlights the value of integrating stage-specific and sequential analyses to advance understanding of consumer food decision-making.