Attentional Control Theory suggests that acute stress reduces the efficiency of working memory and top-down control, increasing susceptibility to distraction. In contrast, Cognitive Reallocation accounts suggest that acute stress narrows attentional focus and potentially reduces distraction. We tested these competing predictions using a cross-modal oddball task, comparing participants exposed to an acute stressor, via a realistic firefighter training exercise, with an unstressed control group. Participants categorised visual targets preceded by either a standard sound or a rare deviant (a noise burst or a semantically congruent or incongruent word). Both groups were distracted by the deviant sounds, but the effect was larger in those exposed to the stressor, particularly early in the session. Over time, this difference diminished—consistent with recovery from stress exposure and stronger habituation in controls. These results indicate that acute stress is associated with heightened vulnerability to auditory distraction in a pattern resembling reduced working memory availability.

The effect of stimulus context on carbon footprint judgments was examined through two competing hypotheses: the assimilation hypothesis, which predicts estimates are drawn toward the surrounding context, and the contrast hypothesis, which predicts they are repelled from it. Participants judged centrally presented target items while exposed to a peripheral surrounding stimulus context that varied in both item number and carbon footprint valence – represented by coloured eco-labels (yellow for high carbon, green for low carbon, and grey for unspecified carbon). Across three experiments, judgments were influenced by the context, with estimates shifting toward the context valence: increasing in a yellow (high carbon) context and decreasing in a green (low carbon) context. These findings supported the assimilation hypothesis over the contrast hypothesis. However, there was some variability in how contextual information was integrated into judgments, and we investigated how assimilation/contrast effects can be influenced by manipulating perceived target-context commonality.

Eco-labeling is the main policy instrument to communicate products' energy efficiency and environmental diagnosticity to consumers. Eco-labels can be graded, such as the European Union's (EU) new ecodesign scale (with energy classes A, B, C, D, E, F, G) or the EU's old ecodesign scale (with energy classes A+++, A++, A+, A, B, C, D). Whether one scale is superior to the other in its effect on consumers is debated. The new scale tends to be understood as a linear interval scale, whereas the old scale tends to be perceived as skewed. We contribute to this debate by taking the novel approach of investigating how linear and skewed eco-labels elicit cognitive biases in consumers. We found that consumers perceive the energy demand (Experiment 1) and carbon footprint (Experiment 2) of a bundle containing an appliance with an intermediate energy class and an appliance with an excellent energy class to be lower than the energy demand/carbon footprint of the appliance with the intermediate energy class alone—a negative footprint illusion. A distortion of the mental organization of eco-labels (Experiment 2) showed that the magnitude of the negative footprint illusion depends dynamically on how eco-labels are organized in mental space, sometimes resulting in a greater effect with the skewed scale and sometimes a greater effect with the linear scale. The results stress the importance of communicating the energy efficiency of individual eco-label classes, as well as how their relation to other eco-label classes should be understood, to mitigate cognitive biases. 

Energy labels help consumers understand the environmental impact of products. This drives consumer behavior. Knowing how label features are perceived can thus have important implications for design, policy, and management. Energy labels contain different design features that convey information about the range of available energy classes. Such contextual information can help people make informed comparisons. Across three behavioral experiments, we evaluate the perception of (EU's eco-design) energy labels based on their letter scale, color-coding, and information about the scale's range of energy classes. These three features had different influences on judgments of environmental friendliness. A letter scale that begins with the alphabet (A to G) helped participants tell apart energy classes linearly. But a scale that extends beyond the alphabet (A+++ to D) led to biased and skewed responses. Color-coding and information about the scale's range of energy classes provided important contextual information that made environmental judgments more discriminating and more stable. We demonstrate novel behavioral evidence on how such contextual information leads to better understanding of energy labels, with a discussion informed by range-frequency theory, the cue-utilization framework, and the heuristics and biases framework. Implications for policy and product marketing strategies with energy labels are discussed.

One way to develop theories of forgetting in short-term memory is to introduce novel sources of distraction. A recent study reported a vibrotactile changing-state effect, suggesting that a sequence of irrelevant vibrations can disrupt visual-verbal serial recall if it contains variation. The present study aimed to replicate and extend this finding. But Experiment 1 found no evidence of a vibrotactile changing-state effect in visual-verbal serial recall. The effect was also absent in a direct replication of the original report (Experiment 4) and with a visual-spatial serial recall task (Experiment 2). Experiment 3 implemented further variation in vibrotactile properties, varying the timing, strength and spatial location of vibrations, yet produced no disruption. A Bayesian random-effects meta-analysis across all available experiments further supported the null hypothesis. These results suggest that the previously reported effect may reflect a false positive, and contribute to theory refinement by identifying potential boundary conditions for vibrotactile distraction.

Consumers often inspect products before making purchase decisions. Some items are selected for their shopping baskets, while others are discarded. Can discarded products influence how the selected set is perceived? We examined this question across two experiments. Participants viewed sequences of grocery products, some included in the shopping basket and some discarded, and were asked to provide a summative estimate of the included set's environmental friendliness after presentation. In Experiment 1, participants had to remember which items to consider for the upcoming judgment, as each item disappeared after presentation. In Experiment 2, each item remained visible after presentation. Discarded green (environmentally friendly) items produced a downshift in perceived environmental friendliness of the included set of items in Experiment 1 (a contrast effect), but an upshift in Experiment 2 (an assimilation effect). Correspondingly, discarded red (environmentally harmful) items produced an upshift in Experiment 1 and a downshift in Experiment 2. These findings show that discarded items can shift judgments of environmental friendliness, but that the direction of this effect depends on whether discarded items are mentally excluded or perceptually integrated with the remaining set.

Background

In view of the attitude-behaviour gap, the most valid way to study waste bin behaviour (i.e., human interaction with waste bins) is arguably through observable rather than self-reported behaviour.

Aims

The purpose of the present paper was to conduct a systematic review of research on observed waste bin behaviour with focus on effects of design and location. The goal was to outline a research agenda with this review as a basis.

Materials and Methods

440 articles were screened and a final sample of 44 articles were included in the review.

Results

The review shows that waste bin saliency (i.e., features that makes the bin stand out from the surrounding environment) is important as it attracts users' attention and increases waste bin use; prompts, logos and signs (that can provide semantic cues on how bins should be used) can improve recycling, but should preferably comprise explicit symbols and only necessary words; the shape of lids and slot holes are important, and should be designed such that they guide behaviour to a desired outcome; and finally, while waste bin location, distance and proximity are important, a strategic bin location (e.g., placing the bin on a common walking path) appears to be more important than distance per se. The review also shows that the importance of these factors varies depending on setting (indoor vs. outdoor environments, public spaces vs. home environments) and they are often studied in isolation.

Discussion and Conclusion

The findings call for future studies on how these factors interact and their relative importance to waste bin behaviour. A research agenda is outlined as well as policy implications for home environments and public spaces.