Cost Conscious? The Neural and Behavioral Impact of Price Primacy on Decision Making

Price is a key factor in most purchases, but it can be presented at different stages of decision making. The authors examine the sequence-dependent effects of price and product information on the decision-making process at both neural and behavioral levels. During functional magnetic resonance imaging, the price of a product was shown to participants either before or after the product itself was presented. Early exposure to price, or “price primacy,” altered the process of valuation, as observed in altered patterns of activity in the medial prefrontal cortex immediately before making a purchase decision. Specifically, whereas viewing products first resulted in evaluations strongly related to products’ attractiveness or desirability, viewing prices first appeared to promote overall evaluations related to products’ monetary worth. Consistent with this framework, the authors show that price primacy can increase purchase of bargain-priced products when their worth is easily recognized. Together, these results suggest that price primacy highlights considerations of product worth and can thereby influence purchasing.