From brain variations to individual differences in the color–flavor incongruency effect: A combined virtual reality and resting-state fMRI study

Abstract When consumers are searching for a packaged food with a certain flavor label, they are slower and less accurate when the target’s packaging color and flavor label are incongruent than when they are congruent. Here, we conducted a combined virtual reality (VR) and resting-state fMRI study to investigate the spontaneous neural basis of individual differences in this color–flavor incongruency effect. Our results revealed a positive correlation between the behavioral effect and the local synchronization for the left fusiform, a brain area associated with the retrieval of color information. The results also revealed a positive correlation between this behavioral effect and the intrinsic neural interactions between the left fusiform and the left putamen, a brain area associated with the processing of expectation. These findings revealed the role of expectation violation in in-store product searches. The potential implications of these findings for packaging design in the food industry are discussed.