Boundaries of the centrality effect during product choice

Horizontal centrality bias has been found to influence what products consumers pay attention to and what products they choose to purchase. Such bias offers substantial competitive advantage to brands that know about it and display their products so as to capitalize on it. Atalay et al. (2012) identified the key components of this horizontal centrality effect: initial fixation bias, gaze cascade bias, and subsequent choice bias. In this paper, we re-examine their study under two new conditions: time pressure and a more ambiguous choice action. We find that although the horizontal centrality effect persists, it is modified in the extended time condition. The central gaze cascade component does not arise in the data when the choice moment is ambiguous, however, choice bias persists under all conditions.