Daniele Porcheddu

Nonverbal stimuli in a virtual aisle: does the shelf you choose matter?

In this work, we evaluate the phenomenon of asymmetric perception of some nonverbal stimuli located in an aisle of a virtual store. In a stimulus detection experiment, with a number of potentially confounding variables held under control, it was found that the nonverbal stimuli utilized (belonging to the color, size, and shape families) were perceived more rapidly when placed on shelves on the left rather than on the right of the observer. This response pattern was constant regardless the nature of stimulus and the gender of observer. The experiment also showed the following sequence, in descending order of perception rapidity: color–shape–size. Our results appear consistent with the predictions of the brain laterality theory. Overall, our article provides an initial contribution to extend the results of Rettie and Brewer (Journal of Product and Brand Management 2000; 9, no. 1: 56–70) pioneering work obtained by reference to specific problems of package design to the positioning of items with respect to in-store traffic flow. Limitations and managerial implications of our work are discussed.

From Grouping to Coupling: A New Perceptual Organization in Vision, Psychology, and Biology.

In this work, perceptual organization has been studied with the same spirit and phenomenological methods used by Gestalt psychologists. This was accomplished through new conditions that cannot be explained in terms of the classical principles of grouping. Perceptual grouping represents the way through which our visual system builds integrated elements on the basis of the maximal homogeneity among the components of the stimulus pattern. Our results demonstrated the inconsistency of organization by grouping, and more importantly, the inconsistency of the principle of similarity. On the contrary, they suggested the unique role played by the principle of dissimilarity among elements that behaves like an accent or a visual emphasis within a whole. The principle of accentuation was here considered as imparting a directional structure to the elements and to the whole object thus creating new phenomena. The salience of the resulting phenomena reveals the supremacy of dissimilarity in relation to similarity and the fact that it belongs to a further organization dynamics that we called “coupling.” In biology, coupling and its principle of accentuation are very strongly related to disruptive camouflage. Moreover, they are source of sexual attraction. They advertise the presence and elicit species identification/communication. In human beings accentuation is needed to show ourselves to others, to understand the way we dress, choose, and create clothes or invent fashion, the way we change our body accentuating several parts and hiding some others, the way we use maquillage. The existence of maquillage itself is derived from the need to accentuate something with the purpose to increase sexual attraction, to exhibit physical strength and beauty, to show or hide social status (e.g., being the king, a warrior, a priest, etc.). Last but not least, accentuation plays a basic role also in making it easier or difficult to read and understand written words.

Choices from Identical Options in a Virtual Shopping Aisle

Through an experiment in a virtual environment, in this work we studied the relationship between vertical and horizontal shelf location and the frequency with which shoppers select items. We tested a random distribution hypothesis of the picking up frequencies (PUFs) in relationship to item shelf position within an experimental framework with various constant hypothesized confounding variables. The equidistribution hypothesis was rejected in a test with 600 virtual shoppers, providing evidence for the existence of a gravitational force towards certain shelf locations. In particular, the PUFs resulted significantly higher for eye-level and waist-level locations when items were placed in the first half of the virtual gondola. On a theoretical level, our experiment also shows that the minimal physical effort principle is probably not a good explanation for the qualitative heterogeneity of shelf space and for the associated shelf position effects. Limitations and managerial implications of our work were also discussed.

Asymmetric colour perception in point-of-sale: some implications for merchandising

In this work we evaluate the phenomenon of asymmetric perception of coloured stimuli located in an aisle of a virtual store. In an experimental context of rapid perception and stimulation of peripheral vision, it was found that coloured items were perceived more accurately and rapidly when placed on the left rather than on the right shelf. This result seems to reveal the existence of an inter-shelves effect. Our work is a first contribution to fill the gap between the seminal study by Rettie and Brewer (2000) and the subsequent literature which extended to other spheres of merchandising some findings originally concerning some problems of package design.

Illusion and Illusoriness of Color and Coloration

In this work, through a phenomenological analysis, we studied the perception of the chromatic illusion and illusoriness. The necessary condition for an illusion to occur is the discovery of a mismatch/disagreement between the geometrical/physical domain and the phenomenal one. The illusoriness is instead a phenomenal attribute related to a sense of strangeness, deception, singularity, mendacity, and oddity. The main purpose of this work is to study the phenomenology of chromatic illusion vs. illusoriness, which is useful for shedding new light on the no-man’s land between “sensory” and “cognitive” processes that have not been fully explored. Some basic psychological and biological implications for living organisms are deduced.

Disposizione dei prodotti a scaffale e percezione di numerosità. I risultati di uno studio esplorativo

Arrangement of products on display and perception of numerosity. Some results from an exploratory study. What relationship is there between the arrangement of products on shelves and the perception of their numerosity? 137 students were recruited for a lab experiment that involved the presentation of three pictures randomly drawn from a database. Each picture portrayed an incomplete display with the same amount of items. All the drawn sets were built so that they could represent three different types of product distribution on display: random distribution, two cluster distribution and three cluster distribution. The participants were asked to rank, in free-viewing conditions, the pictures of the set, on the basis of the believed increasing amount of items present on the compared displays. The statistical tests emphasise a tendency of the participants to judge as less numerous the products when arranged in clusters rather than randomly. Moreover, the perceived numerosity seemed to reduce as the number of clusters increases. The obtained results are consistent with some theories, e.g. Gestalt theory. Such illusion of numerosity, due to the arrangement of products on shelves, presents some managerial implications in terms of merchandising and category management.

Spin-off universitari in regioni economicamente marginali: il caso della Sardegna

Spin-off universitari in regioni economicamente marginali: il caso della Sardegna (di Daniele Porcheddu, Margherita Piredda e Antonio Usai) - ABSTRACT: Diversi studi hanno recentemente posto in evidenza il contributo degli spin-off universitari allo sviluppo della knowledge economy in regioni economicamente marginali. Nel nostro lavoro, dopo aver collocato con una serie di indicatori la Sardegna nel contesto del «fenomeno» knowledge economy, analizziamo il caso di uno spin-off universitario emerso di recente in tale regione periferica italiana. In particolare, abbiamo esaminato lo start-up e le differenti fasi evolutive di un’impresa Ict fondata, in gran parte, da ex ricercatori universitari e proprietaria, attraverso brevetto internazionale, di una rivoluzionaria tecnologia nell’ambito della comunicazione over-IP. La nostra analisi, inquadrando sotto il profilo teorico le vicende del caso di studio, mira a sottolineare la complessita dei legami tra questa esperienza pionieristica, l’Universita di provincia nella quale si sono formati i fondatori di questa impresa e il contesto piu ampio di quella che e ormai definita da piu parti la «parabola della new economy sarda». Il caso analizzato, tra gli altri aspetti, evidenzia fenomeni di «osmosi» continuata nel tempo tra universita e impresa, l’importanza dei «sentimenti» di emulazione nello start-up di spin-off universitari, nonche la possibile natura «serendipica» di alcune delle vicende che conducono alla fondazione di imprese di tale natura.