Evaluating cognitive processing and preferences through brain responses towards country of origin for wines : the role of gender and involvement

Purpose: This study aims to analyse the impact of the country of origin of wines on cognitive processing and preferences through brain responses for consumers from the perspective of gender and the level of involvement. Design/methodology/approach: A wine tasting experiment was performed using electroencephalography (EEG). The sample consisted of 40 students from an important Brazilian university. In the first group, the participants tasted two glasses of wine with Brazilian then French origins. In the second group, the participants only tasted one glass of wine, without the origin information. The wine was the same in both groups and from Brazilian origin. Throughout the tasting process, participants had their brain responses recorded via the EEG. Findings: The main findings suggest that the country of origin did not have a significant influence on cognitive processing or preferences for consumers in general, neither for women nor consumers of high involvement. For men, there was greater cognitive processing for Brazilian wines. However, there was no preference for men among the origins of wines. For consumers with low involvement, there was a difference in cognitive processing, presenting a greater value for Brazil and without origin information. Also, for low-involvement consumers, a greater preference for wine from France was seen. Originality/value: This study presents a new contribution to the literature by analysing the cognitive processing and preferences through brain responses for consumers from the perspective of gender and the level of involvement.