ABSTRACT
In order to understand the role of visual attention in consumer behaviour, it is important to understand the various time scales of human behaviours and the multilevel cognitive processes that support these behaviours. We will use grocery shopping as an example. The broadest time scale is the lifespan. Small children ride in shopping carts, begging for the treats that catch their eye, such as the colourful Lucky Charms cereal boxes, toys and the oh-so-close candy in the oh-so-slow checkout line. Teenagers do occasional supplementary shopping for items not found in the pantry or refrigerator, and most adults shop frequently for themselves and their families. Thus, we all have extensive knowledge structures, decision strategies and visuomotor programs for supporting this essential activity of modern life, and these have been acquired gradually over time from experience mainly outside the classrooms of formal education.
