Skip to main content
Log in

Do investors show an attentional bias toward past performance? An eye-tracking experiment on visual attention to mutual fund disclosures in simplified fund prospectuses

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Journal of Financial Services Marketing Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study examines the cognitive processes underlying investors’ extrapolations of past fund performance and whether investors’ attention patterns may explain their return-chasing behaviors. We measured the attention that investors paid to mutual fund disclosures in a simplified fund prospectus using unobtrusive infrared eye tracking. Results suggest that prior fund performance, which is normatively irrelevant information and not useful in predicting future performance, received considerable attention from investors. More interestingly, the impact of prior fund performance on investors’ purchasing intentions was fully mediated through expected returns and attention paid to past performance information. The results indicate that investors apparently believe in performance persistence or in a ‘hot hand’ effect, and that mutual fund purchases are driven by salient information such as superior performance. Moreover, we tested the disclaimer mandated by regulatory bodies, which warns that past performance does not guarantee future results. We found that the disclaimer was ineffective in reducing investors’ extrapolation biases, despite the fact that the disclaimer was attended to and properly encoded by investors.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. The software provided by SensoMotoric Instruments (SMI) refers to gaze duration as dwell time, which is computed as the sum of all fixation durations and saccades.

References

  • Aldlaigan, A.H. and Buttle, F.A. (2001) Consumer involvement in financial services: An empirical test of two measures. International Journal of Bank Marketing 19 (6): 232–245.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Andreassen, P.B. (1988) Explaining the price-volume relationship: The difference between price changes and changing prices. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 41 (3): 371–389.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Argo, J.J. and Main, K.J. (2004) Meta-analyses of the effectiveness of warning labels. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing 23 (2): 193–208.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bailey, W., Kumar, A. and Ng, D. (2011) Behavioral biases of mutual fund investors. Journal of Financial Economics 102 (1): 1–27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barber, B.M. and Odean, T. (2008) All that glitters: The effect of attention and news on the buying behavior of individual and institutional investors. Review of Financial Studies 21 (2): 785–818.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barber, B.M, Odean, T. and Zheng, L. (2005) Out of sight, out of mind: The effects of expenses on mutual fund flows. Journal of Business 78 (6): 2095–2119.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barberis, N., Shleifer, A. and Vishny, R. (1998) A model of investor sentiment. Journal of Financial Economics 49 (3): 307–343.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Benartzi, S. (2001) Excessive extrapolation and the allocation of 401(k) accounts to company stock. Journal of Finance 56 (5): 1747–1764.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Benartzi, S. and Thaler, R.H. (2007) Heuristics and biases in retirement savings behavior. Journal of Economic Perspectives 21 (3): 81–104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berk, J.B. and Green, R.C. (2004) Mutual fund flows and performance in rational markets. Journal of Political Economy 112 (6): 1269–1295.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beshears, J., Choi, J.J., Laibson, D. and Madrian, B.C. (2009) How Does Simplified Disclosure Affect Individuals’ Mutual Fund Choices? Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research. NBER Working Paper 14859.

  • Bollen, N.P.B. and Busse, J.A. (2004) Short-term persistence in mutual fund performance. Review of Financial Studies 18 (2): 569–597.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Camerer, C.F. (1989) Does the basketball market believe in the ‘hot hand’? American Economic Review 79 (5): 1257–1261.

    Google Scholar 

  • Capon, N., Fitzsimons, G.V. and Prince, R.A. (1996) An individual analysis of the mutual fund investment decision. Journal of Financial Services Research 10 (1): 59–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Capon, N., Fitzsimons, G.V. and Weingarten, R. (1994) Affluent investors and mutual fund purchases. International Journal of Bank Marketing 12 (3): 17–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carhart, M.M. (1997) On persistence in mutual fund performance. Journal of Finance 52 (1): 57–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter, P.A. and Shah, P. (1998) A model of the perceptual and conceptual processes in graph comprehension. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied 4 (2): 75–100.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chaiken, S. and Trope, Y. (eds.) (1999) Dual-process Theories in Social Psychology. New York: The Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen, G., Kim, K.A., Nofsinger, J.R. and Rui, O.M. (2007) Trading performance, disposition effect, overconfidence, representativeness bias, and experience of emerging market investors. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making 20 (4): 425–451.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chevalier, J. and Ellison, G. (1997) Risk taking by mutual funds as a response to incentives. Journal of Political Economy 105 (6): 1167–1200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Choi, J.J., Laibson, D. and Madrian, B.C. (2010) Why does the law of one price fail? An experiment on index mutual funds. Review of Financial Studies 23 (4): 1405–1432.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clark-Murphy, M. and Soutar, G. (2004) What individual investors value: Some Australian evidence. Journal of Economic Psychology 25 (4): 539–555.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cuthbertson, K., Nitzsche, D. and O’Sullivan, N. (2010) Mutual fund performance: Measurement and evidence. Financial Markets, Institutions & Instruments 19 (2): 95–187.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Daniel, K., Hirshleifer, D. and Teoh, S.H. (2002) Investor psychology in capital markets: Evidence and policy implications. Journal of Monetary Economics 49 (1): 139–209.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Bondt, W.F.M. (1993) Betting on trends: Intuitive forecasts of financial risk and return. International Journal of Forecasting 9 (3): 355–371.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Bondt, W.F.M. and Thaler, R. (1985) Does the stock market overreact? Journal of Finance 40 (3): 793–805.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Devenow, A. and Welch, I. (1996) Rational herding in financial economics. European Economic Review 40 (3–5): 603–615.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dhar, R. and Kumar, A. (2001) A Non-random Walk Down the Main Street: Impact of Price Trends on Trading Decisions of Individual Investors. New Haven, CT: International Center for Finance, Yale School of Management. Working Paper No. 00-45.

  • Diacon, S. and Hasseldine, J. (2007) Framing effects and risk perceptions: The effect of prior performance presentation format on investment fund choice. Journal of Economic Psychology 28 (1): 31–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Drew, M.E., Stanford, J.D. and Veeraraghavan, M. (2002) Selecting Australian equity superannuation funds: A retail investor’s perspective. Journal of Financial Services Marketing 7 (2): 115–128.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Duchowski, A.T. (2007) Eye Tracking Methodology. Theory and Practice. 2nd edn. London: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Estelami, H. (2009) Cognitive drivers of suboptimal financial decisions: Implications for financial literacy campaigns. Journal of Financial Services Marketing 13 (4): 273–283.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fama, E.F. (1965) Random walks in stock market prices. Financial Analysts Journal 21 (5): 55–59.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fama, E.F. (1970) Efficient capital markets: A review of theory and empirical work. Journal of Finance 25 (2): 383–417.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Federal Register (2003) Amendments to investment company advertising rules; final rule. Rules and Regulations 68 (193): 57760–57782.

  • Feng, L. and Seasholes, M.S. (2005) Do investor sophistication and trading experience eliminate behavioral biases in financial markets? Review of Finance 9 (3): 305–351.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feuerborn, T.A. (2001) New mutual funds: Misplaced marketing through consumer misdirection. Journal of Consumer Marketing 18 (1): 7–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Field, A. (2009) Discovering Statistics using SPSS, 3rd edn, London: SAGE Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fisher, K.L. and Statman, M. (2000) Cognitive biases in market forecasts. The frailty of forecasting. Journal of Portfolio Management 27 (1): 72–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gallaher, S., Kaniel, R. and Starks, L. (2005) Madison Avenue meets Wall Street: Mutual fund families, competition and advertising, http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID879775_code48389.pdf?abstractid=879775&mirid=1, accessed 26 February 2014.

  • Gilovich, T., Griffin, D. and Kahneman, D. (eds.) (2002) Heuristics and Biases. The Psychology of Intuitive Judgment. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Gilovich, T., Vallone, R. and Tversky, A. (1985) The hot hand in basketball: On the misperception of random sequences. Cognitive Psychology 17 (3): 295–314.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Graham, D.J., Orquin, J.L. and Visschers, V.H.M. (2012) Eye tracking and nutrition label use: A review of the literature and recommendations for label enhancement. Food Policy 37 (4): 378–382.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grether, D.M. (1980) Bayes rule as a descriptive model: The representativeness heuristic. Quarterly Journal of Economics 95 (3): 537–557.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grinblatt, M. and Titman, S. (1992) The persistence of mutual fund performance. Journal of Finance 47 (5): 1977–1984.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hedesström, T.M., Svedsäter, H. and Gärling, T. (2004) Identifying heuristic choice rules in the Swedish premium pension scheme. Journal of Behavioral Finance 5 (1): 32–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Henderson, J.M. (1993) Eye movement control during visual object processing: Effects of initial fixation position and semantic constraint. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology 47 (1): 79–98.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hendricks, D., Patel, J. and Zeckhauser, R. (1993) Hot hands in mutual funds: Short-run persistence of relative performance, 1974–1988. Journal of Finance 48 (1): 93–130.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Higgins, E.T. (1996) Knowledge activation: Accessibility, applicability, and salience. In: E.T. Higgins and A.W. Kruglanski (eds.) Social Psychology: Handbook of Basic Principles. New York: The Guilford Press, pp. 133–168.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hirshleifer, D., Lim, S.S. and Teoh, S.H. (2011) Limited investor attention and stock market misreactions to accounting information. Review of Asset Pricing Studies 1 (1): 35–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hirshleifer, D. and Teoh, S.H. (2003) Limited attention, information disclosure, and financial reporting. Journal of Accounting and Economics 36 (1–3): 337–386.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hsee, C.K., Lowenstein, G.F., Blount, S. and Bazerman, M.H. (1999) Preference reversals between joint and separate evaluations of options: A review and theoretical analysis. Psychological Bulletin 125 (5): 576–590.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huberman, G. and Regev, T. (2001) Contagious speculation and a cure for cancer: A nonevent that made stock prices soar. Journal of Finance 56 (1): 387–396.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hüsser, A. and Wirth, W. (2013) Gravitation toward prior performance in mutual fund advertisings: Do consumer investors’ processing abilities account for biased information processing? Journal of Consumer Affairs 47 (2): 219–242.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Investment Company Institute (ICI). (2006) Understanding investor preferences for mutual fund information. Washington, DC: Investment Company Institute, http://www.ici.org/pdf/rpt_06_inv_prefs_full.pdf, accessed 2 March 2014.

  • Ippolito, R.A. (1992) Consumer reaction to measures of poor quality: Evidence from the mutual fund industry. Journal of Law and Economics 35 (1): 45–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jain, P.C. and Wu, J.S. (2000) Truth in mutual fund advertising: Evidence on future performance and fund flows. Journal of Finance 55 (2): 937–958.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, J. and Tellis, G.J. (2005) Blowing bubbles: Heuristics and biases in the run-up of stock prices. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 33 (4): 486–503.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, M.A. and Smythe, T. (2003) The information content of mutual fund print advertising. Journal of Consumer Affairs 37 (1): 22–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jordan, J. and Kaas, K.P. (2002) Advertising in the mutual fund business: The role of judgmental heuristics in private investors‘ evaluation of risk and return. Journal of Financial Services Marketing 7 (2): 129–140.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Just, M.A. and Carpenter, P.A. (1976) Eye fixations and cognitive processes. Cognitive Psychology 8 (4): 441–480.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Just, M.A. and Carpenter, P.A. (1980) A theory of reading: From eye fixations to comprehension. Psychological Review 87 (4): 329–354.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kahneman, D. (1973) Attention and Effort. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kahneman, D. and Tversky, A. (1972) Subjective probability: A judgment of representativeness. Cognitive Psychology 3 (3): 430–454.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kahneman, D. and Tversky, A. (1973) On the psychology of prediction. Psychological Review 80 (4): 237–251.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaniel, R. and Starks, L. (2007) Headlines and bottom lines: Attention and learning effects from media coverage of mutual funds. SSRN Working Paper, http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID687103_code517200.pdf?abstractid=687103&mirid=1, accessed 26 February 2014.

  • Karceski, J. (2002) Returns-chasing behavior, mutual funds, and beta’s death. Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis 37 (4): 559–594.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kliger, D., Levy, O. and Sonsino, D. (2003) On absolute and relative performance and the demand for mutual funds – Experimental evidence. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 52 (3): 341–363.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koehler, J.J. and Mercer, M. (2009) Selection neglected in mutual fund advertisements. Management Science 55 (7): 1107–1121.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Korkeamaki, T., Puttonen, V. and Smythe, T. (2007) Advertising and mutual fund asset flows. International Journal of Bank Marketing 25 (7): 434–451.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kosowski, R., Timmermann, A., Wermers, R. and White, H. (2006) Can mutual fund ‘stars’ really pick stocks? New evidence from a bootstrap analysis. Journal of Finance 61 (6): 2551–2595.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kozup, J. and Hogarth, J.M. (2008) Financial literacy, public policy, and consumers’ self-protection – More questions, fewer answers. Journal of Consumer Affairs 42 (2): 127–136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kozup, J., Howlett, E. and Pagano, M. (2008) The effect of summary information on consumer perceptions of mutual fund characteristics. Journal of Consumer Affairs 42 (1): 37–59.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lang, A. (2000) The limited capacity model of mediated message processing. Journal of Communication 50 (1): 46–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lawrence, M. and O’Connor, M. (1992) Exploring judgmental forecasting. International Journal of Forecasting 8 (1): 15–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, T.D., Chung, W. and Haley, E. (2011a) Adherence of retirement mutual fund providers to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s advertising guidance: Provision and readability of advertising disclosure. Journal of Consumer Policy 34 (4): 455–474.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, T.D., Haley, E., Yun, T.W. and Chung, W. (2011b) US retirement financial services advertising’s financial information provisions, communication strategies and judgmental heuristic cues. Journal of Consumer Affairs 45 (3): 391–418.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, T.D., Yun, T.W. and Haley, E. (2012) The interplay between advertising disclosures and financial knowledge in mutual fund investment decisions. Journal of Consumer Affairs 46 (2): 260–287.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li, J. and Yu, J. (2012) Investor attention, psychological anchors, and stock return predictability. Journal of Financial Economics 104 (2): 401–419.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lusardi, A. and Mitchell, O.S. (2007) Baby boomer retirement security: The roles of planning, financial literacy, and housing wealth. Journal of Monetary Economic 54 (1): 205–224.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mackenzie, S.B. (1986) The role of attention in mediating the effect of advertising on attribute importance. Journal of Consumer Research 13 (2): 174–195.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mercer, M., Palmiter, A.R. and Taha, A.E. (2010) Worthless warnings? Testing the effectiveness of disclaimers in mutual fund advertisements. Journal of Empirical Legal Studies 7 (3): 429–459.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell, O.S. and Utkus, S.P. (eds.) (2004) Lessons from behavioral finance for retirement plan design. In: Pension Design and Structure. New Lessons from Behavioral Finance. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 3–41.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Moore, D.A., Kurtzberg, T.R., Fox, C.R. and Bazerman, M.H. (1999) Positive illusions and forecasting errors in mutual fund investment decisions. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 79 (2): 95–114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mullainathan, S., Schwartzstein, J. and Shleifer, A. (2008) Coarse thinking and persuasion. Quarterly Journal of Economics 123 (2): 577–619.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nicholson, N., Soane, E., Fenton-O’Creevy, M. and William, P. (2005) Personality and domain-specific risk taking. Journal of Risk Research 8 (2): 157–176.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nicolosi, G., Peng, L. and Zhu, N. (2009) Do individual investors learn from their trading experience? Journal of Financial Markets 12 (2): 317–336.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Odean, T. (1999) Do investors trade too much? American Economic Review 89 (5): 1279–1298.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pashler, H.E. (1998) The Psychology of Attention. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peng, L. and Xiong, W. (2006) Investor attention, overconfidence and category learning. Journal of Financial Economics 80 (3): 563–602.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peng, L., Xiong, W. and Bollerslev, T. (2007) Investor attention and time-varying comovements. European Financial Management 13 (3): 394–422.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petty, R.E. and Cacioppo, J.T. (1986) The elaboration likelihood model in persuasion. In: L. Berkowitz (ed.) Advances in Experimental Social Psychology. Orlando, FL: Academic Press, Vol. 19, pp. 123–205.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pieters, R. and Wedel, M. (2004) Attention capture and transfer in advertising: Brand, pictorial, and text-size effects. Journal of Marketing 68 (2): 36–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pieters, R. and Wedel, M. (2007) Goal control of attention to advertising: The Yarbus implication. Journal of Consumer Research 34 (2): 224–233.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pieters, R., Wedel, M. and Zhang, J. (2007) Optimal feature advertising design under competitive clutter. Management Science 53 (11): 1815–1828.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pontari, B.A., Stanaland, A.J.S. and Smythe, T. (2009) Regulating information disclosure in mutual fund advertising in the United States: Will consumers utilize cost information? Journal of Consumer Policy 32 (4): 333–351.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Powell, M. and Ansic, D. (1997) Gender differences in risk behaviour in financial decision-making: An experimental analysis. Journal of Economic Psychology 18 (6): 605–628.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Preacher, K.J. and Hayes, A.F. (2008) Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior Research Methods 40 (3): 879–891.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rayner, K., Miller, B. and Rotello, C.M. (2008) Eye movements when looking at print advertisements: The goal of the viewer matters. Applied Cognitive Psychology 22 (5): 697–707.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rayner, K., Rotello, C.M., Stewart, A.J., Keir, J. and Duffy, S.A. (2001) Integrating text and pictorial information: Eye movements when looking at print advertisements. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied 7 (3): 219–226.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rogers, W.A., Lamson, N. and Rousseau, G.K. (2000) Warning research: An integrative perspective. Human Factors 42 (1): 102–139.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rucker, D.D. and Petty, R.E. (2006) Increasing the effectiveness of communications to consumers: Recommendations based on elaboration likelihood and attitude certainty perspectives. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing 25 (1): 39–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Russo, J.E. and Leclerc, F. (1994) An eye-fixation analysis of choice processes for consumer nondurables. Journal of Consumer Research 21 (2): 274–290.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). (2009) Enhanced disclosure and new prospectus delivery option for registered open-end management investment companies. Release Nos. 33-8998, http://www.sec.gov/rules/final/2009/33-8998.pdf, accessed 14 July 2014.

  • Shefrin, H. (2000) Beyond Greed and Fear: Understanding Behavioral Finance and the Psychology of Investing. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sirri, E.R. and Tufano, P. (1998) Costly search and mutual fund flows. Journal of Finance 53 (5): 1589–1622.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stewart, D.W. and Martin, I.M. (1994) Intended and unintended consequences of warning messages: A review and synthesis of empirical research. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing 13 (1): 1–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stewart, D.W. and Martin, I.M. (2004) Advertising disclosures: Clear and conspicuous or understood and used? Journal of Public Policy & Marketing 23 (2): 183–192.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Solomon, D.H., Soltes, E. and Sosyura, D. (2014) Winners in the spotlight: Media coverage of fund holdings as a driver of flows. Journal of Financial Economics 113 (1): 53–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, S.E. and Fiske, S.T. (1978) Salience, attention, and attribution: Top of the head phenomena. In: L. Berkowitz (ed.) Advances in Experimental Social Psychology. New York: Academic Press. Vol. 11, pp. 249–288.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tversky, A. and Kahneman, D. (1971) Belief in the law of small numbers. Psychological Bulletin 76 (2): 105–110.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tversky, A. and Kahneman, D. (1974) Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases. Science 185 (4157): 1124–1131.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, A. (2011) The effects of investment knowledge and visual communications on comprehension of investment disclosures. Journal of Financial Services Marketing 16 (2): 125–138.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilcox, R.T. (2003) Bargain hunting or star gazing? Investors’ preferences for stock mutual funds. Journal of Business 76 (4): 645–663.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zelinsky, G.J. and Murphy, G.L. (2000) Synchronizing visual and language processing: An effect of object name length on eye movements. Psychological Science 11 (2): 125–131.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, J., Wedel, M. and Pieters, R. (2009) Sales effects of attention to feature advertisements: A Bayesian mediation analysis. Journal of Marketing Research 46 (5): 669–681.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao, X., Strasser, A., Cappella, J.N., Lerman, C. and Fishbein, M. (2011) A measure of perceived argument strength: Reliability and validity. Communication Methods and Measures 5 (1): 48–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the ‘Forschungskredit’ of the University of Zurich, grant no. 56260602.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Additional information

1Andreas Hüsser (MA) is a PhD student in the Department of Media Psychology and Effects at the Institute of Mass Communication and Media Research, University of Zurich, Switzerland. His research focus on media psychology and media effects, advertising, and persuasion, especially in the field of financial communication.

2Werner Wirth (PhD) is a Full Professor of empirical methods and Head of the Department Media Psychology and Effects at the Institute of Mass Communication and Media Research, University of Zurich, Switzerland. His research focus on media psychology and media effects, persuasion, emotions, and empirical methods in the field of political communication, mobile communication, online communication and financial communication.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Hüsser, A., Wirth, W. Do investors show an attentional bias toward past performance? An eye-tracking experiment on visual attention to mutual fund disclosures in simplified fund prospectuses. J Financ Serv Mark 19, 169–185 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1057/fsm.2014.20

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/fsm.2014.20

Keywords

Navigation