Determinants of Behavioral Intention of the Use of Self-Order Kiosks in Fast-Food Restaurants: Focus on the Moderating Effect of Difference Age

The aim of this study was to derive determinants that affect the behavior associated with using self-order kiosks among fast-food restaurant consumers through the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model, and to analyze the moderating effect of consumers’ difference age (difference between individuals’ cognitive age and chronological age) among the variables. From December 1 to 30, 2019, a survey was conducted on 316 customers using four different fast-food restaurants in the Seoul Station. The results showed that the higher the price value, social influence, performance expectancy, and hedonic motivation, the higher the behavioral intention of ordering through the kiosk; furthermore, the higher the difference age, the higher the behavioral intention of using a kiosk. Therefore, fast-food restaurant operators need to ensure that customers who are unfamiliar with using kiosks can order and make payments through kiosks with minimal effort and reasonable price value.

Travel Website Atmospheres Inducing Older Travelers’ Familiarity: The Moderating Role of Cognitive Age

In the environment in which an increasing number of older travelers are participating in online tourism platforms, for older travelers who face multiple barriers in using e-commerce, it is essential to identify factors promoting older travelers’ website usage for their well-being and sustainable travel industry. This study aims to identify the key factors of website atmosphere for enhancing older travelers’ familiarity, investigate the relationship between older adults’ website familiarity and revisit intention, and test the moderating role of cognitive age. A web-based survey was conducted, and the sample consisted of 305 US residents 50 years of age and older who had experienced travel websites. The results indicated that three subdimensions of older travelers’ website familiarity—informativeness, effectiveness, and entertainment—positively influence their website familiarity. Additionally, the impact of informativeness on website familiarity is stronger for travelers who identify as younger than their chronological age. Moreover, older travelers’ familiarity with a website improves their revisit intention. The current study found not only significant travel website atmosphere factors to boost older travelers’ participation in online tourism platforms but also significant older travelers’ groups depending on their cognitive age perception to magnify the effect of website atmosphere.

Association of epileptiform brain activity and specific language impairment (SLI) in preschool children

Background Epileptiform activities can cause transient or permanent deficits that affect the children during development and may be accompanied by neurodevelopmental disorders like specific language impairment. Objectives The objective of this study was to find if there is a possible association and the impact of epilepsy and epileptiform activity in children with specific language impairment. Patients and methods The study was conducted on 80 children suffering from specific language impairment and 80 age and sex match healthy control children. Computed tomography brain was performed and electroencephalography was recorded for children. Intelligence quotient level, cognitive age, social, and phoniatric assessment were done for all patients. Results Eighty children with specific language impairment (51 males and 29 females) with a mean age of 4.11 ± 1.93. Patients with specific language impairment showed significantly higher rates of abnormal electroencephalography (P = 0.006) and epilepsy (P < 0.001) compared to the control group. Spearman correlation demonstrated a highly negative significant relationship linking the language, intelligence quotient with abnormal electroencephalography and epilepsy (r = − 0.91, P < 0.01 and r = − 0.91, P < 0.01 respectively). Also, there was a moderately inverse significant relationship linking the cognitive age, social with abnormal electroencephalography, and epilepsy (r = − 0.70, P < 0.05 and r = − 0.65, P < 0.05 respectively). Conclusion Epileptiform activities even without epilepsy in preschool children may alter normal language function. Specific language impairment was associated with lower intelligence quotient levels, social, and cognitive age. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT04141332

Cognitive Age and Consumption Pattern among Aging Population - Moderating Impact of Self Confidence and Social Involvement

Pakistan has become one of the exciting markets for marketers due to the paradigm shift of the market, reduced regulation, and privatization of several enterprises. Despite several research studies on consumer behaviors, few researchers have studied the change in elderly consumers' choices and their behavior in the rapidly changing market. Therefore, this research investigates the influence of cognitive age on loyalty proneness, status consumption, and materialism level for Pakistani elders. It evaluates if social involvement and self-confidence can moderate these relationships. Elderly consumers residing in Karachi were the target population for carrying out data collection. The complete data collection process took 25 days, with completion of 710 questionnaires, out of which 676 were deemed reliable for this research study. The study results indicated that the Pakistani elderly with a younger cognitive age appear to be more materialistic and more driven to status consumption or vice versa. The results of the study did not indicate any significant relationship between loyalty proneness and cognitive age. The moderating influence of self-confidence for H1a (Materialism) and H3a (Loyalty to brand or product) in elderly consumers is significant. On the contrary, H2a (Status Consumption) was rejected, as self-confidence does not act as a moderator. For the hypotheses H1b Materialism), H2b (Status Consumption), and H3b (Social Involvement with Loyalty to brand or product), the moderating influence produced by social involvement in the case of senior consumers are found to be significant. This research has provided a more significant contribution to ever-needed research in the Pakistani market, considering its market size and significance. This research will be a better contribution to the present literature. It can be useful to marketers as it provides valuable insights related to the seniors' consumption experience in the Pakistani market. Keywords: Cognitive Age, Materialism, Loyalty Proneness, Elderly, Consumers, Senior Market

Revisiting the Age Construct: Implications for Service Research

People in the older consumer segment spend more money on services than those in other segments, making them a desired target for service providers. This universal trend has led researchers to start discussing this trend’s implications for service research and marketing practice. These discussions’ results are ambiguous because service researchers and managers face the problem of having to choose between three main age constructs: chronological age, cognitive age, and future time perspective (FTP). Unfortunately, current age-related research lacks an understanding of their real value, as only a few studies have combined them to discuss their specific impact. Recognizing this gap in the literature, this article compares the three age constructs in behavioral and perceptional settings. We highlight each age construct’s merits and weaknesses as well as exploring which construct delivers the best results in which service context. Bayesian analyses of our data reveal that chronological age has its merits as a control variable but does not sufficiently discriminate between age groups’ behavior and perceptions. Cognitive age is useful if customers’ own age perceptions are included but only identifies age differences in specific service settings. FTP consistently detects age-related differences in customers’ perceptions and in their behavior in all contexts.

Prediction of brain age and cognitive age: quantifying brain and cognitive maintenance in aging

The concept of brain maintenance refers to the preservation of brain integrity in older age, while cognitive reserve refers to the capacity to maintain cognition in the presence of neurodegeneration or aging-related brain changes. While both mechanisms are thought to contribute to individual differences in cognitive function among older adults, there is currently no 'gold standard' for measuring these constructs. Using machine-learning, we estimated brain and cognitive maintenance based on deviations from normative aging patterns in the Whitehall II MRI sub-study cohort, and tested the degree of correspondence between these constructs, as well as their associations with premorbid IQ, education, and lifestyle trajectories. In line with established literature highlighting IQ as a proxy for cognitive reserve, higher premorbid IQ was linked to cognitive maintenance independent of the degree of brain maintenance. No strong evidence was found for associations between lifestyle trajectories and brain or cognitive maintenance. In conclusion, we present a novel method to characterize brain and cognitive maintenance in aging, which may be useful for future studies seeking to identify factors that contribute to brain preservation and cognitive reserve mechanisms in older age.