Humans usually assess options not in terms of absolute value, but relative to reference points. The framing of alternatives can strongly affect human decision-making, leading to different choices depending on the context within which options are presented. Similar reference-point effects have been recently reported in ants, in which foragers show contrast effects: Ants overvalue a medium-quality food source if they were expecting a poor one, and vice versa for expectations of good food. However, studies of human consumer psychology have demonstrated that expectations, for instance, from product labels, can drive value perception in the opposite direction, via a process of assimilation. For example, an expensive bottle of wine is perceived as more enjoyable compared with a cheaper bottle, even if the wine is the same. In this study, we demonstrate a similar labeling-association effect in an insect: Ants showed assimilation effects by spending twice as long drinking at medium-quality food if it was scented with an odor previously associated with high quality than if it was scented with a poor-quality label. The presence of odor cues in the food during consumption and evaluation is critical, as without them, odor-driven expectations of quality result in contrast, not assimilation effects. The addition of a quality label in the food thus reverses contrast effects and causes value to be aligned with expectations, rather than being contrasted against them. As value judgment is a key element in decision-making, relative value perception strongly influences which option is chosen and ultimately how choices are made. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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在昆虫中的标记作用：提示关联会影响蚂蚁（Lasius niger）的感知食物价值。

人们通常不是根据绝对值而是相对于参考点来评估期权。替代方案的构架会极大地影响人类的决策，从而导致不同的选择，具体取决于提出替代方案的背景。最近在蚂蚁中也报道了类似的参考点效应，其中的觅食者显示出对比效应：如果蚂蚁期望的是劣质的蚂蚁，它们会高估中等质量的食物，反之亦然。然而，对人类消费者心理的研究表明，例如对产品标签的期望可以通过同化过程推动价值感知朝相反的方向发展。例如，即使是相同的酒，与便宜的酒相比，昂贵的酒也被认为更有趣。在这个研究中，我们证明了在昆虫中的类似标签关联作用：如果蚂蚁在闻到以前与优质气味相关的气味时，在中等质量的食物上饮用时间比在劣质标签上闻气味的时间长两倍，则蚂蚁表现出同化作用。 。在食用和评估过程中，食品中是否存在气味提示至关重要，因为没有它们，气味驱动的质量期望就会形成对比，而不是同化效果。因此，在食品中添加质量标签可以逆转对比效果，并使价值与期望保持一致，而不是与期望进行对比。由于价值判断是决策的关键要素，因此相对价值感知会强烈影响选择哪个选项以及最终如何做出选择。（PsycINFO数据库记录（c）2020 APA，保留所有权利）。