FOOD STIMULI AND GENDER

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cue. The stimulus is recognized by a sense organ such as the eyes and processed, giving rise
to the formation of sensations. The sensations generate a perception that leads to a behavioral
response (see Figure 2) (Schröder, 2003). In some cases, an environmental stimulus may be
incomplete; some information can be completed by memory if necessary. This process can
also occur in an inverted way when no external factors are present. Individual can experience
hunger that leads them to think about a particular food, and this situation could generate a
visual perception of food (Schröder, 2003) without a visual stimulus affecting the eyes.

Stimulus
(proximal**

Attention

Memory

Sensation

Mental
processing

Stimulus
(distal*)

Perception

Response

*Object
**Image of object in the eye
Figure 4: Stimulus Response Model for Vision (Schrö der, 2003)

Most stimulus perception occurs out of awareness, and an entire decision-making
process could take place unconsciously (Fitzsimons et al., 2002). Before a visual stimulus
can be processed, it must go through the visual pathway. In the next section, general insight
about the visual pathway is provided.