Nevertheless, these studies collectively emphasize the importance of visual attention, and the order of product attributes in shaping consumer behavior and decision-making processes needs more research. Furthermore, attentional capture, the process by which certain stimuli commandeer our focus, plays a key role in various fields, from cognitive psychology to marketing. Recent studies explore this phenomenon in the context of fruit disorders, seeking to understand how defects in fruits capture consumers' attention and influence their purchasing decisions. The quality of a stimulus, such as the color and texture of a fruit, can significantly influence where consumers direct their attention [17]. Visual saliency and choice significantly influence brand recall, underscoring the impact of visual elements on consumer behavior [18]. This suggests that high-quality fruits are more likely to capture consumers' attention, while fruits with visible defects may repel it. Suboptimal food refers to food that deviates from the \"ideal\" look, while their nutritional content and taste are typically unaffected, close to, at, or beyond the best-before-date [19]. Under the UN sustainable development goals framework, as the global demand for fresh produce continues to rise, ensuring that suboptimal but quality fruits are not discarded becomes important [20]. Research has consistently shown that visual appearance plays a pivotal role in food selection [17; 21; 22]. Furthermore, consumers often misconstrue visually suboptimal foods, like overripe bananas, as less palatable, leading to unnecessary wastage [19]. This perception, predominantly driven by visual cues, underscores the critical role of appearance in food selection [23]. The intricate relationship between visual attention, defect perception, and purchasing decisions, as highlighted in [PERSON] et al. [21] shows that consumers quickly notice visible flaws in apples, such as external damage or internal browning. However, this awareness does not often lead to purchasing behaviors. Specifically, only 0% to 7% of consumers chose apples with visible defects when shopping, a number that rose only slightly to between 3.4% and 15.1% when it came to eating them. As for internal qualities like browning, consumer attitudes were more complex. Minor browning was not a deal-breaker, but if around 8.2% of the apple was brown, consumers were evenly split over whether to discard it or not. Building on these foundational insights, our study aims to provide a more granular understanding of the influence of various defects of apples on consumer's cognitive processes. By examining apples of different varieties, each presented with incremental levels of bruising, we gained insights into the \"Threshold of Rejection\"--the point at which a fruit's visual defects become unacceptable to consumers. Identifying this threshold offers multiple benefits [6; 24]: It can guide producers and retailers in managing inventory and grading processes. Such insights also help foster sustainable consumption by encouraging the acceptance of suboptimal produce, potentially reducing waste and promoting better resource utilization. Our aims were to extend the previous results and include additional factors, such as the color of the apple and the effect of culture. Therefore, two apple varieties (with three skin colors) were tested, with Hungarian and Chinese participants. Specifically, the following questions were addressed in the study:  
(1) How does visual attention impact consumer behavior, particularly in the context of purchasing fruits with visible defects? (2) How do the appearance and defects of fruits influence their purchase decisions? (3) What are the factors that may alter consumer perception and acceptance of visually suboptimal but nutritionally adequate fruits, aiding in reducing food wastage?