Eleven years ago, researchers discovered a quirk in consumers’ thinking about prices: they acted as if low digits were farther apart than higher ones. For example, consumers behaved as if there were more of a gap between three and four than between eight and nine.

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A recent paper in the Journal of Consumer Research builds on that notion by examining people’s responses to sale prices for fictional items, focusing on their reactions to differing right-hand digits in price figures. The paper was written by Keith S. Coulter and Robin A. Coulter, professors at Clark University and the University of Connecticut, respectively.