Neurophysiological tools to investigate consumer's gender differences during the observation of TV commercials

A review on the use of eeg for the investigation of the factors that affect Consumer's behavior

This literature review surveys research papers that focused on the use of Electroencephalography (EEG) to study the impact of different factors in consumer behavior. The primary aim of this review is to determine which factors that affect consumer's behavior have already been evaluated in the existing literature and which remain unexplored. 118 papers are included in this survey. In order that the papers were analyzed in this review, a well-established neuromarketing experiment should have been performed indicating the methods of signals' acquisition, processing and analysis. The novelty of this work is that it considers and classifies not only research articles that studied a factor that influences consumers' choices, but also those that studied consumers' decisions as a result of the interactions that take place among the received marketing messages and the individual's internal or external environment. Findings indicated that the current approaches have mostly evaluated the effects of the promotional campaigns and product features to consumer's behavior. Also, it was shown that the effect of the interactions among different aspects that influence consumer behavior has not yet adequately been studied.

A systematic review of the prediction of consumer preference using EEG measures and machine-learning in neuromarketing research

Introduction

The present paper discusses the findings of a systematic review of EEG measures in neuromarketing, identifying which EEG measures are the most robust predictor of customer preference in neuromarketing. The review investigated which TF effect (e.g., theta-band power), and ERP component (e.g., N400) was most consistently reflective of self-reported preference. Machine-learning prediction also investigated, along with the use of EEG when combined with physiological measures such as eye-tracking.

Methods

Search terms ‘neuromarketing’ and ‘consumer neuroscience’ identified papers that used EEG measures. Publications were excluded if they were primarily written in a language other than English or were not published as journal articles (e.g., book chapters). 174 papers were included in the present review.

Results

Frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) was the most reliable TF signal of preference and was able to differentiate positive from negative consumer responses. Similarly, the late positive potential (LPP) was the most reliable ERP component, reflecting conscious emotional evaluation of products and advertising. However, there was limited consistency across papers, with each measure showing mixed results when related to preference and purchase behaviour.

Conclusions and implications

FAA and the LPP were the most consistent markers of emotional responses to marketing stimuli, consumer preference and purchase intention. Predictive accuracy of FAA and the LPP was greatly improved through the use of machine-learning prediction, especially when combined with eye-tracking or facial expression analyses.

A framework for application of consumer neuroscience in pro-environmental behavior change interventions

Most consumers are aware that climate change is a growing problem and admit that action is needed. However, research shows that consumers' behavior often does not conform to their value and orientations. This value-behavior gap is due to contextual factors such as price, product design, and social norms as well as individual factors such as personal and hedonic values, environmental beliefs, and the workload capacity an individual can handle. Because of this conflict of interest, consumers have a hard time identifying the true drivers of their behavior, as they are either unaware of or unwilling to acknowledge the processes at play. Therefore, consumer neuroscience methods might provide a valuable tool to uncover the implicit measurements of pro-environmental behavior (PEB). Several studies have already defined neurophysiological differences between green and non-green individuals; however, a behavior change intervention must be developed to motivate PEB among consumers. Motivating behavior with reward or punishment will most likely get users engaged in climate change action via brain structures related to the reward system, such as the amygdala, nucleus accumbens, and (pre)frontal cortex, where the reward information and subsequent affective responses are encoded. The intensity of the reward experience can be increased when the consumer is consciously considering the action to achieve it. This makes goal-directed behavior the potential aim of behavior change interventions. This article provides an extensive review of the neuroscientific evidence for consumer attitude, behavior, and decision-making processes in the light of sustainability incentives for behavior change interventions. Based on this review, we aim to unite the current theories and provide future research directions to exploit the power of affective conditioning and neuroscience methods for promoting PEB engagement.

The Role of the Emotional Sequence in the Communication of the Territorial Cheeses: A Neuromarketing Approach

Over the past few years, many studies have shown how territoriality can be considered a driver for purchasing agri-food products. Products with certification of origin are perceived as more sustainable, safer and of better quality. At the same time, producers of traditional products often belong to small entities that struggle to compete with large multinational food corporations, having less budget to allocate to product promotion. In this study, we propose a neuromarketing approach, showing how the use of these techniques can help in choosing the most effective commercial in terms of likeability and ability to activate mnemonic processes. Two commercials were filmed for the purpose of this study. They differed from each other in terms of emotional sequence. The first aimed primarily at eliciting positive emotions derived from the product description. The second aimed to generate negative emotions during the early stages, highlighting the negative consequences of humans' loss of contact with nature and tradition and then eliciting positive emotions by presenting cheese production using traditional techniques as a solution to the problem. Based on the literature on the emotional sequences in social advertising, we hypothesised that the second commercial would generate an overall better emotional reaction and activate mnemonic processes to a greater extent. Our results partially support the research hypotheses, providing useful insights both to marketers and for future research on the topic.

Neuroscientific Methods for Exploring User Perceptions While Dealing With Mobile Advertising: A Novel and Integrated Approach

Display and native ads represent two of the most widely used digital advertising formats employed by advertisers that aim to grab the attention of online users. In recent years, the native format has become very popular because it relies on deceptive features that make harder the recognition of its advertising nature, reducing avoiding behaviors such as the banner blindness phenomena, traditionally associated to display advertising, and so increasing its advertising effectiveness. The present study, based on a forefront research protocol specifically designed for the advertising research on smartphone devices, aims to investigate through neurophysiological and self-reported measures, the perception of display and native ads placed within article webpages, and to assess the efficacy of an integrated approach. Eye-tracking results showed higher visual attention and longer viewing time associated with native advertisements in comparison to traditional display advertisements, confirming and extending evidence provided by previous research. Despite a significantly higher rate of self-reported advertising intent was detected for articles containing display ads when compared to articles containing native ads, no differences have been found while performing the same comparison for the neurophysiological measures of emotional involvement and approaching motivation of for the self-reported measures of pleasantness and annoyance. Such findings along with the employment of an innovative research protocol, contribute to providing further cues to the current debate related to the effectiveness of two of the most widely used digital advertising formats.

Effectiveness of Electricity-Saving Communication Campaigns: Neurophysiological Approach

Public communication campaigns are among the tools for promoting electricity saving. A crucial task in the process of creating a campaign is to design a simple message to effectively reach the average consumer. It is a beneficial practice to create alternative messages and pretest them to find the most effective. The research methodology during pretesting includes both quantitative and qualitative methods. However, it is believed that the outcomes obtained with the use of conventional techniques are not fully reliable. Therefore, the following question arises: What additional research methods should be applied at the stage of testing the message of a communication campaign so that its effectiveness can be assessed more reliably and/or improved even before its broadcast? In this study, we aim to present the possibility of applying cognitive neuroscience methods in conjunction with a questionnaire to experimentally check the effectiveness of the message using the example of selected electricity-saving communication campaigns. The key results of this study indicate that merging conscious and subconscious reactions to media messages allows us to gain new knowledge that can be used in the future to improve the communication campaign effectiveness. Our investigation showed the benefits that can be obtained by synergizing traditional research methods with neuroscientific approaches.

A cup of black coffee with GI, please! Evidence of geographical indication influence on a coffee tasting experiment

Geographical Indication (GI) certifications enable producers to set production standards and create competitive advantage based on product's origin. In a coffee tasting experiment, brain responses to origin information of 40 participants, grouped equally by gender and involvement level, were collected by electroencephalography to verify: the impact of the GI cue in four brain waves (alpha, beta, delta and theta) and two brain lobes (frontal and temporal); preference; gender and involvement moderations. Results show that women presented power differences in both hemispheres, more channels/waves, which indicates greater sensitivity to the origin cue. Men presented power differences in fewer channels/waves. It is observed that involvement has a tenuous moderation effect when compared to gender. As for preference, the analysis of delta and theta waves indicated that men preferred coffee with GI; while women preferred coffee without GI, even though most of them indicated the opposite when verbally asked at the end of the tasting section.

The Sample Size Matters: To What Extent the Participant Reduction Affects the Outcomes of a Neuroscientific Research. A Case-Study in Neuromarketing Field

The sample size is a crucial concern in scientific research and even more in behavioural neurosciences, where besides the best practice it is not always possible to reach large experimental samples. In this study we investigated how the outcomes of research change in response to sample size reduction. Three indices computed during a task involving the observations of four videos were considered in the analysis, two related to the brain electroencephalographic (EEG) activity and one to autonomic physiological measures, i.e., heart rate and skin conductance. The modifications of these indices were investigated considering five subgroups of sample size (32, 28, 24, 20, 16), each subgroup consisting of 630 different combinations made by bootstrapping n (n = sample size) out of 36 subjects, with respect to the total population (i.e., 36 subjects). The correlation analysis, the mean squared error (MSE), and the standard deviation (STD) of the indexes were studied at the participant reduction and three factors of influence were considered in the analysis: the type of index, the task, and its duration (time length). The findings showed a significant decrease of the correlation associated to the participant reduction as well as a significant increase of MSE and STD (p < 0.05). A threshold of subjects for which the outcomes remained significant and comparable was pointed out. The effects were to some extents sensitive to all the investigated variables, but the main effect was due to the task length. Therefore, the minimum threshold of subjects for which the outcomes were comparable increased at the reduction of the spot duration.

Cognitive Neuroscience Methods in Enhancing Health Literacy

The aim of the article is to identify the usefulness of cognitive neuroscience methods in assessing the effectiveness of social advertising and constructing messages referring to the generally understood health promotion, which is to contribute to the development of health awareness, and hence to health literacy. The presented research has also proven useful in the field of managing the processes that improve the communication between the organization and its environment. The researchers experimentally applied cognitive neuroscience methods, mainly EEG measurements, including a metric which is one of the most frequently used to measure the reception of advertising messages, i.e., frontal asymmetry. The purpose of the study was to test cognitive responses as expressed by neural indices (memorization, interest) to the reception of an advertisement for the construction of a hospice for adults. For comparative purposes, a questionnaire survey was also conducted. The research findings have confirmed that there are significant differences in remembering the advertisement in question by different groups of recipients (women/men). They also indicate a different level of interest in the advertisement, which may result from different preferences of the recipients concerning the nature of ads. The obtained results contribute to a better understanding of how to design advertising messages concerning health, so that they increase the awareness of the recipients’ responsibility for their own health and induce specific behavior patterns aimed at supporting health-related initiatives, e.g., donating funds for building hospices or performing preventive tests. In this respect, the study findings help improve the organizations’ communication with their environment, thus enhancing their performance. The study has also confirmed the potential and innovativeness of cognitive neuroscience methods as well as their considerable possibilities for application in this field.

Unlocking the Subconscious Consumer Bias: A Survey on the Past, Present, and Future of Hybrid EEG Schemes in Neuromarketing

Fueled by early success stories, the neuromarketing domain advanced rapidly during the last 10 years. As exciting new techniques were being adapted from medical research to the commercial domain, many neuroscientists and marketing practitioners have taken the chance to exploit them so as to uncover the answers of the most important marketing questions. Among the available neuroimaging technologies, electroencephalography (EEG) stands out as the less invasive and most affordable method. While not equally precise as other neuroimaging technologies in terms of spatial resolution, it can capture brain activity almost at the speed of cognition. Hence, EEG constitutes a favorable candidate for recording and subsequently decoding the consumers' brain activity. However, despite its wide use in neuromarketing, it cannot provide the complete picture alone. In order to overcome the limitations imposed by a single monitoring method, researchers focus on more holistic approaches. The exploitation of hybrid EEG schemes (e.g., combining EEG with eye-tracking, electrodermal activity, heart rate, and/or other) is ever growing and will hopefully allow neuromarketing to uncover consumers' behavior. Our survey revolves around last-decade hybrid neuromarketing schemes that involve EEG as the dominant modality. Beyond covering the relevant literature and state-of-the-art findings, we also provide future directions on the field, present the limitations that accompany each of the commonly employed monitoring methods and briefly discuss the omni-present ethical scepticizm related to neuromarketing.

The impact of multisensory integration and perceptual load in virtual reality settings on performance, workload and presence

Real-world experience is typically multimodal. Evidence indicates that the facilitation in the detection of multisensory stimuli is modulated by the perceptual load, the amount of information involved in the processing of the stimuli. Here, we used a realistic virtual reality environment while concomitantly acquiring Electroencephalography (EEG) and Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) to investigate how multisensory signals impact target detection in two conditions, high and low perceptual load. Different multimodal stimuli (auditory and vibrotactile) were presented, alone or in combination with the visual target. Results showed that only in the high load condition, multisensory stimuli significantly improve performance, compared to visual stimulation alone. Multisensory stimulation also decreases the EEG-based workload. Instead, the perceived workload, according to the "NASA Task Load Index" questionnaire, was reduced only by the trimodal condition (i.e., visual, auditory, tactile). This trimodal stimulation was more effective in enhancing the sense of presence, that is the feeling of being in the virtual environment, compared to the bimodal or unimodal stimulation. Also, we show that in the high load task, the GSR components are higher compared to the low load condition. Finally, the multimodal stimulation (Visual-Audio-Tactile-VAT and Visual-Audio-VA) induced a significant decrease in latency, and a significant increase in the amplitude of the P300 potentials with respect to the unimodal (visual) and visual and tactile bimodal stimulation, suggesting a faster and more effective processing and detection of stimuli if auditory stimulation is included. Overall, these findings provide insights into the relationship between multisensory integration and human behavior and cognition.

NeuroDante: Poetry Mentally Engages More Experts but Moves More Non-Experts, and for Both the Cerebral Approach Tendency Goes Hand in Hand with the Cerebral Effort

Neuroaesthetics, the science studying the biological underpinnings of aesthetic experience, recently extended its area of investigation to literary art; this was the humus where neurocognitive poetics blossomed. Divina Commedia represents one of the most important, famous and studied poems worldwide. Poetry stimuli are characterized by elements (meter and rhyme) promoting the processing fluency, a core aspect of neuroaesthetics theories. In addition, given the evidence of different neurophysiological reactions between experts and non-experts in response to artistic stimuli, the aim of the present study was to investigate, in poetry, a different neurophysiological cognitive and emotional reaction between Literature (L) and Non-Literature (NL) students. A further aim was to investigate whether neurophysiological underpinnings would support explanation of behavioral data. Investigation methods employed: self-report assessments (recognition, appreciation, content recall) and neurophysiological indexes (approach/withdrawal (AW), cerebral effort (CE) and galvanic skin response (GSR)). The main behavioral results, according to fluency theories in aesthetics, suggested in the NL but not in the L group that the appreciation/liking went hand by hand with the self-declared recognition and with the content recall. The main neurophysiological results were: (i) higher galvanic skin response in NL, whilst higher CE values in L; (ii) a positive correlation between AW and CE indexes in both groups. The present results extended previous evidence relative to figurative art also to auditory poetry stimuli, suggesting an emotional attenuation “expertise-specific” showed by experts, but increased cognitive processing in response to the stimuli.

The Relation Between Consumers' Frontal Alpha Asymmetry, Attitude, and Investment Decision

The frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) is a neurophysiological measure of motivation and preference. Despite the FAA is associated to commercial pleasantness, conflicting evidence emerged in the literature regarding its relationship with behavior. To study the association between FAA and consumers' decision, we manipulated a commercial script to elicit diverse consumers' attitudes and decisions and to evaluate whether the FAA score is associated to their final investment. A little informative script (S1) was used to polarize consumers' attitudes and investments toward unfavorable scores, while a more personalized message (S2) to elicit in customers a favorable attitude and higher investments. Twenty-one participants listened to the scripts, and their FAA, attitude, and monetary investment were measured. In S1, the FAA did not correlate with neither attitude nor the investment decision, while a robust negative correlation between these variables was found in S2. No other peripheral body and neural measures associated with attitude or final decision. Our data suggest that the FAA correlates with attitude and decision, when a commercial script is customized and provides an adequate information, likely leading the consumer to a more reasoned and planned decision-making process. When facilitating a favorable attitude toward an offer, the negative correlation of FAA and behavior may reflect the involvement of a control system, whose role is to monitor and govern possible conflicts between approach and avoidance motivations. This observation provides additional indication on the value of FAA as a marker of consumer behaviors, and how it could be affected by experimental and contextual bias.

A comparative analysis of neuromarketing methods for brand purchasing predictions among young adults

Until now, neuromarketing studies have usually been aimed at assessing the predictive value of psychophysiological measures gathered while watching a marketing message related to a particular product. This study is the first attempt to verify the possibility of predicting familiar and unfamiliar brand purchases based on psychophysiological reactions to a retailer television advertisement measured by EEG, EDA and eye-tracking. The number of private label products chosen later served to assess the binary dependent variable. A logistic regression model (with a prediction rate of 61.2%) was applied to determine which psychophysiological variables explained the largest part of the variance of a final purchase decision. The results show that among various measures, only the electrodermal peaks per second were significant in predicting further purchase decisions. The decision to buy was also influenced by brand familiarity. The article concludes that EDA is an unobtrusive measure of emotion-related anticipation of significant outcomes, particularly for dynamic stimuli, as related to decision-making.

Is EEG Suitable for Marketing Research? A Systematic Review

Background: In the past decade, marketing studies have greatly benefited from the adoption of neuroscience techniques to explore conscious and unconscious drivers of consumer behavior. Electroencephalography (EEG) is one of the most frequently applied neuroscientific techniques for marketing studies, thanks to its low cost and high temporal resolution. Objective: We present an overview of EEG applications in consumer neuroscience. The aim of this review is to facilitate future research and to highlight reliable approaches for deriving research and managerial implications. Method: We conducted a systematic review by querying five databases for the titles of articles published up to June 2020 with the terms [EEG] AND [neuromarketing] OR [consumer neuroscience]. Results: We screened 264 abstracts and analyzed 113 articles, classified based on research topics (e.g., product characteristics, pricing, advertising attention and memorization, rational, and emotional messages) and characteristics of the experimental design (tasks, stimuli, participants, additional techniques). Conclusions: This review highlights the main applications of EEG to consumer neuroscience research and suggests several ways EEG technique can complement traditional experimental paradigms. Further research areas, including consumer profiling and social consumer neuroscience, have not been sufficiently explored yet and would benefit from EEG techniques to address unanswered questions.

Autonomic Nervous System and Recall Modeling in Audiovisual Emotion-Mediated Advertising Using Partial Least Squares-Path Modeling

Interest in improving advertisement impact on potential consumers has increased recently. One well-known strategy is to use emotion-based advertisement. In this approach, an emotional link with consumers is created, aiming to enhance the memorization process. In recent years, Neuromarketing techniques have allowed us to obtain more objective information on this process. However, the role of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) in the memorization process using emotional advertisement still needs further research. In this work, we propose the use of two physiological signals, namely, an electrocardiogram (heart rate variability, HRV) and electrodermal activity (EDA), to obtain indices assessing the ANS. We measured these signals in 43 subjects during the observation of six different spots, each conveying a different emotion (rational, disgust, anger, surprise, and sadness). After observing the spots, subjects were asked to answer a questionnaire to measure the spontaneous and induced recall. We propose the use of a statistical data-driven model based on Partial Least Squares-Path Modeling (PSL-PM), which allows us to incorporate contextual knowledge by defining a relational graph of unobservable variables (latent variables, LV), which are, in turn, estimated by measured variables (indices of the ANS). We defined four LVs, namely, sympathetic, vagal, ANS, and recall. Sympathetic and vagal are connected to the ANS, the latter being a measure of recall, estimated from a questionnaire. The model is then fitted to the data. Results showed that vagal activity (described by HRV indices) is the most critical factor to describe ANS activity; they are inversely related except for the spot, which is mainly rational. The model captured a moderate-to-high variability of ANS behavior, ranging from 38% up to 64% of the explained variance of the ANS. However, it can explain at most 11% of the recall score of the subjects. The proposed approach allows for the easy inclusion of more physiological measurements and provides an easy-to-interpret model of the ANS response to emotional advertisement.

Determination of the Inaccuracies of Calculated EEG Indices

The data obtained as a result of an EEG measurement are burdened with inaccuracies related to the measurement process itself and the need to remove recorded disturbances. The article presents an example of how to calculate the Approach-Withdraw Index (EEG-AW) and Memorization Index (MI) indices in such a way that their inaccuracy resulting from the removal of artifacts can be periodically calculated. This inaccuracy is expressed in terms of standard deviation. This allows you to determine the reliability of the obtained conclusions in the context of examining elements in a 2D computer game created in the Unity engine.

The Emotional Effectiveness of Advertisement

Based on cognitive–emotional neuroscience, the effectiveness of advertisement is measured in terms of individuals’ unconscious emotional responses. Using AFFDEX to record and analyze facial expressions, a combination of indicators that track both basic emotions and individual involvement is used to quantitatively determine if a spot causes high levels of ad liking in terms of attention, engagement, valence, and joy. We use as a test case a real campaign, in which a spot composed of 31 scenes (images, text, and the brand logo) is shown to subjects divided into five groups in terms of age and gender. The target group of mature women shows statistically more positive emotions and involvement than the rest of the groups, demonstrating the emotional effectiveness of the spot. Each other experimental groups show specific negative emotions as a function of their age and for certain blocks of scenes.

Neuromarketing as an Emotional Connection Tool Between Organizations and Audiences in Social Networks. A Theoretical Review

Currently, there is an important debate on how social networks have affected relations between organizations and their audiences: originally complementary –since organizations had full control over the messages that they sent to users, who were mere consumers of information–, they are now symmetric –since users produce and disseminate information about organizations on a global scale through social media–. Therefore, one of the main concerns of organizations when investing in social networks is to connect with their target audience, to have virality, greater visibility and scope. Likewise, neuromarketing is gaining significant importance when it comes to predicting user behavior through biometric measurements, so it can be an essential tool for developing content that engages organizations and their audiences. The main objective of this work is to conduct a theoretical review of the main scientific research on the effectiveness of neuromarketing as a tool to improve the emotional connection between organizations and users in social networks. Thus, the scientific literature on the object under study available on the Web Of Science has been extensively reviewed. The results of the analysis of the main researches in this field reveal the importance of neuromarketing: some of them agree that the communicative effectiveness between organizations and audiences in social networks depends more on sociology and psychology than on technology itself. Neuromarketing has also allowed to demonstrate the relevance of the so-called social influence in social networks: users tend to imitate the behaviors of others, under the premise that these actions reflect the appropriate procedure. That is, when a user sees that others in their environment comment or share a post, they tend to replicate that action in order to avoid the fear of being the only one who behaves differently.

“The Theater of the Mind”: The Effect of Radio Exposure on TV Advertising

Contemporary society requires communication strategies that integrate different media channels in order to improve advertising performance. Currently, there are not many scientific research studies of the various mass media, comparing the results of audiovisual advertising to purely audio or visual messages aimed at detecting the best combination of media, especially from a neurophysiological perspective. This study aims to investigate the effects of previous exposure to an advertisement via radio on the consumers’ response to the same advertisement shown on television (TV) or as a banner on a website. A total of seventy participants in a between-subjects experiment watched several television commercials during the advertising break of a documentary or saw some banners during a web surfing task. Half were first exposed to the same advertisements via radio. The results have shown that participants who previously listened to the radio advertisements spent a longer time looking at the brand and had a higher engagement when watching the same advertisements on television. Moreover, they had a different kind of visual attention to the website banners. This pattern of results indicates the effect of mere exposure—that is, the exposure to a radio advertisement enhances the effectiveness of the same advertisement via television or web, offering useful insights for media planning campaigns. Even if mere exposure has been extensively studied, cross-media research is scarcely explored, whereas this study detected the effects of mere exposure in a cross-media communication strategy, showing that it can be measured through psychophysiological methods.

Novel Food-Based Product Communication: A Neurophysiological Study

The steady increase in the global food demand requires alternative sources. Food sources from invertebrates could be a viable alternative. Despite a growing interest in terrestrial invertebrates as novel food, Western consumers have to cope with fears and taboos. This research aims to investigate possible communication strategies of novel food through labels. To understand the complexity underlying food choice and novel food attitude, two studies were carried out. In Study 1, the main drivers in the food decision-making process were identified. Based on these results, in Study 2, two different food labels for crackers made with earthworm flour were designed. Applying a neurophysiological approach, we measured participants' neuropsychophysiological activation and behavioural response while watching food labels. A video on nutritional and ecological issues was shown to consumers to reduce aversion towards earthworms as food. The results in Study 1 indicate health and sensory dimensions as the major drivers in food choice. The data of Study 2 supported the effectiveness of the statement about nutritional qualities of the products on male participants, who tend to have a more positive reaction than female participants toward the novel product made with earthworm flour when the label's claim focuses on nutritional advantages. Limitations and practical implications are discussed.

Do negative emotions in social advertising really work? Confrontation of classic vs. EEG reaction toward advertising that promotes safe driving

Social campaigns are persuasive messages that attempt to communicate positive ideas and practices. One of the main challenges in designing effective social campaigns is the need to compete with other advertisements for viewers' attention. One of the most widely used methods of drawing attention to social advertising is the use of negative emotions. However, the effectiveness of negative emotional appeals in social campaigns is still a topic of debates. The aim of the study was to use both declarative and neural (EEG) measures to examine whether increasing the intensity of negative emotions in a social campaign enhances its effectiveness linearly or only to a certain level (curvilinear relation). The experimental study was conducted (N = 62) with road safety campaign, using three different levels of negative emotional intensity. The results showed that even though advertising with the strongest negative stimuli evoked the strongest negative emotions, it had no significantly stronger influence on behavioral intention (driving less risky) than moderately negative stimuli. Moreover, neural reaction to the negative stimuli in advertising depended on driving style-people with risky driving style payed less attention to more threatening message (higher beta oscillations).

Deep Learning for EEG-Based Preference Classification in Neuromarketing

The traditional marketing methodologies (e.g., television commercials and newspaper advertisements) may be unsuccessful at selling products because they do not robustly stimulate the consumers to purchase a particular product. Such conventional marketing methods attempt to determine the attitude of the consumers toward a product, which may not represent the real behavior at the point of purchase. It is likely that the marketers misunderstand the consumer behavior because the predicted attitude does not always reflect the real purchasing behaviors of the consumers. This research study was aimed at bridging the gap between traditional market research, which relies on explicit consumer responses, and neuromarketing research, which reflects the implicit consumer responses. The EEG-based preference recognition in neuromarketing was extensively reviewed. Another gap in neuromarketing research is the lack of extensive data-mining approaches for the prediction and classification of the consumer preferences. Therefore, in this work, a deep-learning approach is adopted to detect the consumer preferences by using EEG signals from the DEAP dataset by considering the power spectral density and valence features. The results demonstrated that, although the proposed deep-learning exhibits a higher accuracy, recall, and precision compared with the k-nearest neighbor and support vector machine algorithms, random forest reaches similar results to deep learning on the same dataset.

Consumer Behaviour through the Eyes of Neurophysiological Measures: State-of-the-Art and Future Trends

The new technological advances achieved during the last decade allowed the scientific community to investigate and employ neurophysiological measures not only for research purposes but also for the study of human behaviour in real and daily life situations. The aim of this review is to understand how and whether neuroscientific technologies can be effectively employed to better understand the human behaviour in real decision-making contexts. To do so, firstly, we will describe the historical development of neuromarketing and its main applications in assessing the sensory perceptions of some marketing and advertising stimuli. Then, we will describe the main neuroscientific tools available for such kind of investigations (e.g., measuring the cerebral electrical or hemodynamic activity, the eye movements, and the psychometric responses). Also, this review will present different brain measurement techniques, along with their pros and cons, and the main cerebral indexes linked to the specific mental states of interest (used in most of the neuromarketing research). Such indexes have been supported by adequate validations from the scientific community and are largely employed in neuromarketing research. This review will also discuss a series of papers that present different neuromarketing applications, such us in-store choices and retail, services, pricing, brand perception, web usability, neuropolitics, evaluation of the food and wine taste, and aesthetic perception of artworks. Furthermore, this work will face the ethical issues arisen on the use of these tools for the evaluation of the human behaviour during decision-making tasks. In conclusion, the main challenges that neuromarketing is going to face, as well as future directions and possible scenarios that could be derived by the use of neuroscience in the marketing field, will be identified and discussed.

Antismoking Campaigns' Perception and Gender Differences: A Comparison among EEG Indices

Human factors' aim is to understand and evaluate the interactions between people and tasks, technologies, and environment. Among human factors, it is possible then to include the subjective reaction to external stimuli, due to individual's characteristics and states of mind. These processes are also involved in the perception of antismoking public service announcements (PSAs), the main tool for governments to contrast the first cause of preventable deaths in the world: tobacco addiction. In the light of that, in the present article, it has been investigated through the comparison of different electroencephalographic (EEG) indices a typical item known to be able of influencing PSA perception, that is gender. In order to investigate the neurophysiological underpinnings of such different perception, we tested two PSAs: one with a female character and one with a male character. Furthermore, the experimental sample was divided into men and women, as well as smokers and nonsmokers. The employed EEG indices were the mental engagement (ME: the ratio between beta activity and the sum of alpha and theta activity); the approach/withdrawal (AW: the frontal alpha asymmetry in the alpha band); and the frontal theta activity and the spectral asymmetry index (SASI: the ratio between beta minus theta and beta plus theta). Results suggested that the ME and the AW presented an opposite trend, with smokers showing higher ME and lower AW than nonsmokers. The ME and the frontal theta also evidenced a statistically significant interaction between the kind of the PSA and the gender of the observers; specifically, women showed higher ME and frontal theta activity for the male character PSA. This study then supports the usefulness of the ME and frontal theta for purposes of PSAs targeting on the basis of gender issues and of the ME and the AW and for purposes of PSAs targeting on the basis of smoking habits.

Neurophysiological Responses to Different Product Experiences

It is well known that the evaluation of a product from the shelf considers the simultaneous cerebral and emotional evaluation of the different qualities of the product such as its colour, the eventual images shown, and the envelope's texture (hereafter all included in the term “product experience”). However, the measurement of cerebral and emotional reactions during the interaction with food products has not been investigated in depth in specialized literature. The aim of this paper was to investigate such reactions by the EEG and the autonomic activities, as elicited by the cross-sensory interaction (sight and touch) across several different products. In addition, we investigated whether (i) the brand (Major Brand or Private Label), (ii) the familiarity (Foreign or Local Brand), and (iii) the hedonic value of products (Comfort Food or Daily Food) influenced the reaction of a group of volunteers during their interaction with the products. Results showed statistically significantly higher tendency of cerebral approach (as indexed by EEG frontal alpha asymmetry) in response to comfort food during the visual exploration and the visual and tactile exploration phases. Furthermore, for the same index, a higher tendency of approach has been found toward foreign food products in comparison with local food products during the visual and tactile exploration phase. Finally, the same comparison performed on a different index (EEG frontal theta) showed higher mental effort during the interaction with foreign products during the visual exploration and the visual and tactile exploration phases. Results from the present study could deepen the knowledge on the neurophysiological response to food products characterized by different nature in terms of hedonic value familiarity; moreover, they could have implications for food marketers and finally lead to further study on how people make food choices through the interactions with their commercial envelope.

Neurophysiological Profile of Antismoking Campaigns

Over the past few decades, antismoking public service announcements (PSAs) have been used by governments to promote healthy behaviours in citizens, for instance, against drinking before the drive and against smoke. Effectiveness of such PSAs has been suggested especially for young persons. By now, PSAs efficacy is still mainly assessed through traditional methods (questionnaires and metrics) and could be performed only after the PSAs broadcasting, leading to waste of economic resources and time in the case of Ineffective PSAs. One possible countermeasure to such ineffective use of PSAs could be promoted by the evaluation of the cerebral reaction to the PSA of particular segments of population (e.g., old, young, and heavy smokers). In addition, it is crucial to gather such cerebral activity in front of PSAs that have been assessed to be effective against smoke (Effective PSAs), comparing results to the cerebral reactions to PSAs that have been certified to be not effective (Ineffective PSAs). The eventual differences between the cerebral responses toward the two PSA groups will provide crucial information about the possible outcome of new PSAs before to its broadcasting. This study focused on adult population, by investigating the cerebral reaction to the vision of different PSA images, which have already been shown to be Effective and Ineffective for the promotion of an antismoking behaviour. Results showed how variables as gender and smoking habits can influence the perception of PSA images, and how different communication styles of the antismoking campaigns could facilitate the comprehension of PSA's message and then enhance the related impact.

Neurophysiological Measures of the Perception of Antismoking Public Service Announcements Among Young Population

Tobacco constitutes a global emergency with totally preventable millions of deaths per year and smoking-related illnesses. Public service announcements (PSAs) are the main tool against smoking and by now their efficacy is still assessed through questionnaires and metrics, only months after their circulation. The present study focused on the young population, because at higher risk of developing tobacco addiction, investigating the reaction to the vision of Effective, Ineffective and Awarded antismoking PSAs through: electroencephalography (EEG), autonomic activity variation (Galvanic skin response—GSR- and Heart Rate—HR-) and Eye-Tracking (ET). The employed indices were: the EEG frontal alpha band asymmetry and the frontal theta; the Emotional Index (EI), deriving from the GSR and HR signals matching; the ET Visual Attention (VA) index, based on the ratio between the total time spent fixating an area of interest (AOI) and its area. Smokers expressed higher frontal alpha asymmetry values in comparison to non-smokers. Concerning frontal theta, Awarded PSAs reported the highest values in comparison to both Effective and Ineffective PSAs. EI results highlighted that lowest values were expressed by Heavy Smokers (HS), and Effective PSAs obtained the highest EI values. Finally, concerning the Effective PSAs, regression analysis highlighted a correlation between the number of cigarettes smoked by participants (independent variable) and frontal alpha asymmetry, frontal theta and EI values. ET results suggested that for the Ineffective PSAs the main focus were texts, while for the Effective and Awarded PSAs were the visual elements. Results support the use of methods aimed at assessing the physiological reaction for the evaluation of PSAs images, in particular when considering the smoking habits of target populations.

Good News or Bad News, Which Do You Want First? The Importance of the Sequence and Organization of Information for Financial Decision-Making: A Neuro-Electrical Imaging Study

Investment decisions are largely based on the information investors received from the target firm. Thaler introduced the hedonic editing framework, in which suggests that integration/segregation of information influence individual's perceived value. Meanwhile, when evaluating the evidence and information in a sequence, order effect and biases have been found to have an impact in various areas. In this research, the influence of the Organization of Information (Integration vs. Segregation) and the Sequence of Information (Negative-Positive order vs. Positive-Negative order) on individual's investment decision-making both at the behavioral level (decision) and neurometrix level (measured by an individual's emotion and Approach Withdraw tendency) was assessed for the three groups of information: a piece of Big Positive Information and a piece of Small Negative Information, a piece of Big Negative Information and a piece of Small Positive Information, and a piece of Small Negative information. The behavioral results, which are an individual's final investment decision, were consistent for all three scenarios. In general, individuals will invest more/retire less when receiving two pieces of information in a Negative-Positive order. However, the neurometric results (Emotional Index, Approach Withdraw Index and results from LORETA) show differences among information groups. An effect of the Sequence of Information and the Organization of Information was found for the different scenarios. The results suggest that in the scenarios that involve large-scale information, the organization of information (Integration vs. Segregation) influences the emotion and Approach Withdraw tendency. The results of this investigation should provide insight for effective communication of information, especially when large-scale information is involved.

O Uso de Biomarcadores em Pesquisas de Marketing

Resumo A aproximação do marketing com a neurociência tem gerado expectativa tanto na academia quanto no mercado, em especial na última década. Apesar do interesse e das promessas de resultados, lacunas de conhecimento neurobiológico são percebidas acerca de formas de coleta e análise de dados. Este estudo apresenta e compara algumas ferramentas neurocientíficas que são fundamentadas em respostas não cognitivas do cérebro humano. A coleta e a análise de biomarcadores, como hormônios e níveis de atividade elétrica muscular, podem ser utilizadas em pesquisas de comportamento humano relacionadas ao consumo ou em outras interações com ações de marketing. A metodologia de aplicação dessas ferramentas, medidas resultantes e possíveis interpretações de comportamento também são discutidas, com ênfase em futura agenda de pesquisa.

Your Brain on the Movies: A Computational Approach for Predicting Box-office Performance from Viewer's Brain Responses to Movie Trailers

The ability to anticipate the population-wide response of a target audience to a new movie or TV series, before its release, is critical to the film industry. Equally important is the ability to understand the underlying factors that drive or characterize viewer’s decision to watch a movie. Traditional approaches (which involve pilot test-screenings, questionnaires, and focus groups) have reached a plateau in their ability to predict the population-wide responses to new movies. In this study, we develop a novel computational approach for extracting neurophysiological electroencephalography (EEG) and eye-gaze based metrics to predict the population-wide behavior of movie goers. We further, explore the connection of the derived metrics to the underlying cognitive processes that might drive moviegoers’ decision to watch a movie. Towards that, we recorded neural activity—through the use of EEG—and eye-gaze activity from a group of naive individuals while watching movie trailers of pre-selected movies for which the population-wide preference is captured by the movie’s market performance (i.e., box-office ticket sales in the US). Our findings show that the neural based metrics, derived using the proposed methodology, carry predictive information about the broader audience decisions to watch a movie, above and beyond traditional methods. In particular, neural metrics are shown to predict up to 72% of the variance of the films’ performance at their premiere and up to 67% of the variance at following weekends; which corresponds to a 23-fold increase in prediction accuracy compared to current neurophysiological or traditional methods. We discuss our findings in the context of existing literature and hypothesize on the possible connection of the derived neurophysiological metrics to cognitive states of focused attention, the encoding of long-term memory, and the synchronization of different components of the brain’s rewards network. Beyond the practical implication in predicting and understanding the behavior of moviegoers, the proposed approach can facilitate the use of video stimuli in neuroscience research; such as the study of individual differences in attention-deficit disorders, and the study of desensitization to media violence.

Consumer Neuroscience-Based Metrics Predict Recall, Liking and Viewing Rates in Online Advertising

The purpose of the present study is to investigate whether the effectiveness of a new ad on digital channels (YouTube) can be predicted by using neural networks and neuroscience-based metrics (brain response, heart rate variability and eye tracking). Neurophysiological records from 35 participants were exposed to 8 relevant TV Super Bowl commercials. Correlations between neurophysiological-based metrics, ad recall, ad liking, the ACE metrix score and the number of views on YouTube during a year were investigated. Our findings suggest a significant correlation between neuroscience metrics and self-reported of ad effectiveness and the direct number of views on the YouTube channel. In addition, and using an artificial neural network based on neuroscience metrics, the model classifies (82.9% of average accuracy) and estimate the number of online views (mean error of 0.199). The results highlight the validity of neuromarketing-based techniques for predicting the success of advertising responses. Practitioners can consider the proposed methodology at the design stages of advertising content, thus enhancing advertising effectiveness. The study pioneers the use of neurophysiological methods in predicting advertising success in a digital context. This is the first article that has examined whether these measures could actually be used for predicting views for advertising on YouTube.

Hedonic editing and order effect in decision-making with neurometric evaluation

Investment decisions are based largely on the information that investors are received from the target firm. In this research, we consider both the variable of Organization of Information, either segregate or integrate, and the Order of the information, either in the order of Negative-Positive or in the order of Positive-Negative. Three groups of information are tested in the experiment: a piece of Big Positive information and a piece of Small Negative information (BP/SN); a piece of Big Negative information and a piece of Small Positive (BN/SP); and a piece of Small Positive information and a piece of Small Negative information (SP/SN). The study applied the gathering of the electroencephalographic rhythms variations, as well as the heart rate and galvanic skin response. The neurometric indicators here employed were the Approach-Withdrawal (AW) and the Emotional (EI) indexes. In SP/SN group, the recency effect is found in AWI. However, when receiving information in large scale, either big positive or big negative, emotion plays a role during decision-making. In both case of BP/SN and BN/SP, emotion is effected by organization of information. In the condition of BP/SN, neurometrics AWI result suggests more approach potentials when two pieces of information presented integrated. While in the case of BN/SP, we observe the influence of both order and organization. Individual favours separation of information with the order of Negative-Positive, the recency effect.

Electroencephalographic, Heart Rate, and Galvanic Skin Response Assessment for an Advertising Perception Study: Application to Antismoking Public Service Announcements

The evaluation of advertising, products, and packaging is traditionally performed through methods based on self-reports and focus groups, but these approaches often appear poorly accurate in scientific terms. Neuroscience is increasingly applied to the investigation of the neurophysiological bases of the perception of and reaction to commercial stimuli to support traditional marketing methods. In this context, a particular sector or marketing is represented by public service announcements (PSAs). The objective of this protocol is to apply electroencephalography (EEG) and autonomic signal analysis to study responses to selected antismoking PSAs. Two EEG indices were employed: the frontal alpha band EEG asymmetry (the Approach Withdrawal (AW) index) and the frontal theta (effort index). Furthermore, the autonomic Emotional Index (EI) was calculated, as derived from the Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) and Heart Rate (HR) signals. The present protocol describes a series of operational and computational steps required to properly estimate, through the aforementioned indices, the emotional and cerebral reaction of a group of subjects towards a selected number of antismoking PSAs. In particular, a campaign characterized by a symbolic communication style (classified as "awarded" on the basis of the prizes received by specialized committees) obtained the highest approach values, as estimated by the AW index. A spot and an image belonging to the same PSA campaign based on the "fear arousing appeal" and with a narrative/experiential communication style (classified as "effective" on the basis of the economical/health-related improvements promoted) reported the lowest and highest effort values, respectively. This is probably due to the complexity of the storytelling (spot) and to the immediateness of the image (a lady who underwent a tracheotomy). Finally, the same "effective" campaign showed the highest EI values, possibly because of the empathy induced by the testimonial and the explicitness of the message.

A Neuroelectrical Brain Imaging Study on the Perception of Figurative Paintings against Only their Color or Shape Contents

In this study, the cortical activity correlated with the perception and appreciation of different set of pictures was estimated by using neuroelectric brain activity and graph theory methodologies in a group of artistic educated persons. The pictures shown to the subjects consisted of original pictures of Titian's and a contemporary artist's paintings (Orig dataset) plus two sets of additional pictures. These additional datasets were obtained from the previous paintings by removing all but the colors or the shapes employed (Color and Style dataset, respectively). Results suggest that the verbal appreciation of Orig dataset when compared to Color and Style ones was mainly correlated to the neuroelectric indexes estimated during the first 10 s of observation of the pictures. Always in the first 10 s of observation: (1) Orig dataset induced more emotion and is perceived with more appreciation than the other two Color and Style datasets; (2) Style dataset is perceived with more attentional effort than the other investigated datasets. During the whole period of observation of 30 s: (1) emotion induced by Color and Style datasets increased across the time while that induced of the Orig dataset remain stable; (2) Color and Style dataset were perceived with more attentional effort than the Orig dataset. During the entire experience, there is evidence of a cortical flow of activity from the parietal and central areas toward the prefrontal and frontal areas during the observation of the images of all the datasets. This is coherent from the notion that active perception of the images with sustained cognitive attention in parietal and central areas caused the generation of the judgment about their aesthetic appreciation in frontal areas.

A pilot study on the neurometric evaluation of "effective" and "ineffective" antismoking public service announcements

Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death and smoking-related illness worldwide. Research has shown that antismoking advertising may help reduce this habit. Nowadays, public service announcements (PSAs) are considered "Effective" or "Ineffective" on the base of official reports concerning behavioral/attitudinal changes toward healthier patterns and health-related savings following the exposure to the PSA. In this pilot study, we described the results of the use of three neurometric indexes for the evaluation of the efficacy of a couple of antismoking PSAs in a reduced sample of voluntary participants. The study applied the gathering of the electroencephalographic (EEG) rhythms variations, as well as the heart rate (HR) and galvanic skin response (GSR). The neurometric indicators here employed were the Approach-Withdrawal (AW), the Effort (EfI) and the Emotional (EI) indexes. Results suggest a significant higher values for AW, Effort and Emotional indexes (p=0,02; p= 0,03 and p= 0,01 respectively) related to the perception of the "Effective" antismoking PSAs against the perception of the "Ineffective" one. Since this is a pilot study, the results obtained need further investigation, in terms of enlarged stimuli sample and number of participants to provide indications concerning the relevant features to be included in the realization of effective anti-smoking PSAs.

Gender and Age Related Effects While Watching TV Advertisements: An EEG Study

The aim of the present paper is to show how the variation of the EEG frontal cortical asymmetry is related to the general appreciation perceived during the observation of TV advertisements, in particular considering the influence of the gender and age on it. In particular, we investigated the influence of the gender on the perception of a car advertisement (Experiment 1) and the influence of the factor age on a chewing gum commercial (Experiment 2). Experiment 1 results showed statistically significant higher approach values for the men group throughout the commercial. Results from Experiment 2 showed significant lower values by older adults for the spot, containing scenes not very enjoyed by them. In both studies, there was no statistical significant difference in the scene relative to the product offering between the experimental populations, suggesting the absence in our study of a bias towards the specific product in the evaluated populations. These evidences state the importance of the creativity in advertising, in order to attract the target population.

From the eyes and the heart: a novel eye-gaze metric that predicts video preferences of a large audience

Eye-tracking has been extensively used to quantify audience preferences in the context of marketing and advertising research, primarily in methodologies involving static images or stimuli (i.e., advertising, shelf testing, and website usability). However, these methodologies do not generalize to narrative-based video stimuli where a specific storyline is meant to be communicated to the audience. In this paper, a novel metric based on eye-gaze dispersion (both within and across viewings) that quantifies the impact of narrative-based video stimuli to the preferences of large audiences is presented. The metric is validated in predicting the performance of video advertisements aired during the 2014 Super Bowl final. In particular, the metric is shown to explain 70% of the variance in likeability scores of the 2014 Super Bowl ads as measured by the USA TODAY Ad-Meter. In addition, by comparing the proposed metric with Heart Rate Variability (HRV) indices, we have associated the metric with biological processes relating to attention allocation. The underlying idea behind the proposed metric suggests a shift in perspective when it comes to evaluating narrative-based video stimuli. In particular, it suggests that audience preferences on video are modulated by the level of viewers lack of attention allocation. The proposed metric can be calculated on any narrative-based video stimuli (i.e., movie, narrative content, emotional content, etc.), and thus has the potential to facilitate the use of such stimuli in several contexts: prediction of audience preferences of movies, quantitative assessment of entertainment pieces, prediction of the impact of movie trailers, identification of group, and individual differences in the study of attention-deficit disorders, and the study of desensitization to media violence.