Neuromarketing: the next step in market research?

Abstract

Neuromarketing is an emerging interdisciplinary field connecting psychology and neuroscience with economics. The goal of neuromarketing is to study how the brain is physiologically affected by advertising and marketing strategies. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of these strategies, brain activity resulting from viewing an advertisement is monitored and measured using neuroimaging techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG). Neuromarketing studies usually measure preference between products in terms of brand familiarity or product preference. In traditional marketing studies, measures such as the product preference for a particular advertisement is sometimes difficult to measure, as a viewer may hold a cognitive bias. However, brand familiarity and product preference have been correlated with neural activity. The field of neuromarketing is still viewed with caution from consumer protection groups as well as many academics due to the possible ethical implications of designing advertisements to intentionally cause specific neurological effects.