Shining a Light also Casts a Shadow: Neuroimaging Incidental Findings in Neuromarketing Research

Owen M Bradfield

doi:10.1007/s12152-021-09463-x

Abstract

Rapid growth in structural and functional brain research has led to increasing ethical discussion of what to do about incidental findings within the brains of healthy neuroimaging research participants that have potential health importance, but which are beyond the original aims of the study. This dilemma has been widely debated with respect to general neuroimaging research but has attracted little attention in the context of neuromarketing studies. In this paper, I argue that neuromarketing researchers owe participants the same ethical obligations as other neuroimaging researchers. The financial resources available to neuromarketing firms and the social value of neuromarketing studies should command greater attention to the elucidation and management of incidental findings. However, this needs to be balanced against finite resources available within most public health systems.

Highlights

Our quest to understand the human brain has generated growing interest in structural and functional brain “Neuromarketing” describes neuroimaging research that examines the human brain’s response to marketing stimuli [13]
While neuromarketing is typically conducted in younger healthy adults in whom the incidence of neuroimaging research incidental findings” (NRIFs) is lower, the ethical obligations of neuromarketing researchers to seek or disclose NRIFs to participants has attracted little attention
I will argue that the financial wealth of many private neuromarketing firms creates moral obligations to design research protocols that facilitate the detection and disclosure of NRIFs

Summary

Introduction

Our quest to understand the human brain has generated growing interest in structural and functional brain “Neuromarketing” describes neuroimaging research that examines the human brain’s response to marketing stimuli [13]. If private neuromarketing researchers detect but do not disclose an NRIF, the participant loses the opportunity to make an autonomous decision about how to manage that finding.

Results

Conclusion