Definition:
Neuromarketing is a field of market research that studies the cognitive and affective response of consumers to marketing stimuli. Researchers use technologies such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure changes in activity in certain parts of the brain, electroencephalography (EEG) and steady-state topography (SST) to measure activity in specific regional spectra when a brain response occurs.
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Measurement in neuromarketing
In addition to these, sensors are employed to measure changes in an individual’s physiological state, also known as biometrics,including heart rate and respiratory rate, galvanic skin response to know why consumers make the decisions they make and which areas of the brain are responsible for them. Certain companies, particularly those with large-scale aspirations, to predict consumer behavior, have invested in their own laboratories scientific staff or partnerships with academia to do neuromarketingstudies.
Present in more than ten countries, the Association of Neuromarketing Companies today centralizes academic publications and certifications and serves as a connecting platform for professionals in the field.
Companies like Google, CBS, and A&E Television, among others, have used neuromarketing research services to measure consumers’ thoughts in their ads or products.
Neuromarketing systems
Based on the neuromarketing concept of decision processing, consumer purchasing decisions are based on either system 1 or system 2 of the processing system, also known as Plato’swinged chariot allegory. The thinking in system 1 is intuitive, unconscious, effortless, fast and emotional. On the contrary, the decisions driven by system 2 are deliberate, conscious reasoning, slow and strenuous. In consumer behavior, these processes are the daily guide to purchasing decisions.
However, Zurawicki (2010) considers that purchasing decisions are driven by the mood and emotions of the individual, concluding that compulsive or spontaneous purchases are driven by system 1.
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