Week 2 - The neuroscience of advertising and persuasion

Question 1

What is neuromarketing?

Answer 1

Neuromarketing is the application of modern neuroscience methods - and by that, I mean modern psychology, modern psychophysics, electroencephalogy (EEG) functional magnetic resonance imaging, or eye tracking, etc. - to the understanding of human behaviour, and in this case, for commercial purposes.

Question 2

What is the Zaltmans input in neuromarketing?

Answer 2

He set up the first company which used the term neuromarketing in the late 1990s and it was called ZMET (the Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique).

He realized that it was possible to apply modern psychological techniques to marketing and the study of consumer behaviour.

Zaltman was the first person to obtain a patent, in this case, a US patent, for the commercial use of some of the methodologies that he was talking about.

Question 3

What is the input of Michael Brammer input in to neuromarketing?

Answer 3

He founded Neurosense in 1999, based on the use of fMRI and state-of-the-art psychology.

Question 4

Why a lot of information about neuromarketing doesnt get published?

Answer 4

Because it helps companies to tobe at the commercial edge.

Question 5

What are the methods used in neuromarketing (4) ?

Answer 5

Online implicit association tasks

Eye-tracking studies

Electroencephalogram (EEG)

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

Question 6

Which brain area lights up when study participants were aware of the drink brand in a study of Pepsi-Coke?

Answer 6

Dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex. interestingly activity may concern memory of previous experiences.

Question 7

What was the result of brand loyalty in football fans vs motorbike enthusiasts study?

Answer 7

Football fan group brain responded to images in a similar way as to Pepsi study. Interestingly in the motorbike group activation in the brain occurred but in different areas. This is unclear why. Might we are looking at completely different individuals (bikers and fans)

Question 8

What brain parts were studied in Dove brand study?

What was the difference between Baby and Homecare products?

Answer 8

Question 9

Why its wrong to assume that if we see certain brain part activated, person is thinking X or having emotion Y?

Answer 9

Because we don’t know everything about how the brain works. We cant do translate one to one brain activity to a particular mental state.

Question 10

What is mental chronometry?

Answer 10

It is a study of reaction time. RT - the time it takes to respond to stimulus. Introduced by Franciscus Cornelius Donders (1818-1889)

Question 11

What is autonomic nervous systems?

Answer 11

The ANS is part of the peripheral nervous system which regulates bodily functions including heart rate, respiratory rate and pupillary response. The ANS regulates the body’s unconscious actions and is constantly active at a basic level to maintain homeostasis.

Question 12

Why we have body reactions such as he heart increases its rate and force of contraction, our pupils dilate, sweat glands activate and secrete sweat?

Answer 12

These physiological responses to environmental stimuli serve to protect the individual.

Question 13

What is electrodermal activity?

Answer 13

The electrical properties of our skin continuously respond to the environment. This characteristic of the human body is known as electrodermal activity – or EDA. Note that, historically, EDA is also known as skin conductance or galvanic skin response – or GSR.

Question 14

How we can get insights into autonomous nervous system response via the skin (3)?

Answer 14

Question 15

Whats is electrocardiogram?

Answer 15

The electrocardiogram is used to measure the rate and rhythm of heartbeats, mainly used to investigate response to emotional induction.

Question 16

What is electromyography?

Answer 16

Electromyography is a technique for recording and evaluating the electrical activity produced by muscles.

Question 17

What tissues can have an effect to electromyography results?

Answer 17

Adipose tissue, also known as fat tissue or fatty tissue, is a connective tissue that is mainly composed of fat cells called adipocytes.

Question 18

What is fixations and saccades?

Answer 18

Eyes sporadically, making a series of short stops called ‘fixations’ on the page. After each fixation the eye then jumps – or saccades – to a next point on the page. A series of fixations and saccades is known as a scan path. Scan paths are used to analyse how the eyes react to the environment.

Question 19

What is ‘Smooth pursuit’?

Answer 19

‘Smooth pursuit’ describes eye movement which occurs when gaze follows a steadily moving object such as a rolling ball.

Question 20

What is point of regard?

Answer 20

Question 21

What is electrooculogram?

Answer 21

Electrodes placed horizontally and vertically around one eye can provide an electrooculogram. The EOG is very good for measuring saccadic eye movement and for detecting blinks and can be used in the dark and even when the eyes are closed. For this reason, EOG is used in sleep research for detecting the time of rapid eye movements – or REM. However, EOG is not good for measuring slow eye movements and detecting gaze direction

Question 22

How fMRI captures brain activity?

Answer 22

Functional magnetic resonance imaging – or functional MRI or fMRI – captures functional changes in the brain caused by neuronal activity. When neurons activate, say in response to a stimulus, blood flow to relevant brain regions increases and, after a short delay, oxygen-rich – or oxygenated – blood displaces oxygen-depleted – or de-oxygenated – blood. Oxygenated and deoxygenated blood have different magnetic properties, both of which can be detected using MRI. The resulting activation can be marked by colour coding the strength of activation across the brain.

Question 23

What is the effect of inflating wine prices?

Answer 23

It makes wine taste better. Also, fMRI shows an increase of the oxygen in the brain in the areas responding to sensory pleasantness.

Question 24

What is neurogastronomy?

Answer 24

Neurogastronomy is the study of the taster or the science of tasting and eating.

Question 25

What is proprioception?

Answer 25

Proprioception, also referred to as kinaesthesia, is the sense of self-movement and body position. It is sometimes described as the “sixth sense”. Proprioception is mediated by proprioceptors, mechanosensory neurons located within muscles, tendons, and joints. It tells where our limbs are without looking.

Question 26

Gustatory sensations

Answer 26

Hard to experience on their own because they are combined with the smell. taste exclusively concerns the gustatory dimensions of flavour perception: the upshot of taste receptors firing on the tongue in the oral cavity and in the gut.

Question 27

What is the sweetness enhancement effect?

Answer 27

Certain odours can induce certain tastes and the opposite.

Question 28

What is retronasal route and orthonasal olfaction route?

Answer 28

Question 29

What are the functions of orthonasal olfaction and retronalasal olfaction?

Answer 29

Question 30

What is the trigeminal nerve and how does it contribute to the flavour perception?

Answer 30

It is the 5th cranial nerve that serves the eyes, nose and mouth. Has nerve endings, that can be activated by various chemicals like mustard, wasabi, and pepper. Activates nociceptors - pain receptors.

Question 31

How weight changes our taste perception?

Answer 31

The brain makes a connection that being havier is richer and cremier.