Neuroscientific Contributions to Marketing Research

Modern psychology reveals that some decisions, including economic ones, are made intuitively, automatically, and without any conscious control or effort (Bargh 1997; Bornstein and Pittman 1992; Dijksterhuijs 2004; Dixon 1971, 1981; Greenwald and Banaji 1995; Hassin et al. 2005, Jarymowicz 2001; Kihlstrom 1999; Murphy and Zajonc 1993; Ohme 2003, 2007, 2009; Uleman and Bargh 1989; Wilson 2002; Zajonc 1968, 1980, 1998). Conscious decisions in turn appear frequently based on emotional rather than rational cues (Bechara, Damasio, and Damasio 2000; Damasio 1999; Raghunathan and Tuan Pham 1999; Sayegh, Anthony, and Perrewé 2004) or triggered by subconscious stimulation (Murphy and Zajonc 1993; Ohme 2001, 2003, 2007, 2009; Zajonc 1968). People are not as rational as previously thought; for supporting this notion with empirical evidence, Daniel Kahneman even was awarded a Noble Prize in economics in 2002 (Kahneman 2003; see also Kahneman, Slovic, and Tversky 1982; Kahneman and Tversky 1973, 1979).

A large portion of human motivations thus lie below the level of consciousness. Extensive scientific research indicates that the "conscious window" fully opens up in the approximately 300 ms after a stimuli appears (Libet 2004), so events registered by the brain below this threshold likely cannot be reported verbally, even though they significantly influence the way people function (Kenning, Plassmann, and Ahlert 2007; Ohme 2007, 2009; Ohme et al. 2009). Emotions that people experience cannot be measured adequately by self-reported verbal indicators, because of their complexity and non-propositional structure (Davidson 2004; Zajonc 1980). Instead, self-reported verbal measures likely reflect socially acceptable answers or uncontemplated feedback (Nighswonger and Martin 1981).

In light of such discoveries, marketing researchers have grown increasingly skeptical of the use of verbal, conscious measures to test marketing communication, noting their limitations in providing an effective measure of internal reactions to external stimuli. Some authors thus claim that traditional techniques cannot discover what really leads a consumer toward certain behaviors (Zaltman 2003; Zurawicki and Braidot 2005). Marketers in turn have sought new research paradigms to explore preconscious, nonverbal stages of information processing. In line with a general trend in social sciences, consumer scientists have turned toward brain science. As Kenning, Plassmann, and Ahlert (2007) note, conscious emotional information processing and perception have been studied extensively in consumer research, even though we know little about how the human brain processes marketing stimuli.

Compelling evidence indicates that some mental processes, particularly those beyond conscious awareness, could be better understood by analyzing neurophysiological reactions, which demands the use of different neuroscientific approaches (Bechara, Damasio, and Damasio 2000; Damasio 1994; Ohme 2003; Kenning Plassmann, and Ahlert 2007; Posner 2004; Smith and Gevins 2000). In the neuroscience context, a new discipline also has recently emerged that examines the brain and its functioning and increases understanding of cognitive processes. Neuroscience thus offers new, high-tech methodologies that increasingly are used by cognitive neuroscientists, neurologists, psychophysiologists, and neuromarketers. These "early adopters" seem to realize that applying neuroscientific knowledge may help reveal the interplay of attention and emotions-constructs of great importance to the world of advertising communication. They also have come into possession of new tools that move beyond verbal declarations by respondents to investigate thoughts and emotions that may not be entirely consciously accessible or blind to subtle, peripheral, even if highly effective messages (Ohme et al. 2009). This article details two such neuroscientific methods: electroencephalography and eye-tracking. We thus demonstrate how neuroscience can contribute to existing marketing knowledge, as well as the new insights it may provide.

Date: 2016-01-14; view: 713