Study of Electroencephalography for Enhanced Understanding of Consumer Preference

Abstract

Conventional measurements used for consumer response to food products may be subject to cognitive bias, as measurement data was consumer reported thoughts or through questionnaires. Decision-making about food is influenced by complex set of emotions, feelings, attitudes and values that are not easy to assess simply by asking consumers their opinions. For an unbiased approach electroencephalography (EEG), an electrophysiological method can provide implicit and extensive data. EEG uses electrical activity of brain to record and explain perceptive, attentive as well as emotional processes of consumer towards foods. To enhance this understanding, recently there is growing interest in field of “neuromarketing,” that uses neuroscientific techniques to study consumer behavior. The asymmetry of EEG signal between right and left hemispheres of brain can be used to determine acceptability of stimuli in a stimulated person. The accurate measurement through EEG enables marketers to compare consumer response to different marketing stimuli and impact moments associated with particular product or brand for better positioning of product in market.