Neurophysiological Tools to Investigate Consumer’s Gender Differences during the Observation of TV Commercials

Abstract

Neuromarketing is a multidisciplinary field of research whose aim is to investigate the consumers' reaction to advertisements from a neuroscientific perspective. In particular, the neuroscience field is thought to be able to reveal information about consumer preferences which are unobtainable through conventional methods, including submitting questionnaires to large samples of consumers or performing psychological personal or group interviews. In this scenario, we performed an experiment in order to investigate cognitive and emotional changes of cerebral activity evaluated by neurophysiologic indices during the observation of TV commercials. In particular, we recorded the electroencephalographic (EEG), galvanic skin response (GSR), and heart rate (HR) in a group of 28 healthy subjects during the observation of a series of TV advertisements that have been grouped by commercial categories. Comparisons of cerebral indices have been performed to highlight gender differences between commercial categories and scenes of interest of two specific commercials. Findings show how EEG methodologies, along with the measurements of autonomic variables, could be used to obtain hidden information to marketers not obtainable otherwise. Most importantly, it was suggested how these tools could help to analyse the perception of TV advertisements and differentiate their production according to the consumer's gender.

The “NeuroDante Project”: Neurometric Measurements of Participant’s Reaction to Literary Auditory Stimuli from Dante’s “Divina Commedia”

“…The three selected emblematic pieces have been chosen by experts in Italian literature (academic professors and researchers) and each belonged to one of the three canticas of the poem: Inferno (Hell), Purgatorio (Purgatory) and Paradiso (Paradise) respectively. The neurometric indexes employed in the study were the Approach-Withdrawal (AW) [14], the Effort (CE) [15] and the Emotional indexes (EI) [16].…”

“…In the attempt to match SCL and HR signals we referred to the circumplex model of affect plane [30,31], where the coordinates of a point in the space are defined by the HR (horizontal axis) to describe the valence and by the SCL (vertical axis) to describe the arousal phenomena (see [32] for a review). In order to obtain a monodimensional variable, the emotional state of a participant has been described by the Emotional Index (EI), as defined in previous studies [14]. The interpretation of the EI implies that the higher the value the more positive the emotion experienced by the participant and vice versa.…”

“…The neurometric indexes here employed were the Approach-Withdrawal (AW) [12], the Effort (CE) [13] and the Emotional indexes (EI) [14]. It is worth noticing that different research teams previously validated those indexes in literature.…”

Diferenças na atenção visual e na atitude em relação a diferentes tipos de anúncio: um estudo sobre o impacto do gênero e do envolvimento

“…Além disso, vários estudos buscam entender em conjunto como a atenção visual e a atitude de consumidores podem ser impactadas pelos anúncios (CARTOCCI et al, 2016;VECCHIATO et al, 2014). Visto que a atenção, assim como a atenção visual, estão relacionadas com a atitude, o próximo tópico aborda a atitude em relação ao anúncio e seu impacto na comunicação.…”

“…De acordo com Lansley e Longley (2016), o gênero é uma das variáveis que tem forte influência no consumo e no comportamento dos indivíduos. Diversas pesquisas ressaltam as diferenças entre homens e mulheres na apreciação de anúncios (CARTOCCI et al, 2016;SHAOUF;LU;LI, 2016;WAN;LUK;CHOW, 2014;FRANCH, 2014;VECCHIATO, 2014) assim como na atenção e na atitude em relação a estes (SAOUF; LU; LI, 2016;JUNG;ROVLAND, 2016;FRANCH, 2014;GOODRICH, 2014). Cartocci et al (2014), por exemplo, verificou em seu estudo que o gênero é um dos fatores relevantes para elaboração de uma propaganda ao realizar uma pesquisa utilizando uma ferramenta de mapeamento cerebral (EEG), eye-tracking e questionários com jovens e adultos.…”