AN EXPLORATORY STUDY USING NEUROSCIENCE. IMPACT OF GENDER ON RESPONSE TO SOCIAL CAMPAIGNS IN YOUNG PEOPLE

Abstract

The aim of this study is to identify the possible differential impact between men and women of a health awareness campaign against COVID-19. To this end, neurophysiological tools have been used to analyse responses linked to activation, engagement, attention, memorisation, and valence. In addition, a sur-vey is incorporated before and after viewing the campaign to assess the emotions provoked, as well as the willingness to comply with health regulations. An experi-ment was designed in which 45 participants between 19 and 24 years old were exposed to a social campaign about COVID-19 to raise awareness about pandemic compliance. Two neurophysiological techniques were used: skin conductance and electroencephalogram; the devices were provided by BitBrain Technologies. The results indicated that the exposed campaign generated greater activation and engagement in men. In the case of women, higher scores were obtained in atten-tion, memorisation, and valence. These data indicate that social campaigns have a different impact on men and women. This work makes a first exploratory contri-bution with neurophysiological tools in the analysis of the differential impact of social advertising campaigns according to gender.