Neurophysiological measurements of memorization and pleasantness in neuromarketing experiments

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyze the brain activity occurring during the "naturalistic" observation of commercial ads. In order to measure both the brain activity and the emotional engage we used electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings and the high resolution EEG technique to obtain an estimation of the cortical activity during the experiment. Results showed that TV commercials proposed to the population analyzed have increased the cortical activity mainly in the theta band in the left hemisphere when they will be memorized and judged pleasant. A correlation analysis also revealed that the increase of the EEG Power Spectral Density (PSD) at left frontal sites is negatively correlated with the degree of pleasantness perceived. Conversely, the de-synchronization of left alpha frontal activity is positively correlated with judgments of high pleasantness. Moreover, our data also presented an increase of PSD related to the observation of unpleasant commercials. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.