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Neuromarketing has formed an emerging area capable of establishing links between the study of consumer behaviour and neuroscience, based on technological innovations and neuroimaging technologies with capacity of obtaining brain´s data. The application of neuroimaging technologies in market research has led to a new universe of action in terms of information collection. The present study aims to carry out an analysis of the different neuroimaging tools, based on a methodology of analysis of theoretical elements combined with the study of specific cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neuromarketing has formed an emerging area capable of establishing links between the study of consumer behaviour and neuroscience, based on technological innovations and neuroimaging technologies with capacity of obtaining brain´s data. The application of neuroimaging technologies in market research has led to a new universe of action in terms of information collection. The present study aims to carry out an analysis of the different neuroimaging tools, based on a methodology of analysis of theoretical elements combined with the study of specific cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Predicting relapse vulnerability can inform level-of-care and personalized substance use treatment. Few reliable predictors of relapse risk have been identified from traditional clinical, psychosocial, and demographic variables. However, recent neuroimaging findings highlight the potential prognostic import of brain-based signals, indexing the degree to which neural systems have been perturbed by addiction. These proposed "neuromarkers" forecast the likelihood, severity, and timing of relapse but the reliability and generalizability of such effects remains to be established.Methods: Activation likelihood estimation was used to conduct a preliminary quantitative, coordinate-based meta-analysis of the addiction neuroprediction literature; specifically, studies wherein baseline measures of regional cerebral blood flow were prospectively associated with substance use treatment outcomes. Consensus patterns of activation associated with relapse vulnerability (greater activation predicts poorer outcomes) versus resilience (greater activation predicts improved outcomes) were specifically investigated.Results: Twenty-four eligible studies yielded 134 foci, representing 923 subjects. Consensus activation was identified in right putamen and claustrum (p < .05, cluster-corrected) in relation to positive and negative treatment outcomes - likely reflecting variability in measurement context (e.g., task, sample characteristics) across datasets. A single cluster in rostral-ventral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC) was associated with relapse resilience, specifically (p < .05, cluster-corrected); no significant vulnerability-related clusters were identified.Conclusions: Right putamen activation has been associated with relapse vulnerability and resilience, while increased baseline rACC activation has been consistently associated with improved treatment outcomes. Methodological heterogeneity within the existing literature, however, limits firm conclusions and future work will be necessary to confirm and clarify these results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumers’ food preferences and choices with a wider range of options have become more complex and are influenced by various factors. The evolution of neuroimaging in consumer sciences enables scholars to conduct more scientific-based research in investigating people’s food choices. The purpose of this pilot study was to investigate whether or not there were differences in brain activity for familiar and unfamiliar foods which could lead to a better understanding of consumers’ reaction to food. This study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine brain activity among nine healthy male participants while viewing pictures of food. All rounds of food pictures had activation in the cingulate gyrus and occipital areas of the brain; however, there were some significant differences in activation by the types of foods viewed. The unfamiliar foods showed significant activation in the parietal lobe areas and the insula, while the unfamiliar foods with labels had more activation in the prefrontal areas of the brain. The implications from the results are that brain activation while viewing food images is related to reward and inhibition. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We set out to forecast consumer behaviour in a supermarket based on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Data was collected while participants viewed six chocolate bar communications and product pictures before and after each communication. Then self-reports liking judgement were collected. fMRI data was extracted from a priori selected brain regions: nucleus accumbens, medial orbitofrontal cortex, amygdala, hippocampus, inferior frontal gyrus, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex assumed to contribute positively and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and insula were hypothesized to contribute negatively to sales. The resulting values were rank ordered. After our fMRI-based forecast an instore test was conducted in a supermarket on n = 63.617 shoppers. Changes in sales were best forecasted by fMRI signal during communication viewing, second best by a comparison of brain signal during product viewing before and after communication and least by explicit liking judgements. The results demonstrate the feasibility of applying neuroimaging methods in a relatively small sample to correctly forecast sales changes at point-of-sale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Branding and advertising have a powerful effect on both familiarity and preference for products, yet no neuroimaging studies have examined neural response to logos in children. Food advertising is particularly pervasive and effective in manipulating choices in children. The purpose of this study was to examine how healthy children’s brains respond to common food and other logos. A pilot validation study was first conducted with 32 children to select the most culturally familiar logos, and to match food and non-food logos on valence and intensity. A new sample of 17 healthy weight children were then scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Food logos compared to baseline were associated with increased activation in orbitofrontal cortex and inferior prefrontal cortex. Compared to non-food logos, food logos elicited increased activation in posterior cingulate cortex. Results confirmed that food logos activate some brain regions in children known to be associated with motivation. This marks the first study in children to examine brain responses to culturally familiar logos. Considering the pervasiveness of advertising, research should further investigate how children respond at the neural level to marketing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We use neuroimaging to predict cultural popularity — something that is popular in the broadest sense and appeals to a large number of individuals. Neuroeconomic research suggests that activity in reward-related regions of the brain, notably the orbitofrontal cortex and ventral striatum, is predictive of future purchasing decisions, but it is unknown whether the neural signals of a small group of individuals are predictive of the purchasing decisions of the population at large. For neuroimaging to be useful as a measure of widespread popularity, these neural responses would have to generalize to a much larger population that is not the direct subject of the brain imaging itself. Here, we test the possibility of using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to predict the relative popularity of a common good: music. We used fMRI to measure the brain responses of a relatively small group of adolescents while listening to songs of largely unknown artists. As a measure of popularity, the sales of these songs were totaled for the three years following scanning, and brain responses were then correlated with these “future” earnings. Although subjective likability of the songs was not predictive of sales, activity within the ventral striatum was significantly correlated with the number of units sold. These results suggest that the neural responses to goods are not only predictive of purchase decisions for those individuals actually scanned, but such responses generalize to the population at large and may be used to predict cultural popularity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]