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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]

Este artículo es una reflexión de la situación actual de la investigación de mercados en empresas colombianas y en especial en la región Caribe, debido a que en términos generales nuestras organizaciones están de espaldas a la investigación de mercados y de los nuevos retos, métodos e instrumentos desarrollados para su finalidad. De acuerdo con esto, se pretende concientizar a los empresarios de dichos avances, traducidos en resultados de investigaciones con aportes de otras disciplinas, como la neurología y la psicología, que combinadas con las viejas técnicas de investigación del comportamiento del consumidor y mercadeo han aportado y demostrado la aplicación de nuevos instrumentos, como son las neuroimágenes. Y estas, como pieza fundamental de lo que se ha denominado el neuromarketing, han revolucionado nuestra forma de estudiar y observar a los sujetos de investigación. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, there is a greater interest in the marketing world in using neuroimaging tools to evaluate the efficacy of TV commercials. This field of research is known as neuromarketing. In this article, we illustrate some applications of electrical neuroimaging, a discipline that uses electroencephalography (EEG) and intensive signal processing techniques for the evaluation of marketing stimuli. We also show how the proper usage of these methodologies can provide information related to memorization and attention while people are watching marketing-relevant stimuli. We note that temporal and frequency patterns of EEG signals are able to provide possible descriptors that convey information about the cognitive process in subjects observing commercial advertisements (ads). Such information could be unobtainable through common tools used in standard marketing research. Evidence of this research shows how EEG methodologies could be employed to better design new products that marketers are going to promote and to analyze the global impact of video commercials already broadcast on TV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]