ABSTRACT
Marketers and advertisers increasingly acknowledge that a large proportion of human decision making is intuitive, automatic, and often without conscious control or effort. Against this background, the current study explores consumers' subconscious responses in relation to their eye fixation at a static advertising image, in this case a DVD cover. Using electroencephalography (EEG) and eye-tracking (ET) data, the study makes a contribution at two levels. First, it empirically explores the impact of consumers' eye fixation on peripheral information. Second, it makes a methodological contribution in demonstrating how these two data-collection techniques can be integrated to better understand the relationship between where consumers look when exposed to a static advertisement and their subsequent level of subconscious responses.
MANAGEMENT SLANT
Peripheral information—in this case film award information on a DVD cover—is capable of enhancing the subconscious responses towards the whole DVD cover.
To be effective, information of this nature must be clearly visible.
The integrative electroencephalography–eye-tracking (EEG/ET) approach can precisely identify the source of the reaction (from the ET) and the emotional valence of the reaction (from the EEG). Such an approach offers useful and practical recommendations for the advertiser.
The approach shows advertisers how to better design the visual composition of their pamphlets, outdoor advertising, packaging, brochures, and digital advertisements, or how to create web pages or other interactive means of digital communication.
To optimize the communication properties of static advertisements such as DVD covers or posters, both the spatial positioning of the (awards) information and its visual properties are important.
INTRODUCTION
Advertising practitioners often assume that the more designers are able to draw viewers' visual attention to what the advertiser considers important, the better. It is common intuition that longer eye fixation or gaze implies higher levels of attention and interest, and that greater interest equals positive reaction, liking, and even assimilation. However, this may not always be true; analyzing eye movement in isolation can produce questionable results.
Measurement methodologies such as stand-alone eye tracking (ET) measures cannot attribute emotional valence to the observed stimuli and do not allow the analyst to conclude that there was an emotional response while viewing an advertisement. Gazes and scan paths can provide valuable information about visual attention but, in isolation, they do not reliably reveal the subsequent affective responses to stimuli. Although some authors associate pupil dilation with emotional involvement, it is a questionable measure due to the variety of factors that can influence pupil dilation, such as changes in illumination (Kramer, 1991), cognitive workload (Kahneman and Tversky, 1973), and gaze angle (Kleinke, 1986).
The current study explored the link between attentional focus, defined as eye fixation—particularly the length of the focus—on the one hand, and consumers' subconscious emotional responses on the other. The study thus was based on the argument that longer eye fixation implies higher levels of processing, both at the cognitive level of attention and memory (Just and Carpenter, 1976) and at the subconscious level, because it is during these fixation periods that information is extracted by the viewer (Nummenmaa, Hyönä, and Calvo, 2006; Wedel and Pieters, 2000). The context of the current study was a static DVD/video cover of a movie.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Decision-Making Criteria
Research on the criteria that consumers use to select a movie to watch centers on eight common criteria: marketing communication (advertising and publicity), reviews by film critics, word-of-mouth communication, the attractiveness of the actors, the cost, the genre, the country-of-origin, and film duration (Hennig-Thurau, Walsh, and Wruck, 2001; Neelamegham and Jain 1999; Redondo and Holbrook, 2010).
Methodologically, two approaches have been used in earlier research exploring movie selections (Suwarto, 2012). The first approach is to use econometric modeling based on secondary data such as attendance figures, movie attributes, and its financial success. The second approach relies on primary data, usually of a behavioral or attitudinal nature collected from consumers, such as motivation, opinions, attitudes, and mood (Austin, 1981, 1986; Eliashberg and Sawhney, 1994).
Similar to other buying activities, buying an entertainment experience, such as a visit to a movie cinema or renting a DVD/video, follows a more-or-less standard process as captured by generally accepted buyer behavior models. These models (cf. Hawkins, Mothersbaugh, and Best, 2007) acknowledge the impact of the individual buyer's internal influences, including motives, emotions and perceptions, and consumer characteristics, such as perceived risk.
To mitigate the perceived risk prior to a purchase, consumers typically engage in prepurchase search behavior (Mitchell, 1999; Mitchell and Greatorex, 1999). Sources of information can be their own memory, personal sources (word of mouth of friends and relatives), marketing sources (advertising and other marketing-related material), experiential sources (own experiences), and independent sources such as publicity (Blackwell, Miniard, and Engel, 2001, p. 75). In contrast to information emanating from the marketing efforts of the firm, independent sources are regarded as more credible and trustworthy (Pornpitakpan, 2004). Information sources are seen as credible when they are regarded as truthful and valid (Wilson and Sherrell, 1993). Conveying the message of credibility is why product endorsements are often used by advertisers (Goldsmith, Lafferty, and Newell, 2000). Credibility can be described along three dimensions: the inclination towards truth (“the source will tell the truth”); the potential of truth (“the source knows the truth”); and a presentation dimension, which means providing an intensifying function for the source credibility perception (Eisend, 2006). The last dimension considers the question of how credibility is signaled to the target audience in the case of an advertisement.
Signaling Theory
Signaling theory has its origin in economics and refers to a situation where one party credibly communicates information about itself to another party. It is rooted in information asymmetry, where there is an inequality in information access that disrupts the normal market for product or service exchanges. Information asymmetry is resolved when one party signals some relevant information to the other party, who can then interpret the signal and change their behavior in response to the signal received (Erdem and Swait, 1998). Signaling theory's relevance to marketing relates to situations when firms use signals to convey, for example, credibility to customers. Marketers can use various tools to signal information to customers to convey credibility, including advertising, building a favorable reputation, warranties, money back guarantees, and branding (Kirmani and Rao, 2000).
Signaling theory predicts that if the value of the firm's credibility signaling increases, it will lower the perceived risks and the information search costs of potential buyers. Perceived credibility has a major influence on the signals' ability to reduce risks and motivate customers to adopt a product or service (Helm and Mark, 2007). One way to signal credibility is by means of endorsements. These can take different forms, including celebrity endorsement and organizational endorsements. An award, such as the film award in this case, can be described as an organizational endorsement. In a taxonomy of beliefs (Katz, 1960), endorsements appeal to the ego-defensive function of beliefs by making the potential buyer feel secure and protected from potential threats and risks. The endorsement helps the potential buyer move from a current state to an end state, aiding so-called “approach behavior” (Kardes and Cronley, 2000).
An endorsement can be verbal, as in a radio advertisement; visual, like an award displayed on a wine bottle; or a combination of the two, which often is used in television commercials. Exposure to visual marketing stimuli, such as an award displayed on a product, and consumers' subconscious emotional responses when exposed to the stimuli, have not been explored adequately in the advertising literature (Ohme, 2009).
Visual Stimuli And Emotional Responses
To explore the relationship between emotional valence and exposure to visual marketing stimuli, consider two research approaches. One is simple and relies on self-reports. An alternative approach is to analyze the nonverbal responses of consumers, such as brain activity. Declarative measures are much simpler and easier to administer, but they are heavily biased by the cognitive distortions typically associated with post-factum responses. These limitations include the influence of the primacy, or recency effect, and often do not fully correspond with the time flow of emotional responses (Matukin and Ohme, 2011). By contrast, brain-imaging measures are not susceptible to such cognitive distortions, because they do not require any verbal reactions from the respondents viewing marketing stimuli like advertisements (Ohme, Reykowska, Wiener, and Choromańska, 2010a; 2010b).
The EEG measurements of emotions enable the analyst to accurately detect changes in brain activity that are generated by marketing stimuli such as pamphlets, packaging, magazine covers, and web pages. Unfortunately, when used in isolation, the value of EEG analyses is diluted by the loss of information on the temporal dynamic and the flow/development of emotional reactions while the respondent views a stimulus. As a result, it is not apparent which objects (logo, headline, visuals) evoked the observed emotional responses. The validity of visual perception research can be enhanced by synchronizing data from ET measures with EEG data.
In their exploratory study, the current authors demonstrated the value of integrating ET data with subconscious responses (EEG) and demonstrated how the utilization of these combined methodologies can contribute to a better understanding of how visual stimuli are processed by consumers when viewing static marketing material.
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
In this study the focus was a static, printed advertisement on a DVD cover. In the absence of motion, source identification when viewing a static image is complex. In contrast, television advertisements have movement, blinking, changing colors, and the like that draw the gaze of the viewer. It is more important that the link between attentional focus on a static stimulus and subconscious and emotional responses is poorly understood.
To address this limitation, electroencephalography (EEG) measurement was used to assess emotional responses to an advertisement (Aftanas et al., 2001) based on hemispheric dominance (Davidson, 1992; Harmon-Jones, 2003; Harmon-Jones and Peterson, 2008). The current authors used ET to assess the flow of eye fixation to the strongest attractors, namely the elements of an advertisement (Hollingworth and Henderson, 2002; Jones et al., 2007). The data from these two sources were fully integrated to demonstrate the link between eye fixation on individual static visual cues, such as a particular element of the layout of the advertisement referred to as an area of interest (AOI) and the subconscious reactions evoked by it.
Objectives and Propositions
The objectives of the current study were twofold. The first objective was of an empirical nature and explored the link between eye fixation and consumers' subconscious responses. The second objective was of a methodological nature and intended to demonstrate how these two data-collection techniques can be integrated to better understand the relationship between where consumers look when exposed to a static advertisement and their subsequent level of subconscious responses.
As emotional responses are a key component in how consumers evaluate advertising (Malhotra, 2005), the primary purpose of the current study was to investigate how the emotional and subconscious processing of a static advertising image, the DVD cover, can enrich our understanding of consumers' processing of static marketing stimuli by integrating EEG and ET data. To address this objective, four propositions were investigated:
P1: Displaying the awards on the DVD cover will change the level of attention, defined as the number of respondents who looked at the main elements of the cover and the fixation duration time, compared with when the awards are not displayed.
P2: Contact with the awards themselves (AOI: awards) will evoke positive reactions (greater left frontal activity) as measured by EEG activity.
P3: The frontal asymmetry will indicate more positive reactions toward the cover with the awards information, compared with the original cover without the awards information.
P4: The frontal asymmetry will indicate more positive reactions toward the cover with information about the awards the film had won, compared with the original cover without the information about the awards, for those respondents who have visually focused on the awards information.
Proposition 3 thus explored the peripheral effects of the award on subconscious processing and Proposition 4 will explore the central effects.
METHODOLOGY
Participants
The data were collected from 40 healthy, right-handed respondents (50 percent females, 50 percent males) ages 25–50 years (M = 34.4, SD = 5.9). The sample size compared favorably with others in similar studies (Ekman, Davidson, and Friesen, 1990, 37 subjects; Fridlund and Cacioppo, 1986, 28 subjects; Hazlett and Hazlett, 1999, 49 subjects; Rayner et al., 2001, 24 subjects). To minimize the risk of demand effects, participants simply were told that they would watch a multimedia presentation. They were paid for their participation.
Neurophysiological Measurement
Despite economic theories that are, to this day, based on the premise of the analytical “rational man,” we know that human beings often make decisions based on intuition, emotions, and aggregated feelings, rather than on cold, calculated reasoning (LaBarbera and Tucciarone, 1995). Such decision making can appear unpredictable. One reason for this unpredictable behavior pointed out by psychologists (Uleman and Bargh, 1989; Zaltman, 2003) is that much mental processing is of a subconscious nature, and that human decision-making processes often are strongly influenced by emotions. In other words, consumers often think in an automated manner, and many motivations and behaviors are not consciously controlled. Due to the influence of these subconscious processes, consumers often are not even aware themselves of the reasons for some of their reactions and decisions.
One way to overcome this problem is the use of neurophysiological measurement methods in marketing research. This approach is based on the well-accepted premise that patterns of brain activity are closely associated with consumers' cognition and behavior (Alwitt, 1985). Cognition occurs largely automatically, and the consumer often is unaware of it, or at best has difficulty noticing it (Hogg and Vaughan, 2008). Grasping the human cognition process can help marketers to understand how consumers process incoming information and how they react emotionally. Thus, considering that the majority of human mental processes occur below the level of awareness, the ability to measure what is, in effect, consciously inaccessible, yet is the foundation of much consumer decision making, such as emotions, motivations, and preferences, is compelling from a marketing perspective (Zaltman, 2003).
Neurophysiological measurement can be described as undisguised observation. Although the respondents know that they are being observed, it is not possible to control or manipulate their own physiological responses to appear normal or to respond in a way that they think they ought to respond (Burns and Bush, 2010). The most important advantage of neurophysiological observation is that subjects do not know that their attitudes are being measured, and they are unable to adjust their responses at will (Hogg and Vaughan, 2008). Neurophysiological measurement also overcomes problems such as respondents' inability to recall past events or behaviors.
Four dimensions of emotions are commonly described (Tronvoll, 2011): activation, valence, potency, and intensity. Two of these dimensions are of importance in this study. The valence dimension refers to whether an event is perceived as positive, leading to positive emotions (pleasant), or negative, leading to negative emotions (unpleasant). Activation relates to the customer's sense of energy, ranging from sleepy to excited.
Electroencephalography (EEG). A sizable body of knowledge, emanating from studies that have explored the relationship between human emotions and motivation, concurs that two primary motivational systems determine human behavior (Tullett, Harmon-Jones, and Inzlicht, 2012). One system generates behavior that is based on an anticipated undesirable or negative outcome, more commonly known as “avoidance” behavior. The other anticipated outcome is regarded as positive or beneficial and is known as “approach” behavior. Approach behavior is associated with positive emotions such as interest, joy, and happiness, whereas avoidance behavior is associated with negative emotions such as sadness, fear, and disgust.
On the basis of these premises, Sutton and Davidson (1997) investigated frontal EEG asymmetry during emotional states. They proposed that the left prefrontal cortex (PFC) is related to a system facilitating approach behavior. The right PFC, on the other hand, is related to a system facilitating withdrawal behavior from negative, aversive stimuli—that is, avoidance behavior. Using an EEG technique, both Davidson (1993; Davidson et al., 1979) and Fox (1991) found considerable empirical support for the model. Against this background, in the current study left PFC dominant responses were recorded as “positive reactions” (approach behavior), and right PFC hemisphere dominance were recorded as “negative reactions” (avoidance behavior).
Electroencephalography is a noninvasive, relatively inexpensive technique to measure brain activity in response to exposure to some form of stimulus. It is important to note that the technique allows one to measure and assess consumers' responses moment by moment, rather than as an aggregated, holistic response, as would be the case when answering questions in a questionnaire/survey. A further advantage of using EEG is its high temporal resolution. EEG is capable of recording data in submillisecond intervals.
Eye Tracking (ET). Because advertising managers typically place physical stimuli in front of potential purchasers, mostly by means of advertising, their target searches and what attracts consumer attention when exposed to the stimuli are an important concern to them. Attracting and retaining consumer attention is an important issue from an advertising effectiveness perspective, particularly for static advertisements (Pieters and Wedel, 2004). Where consumers focus their attention when observing an advertisement is an unobservable mental process (van der Lans, Pieters, and Wedel, 2008), but modern ET equipment allows analysts to track eye-movement patterns accurately and, at least to some degree, to understand the relationship between the conscious vision of consumers and their subsequent attention levels. Eye tracking, thus, offers a rich source of data on temporal, psychological processes. From a marketing perspective, the study of eye-movement patterns has been linked to outcomes such as retail shelf allocation decisions (Drèze, Hoch, and Purk, 1994), product choice (Lohse, 1997) and the ability to remember brands (Wedel and Pieters, 2000).
The true value of ET research therefore lies in its predictive capabilities (Richardson and Spivey, 2004).
Experimental Stimuli
The promotional stimuli examined in this study were two versions of a DVD cover prepared for a Polish film titled “Samowolka.” The DVD covers were chosen randomly from one of a new DVD series released by the distributor. Two versions of the cover were tested for the current study. One cover did not reference any awards that the film had won. The second version was the same as the first version, except that the logos of awards that the movie had received at the Polish Film Festival (Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Editing) and at the Polish Creativity in Television Festival (Best Screenplay and Script) were added in the top right-hand corner of the cover (See Figure 1).
The two DVD covers were presented on a computer screen. As the primary purpose of the study was to assess whether the listing of the awards that the film had won would influence consumers' subconscious responses to the cover, six AOIs were identified: main visual = face of a grimacing man, the lead actor, which is the main element of the cover; the title = the title of the film placed in the middle of the cover; the actors = the names of the main actors starring in the film; the DVD logo = the small emblem identifying it is a DVD; the director = the name of the film's director; and the awards the film had won (See Figure 2).
Data Collection
A within-subject design was used and each participant was presented with both versions of the stimuli. The order of the presentation was counterbalanced. Each respondent was exposed to the two stimuli for five seconds each. A buffer task was given in between the tested stimuli exposure. This kind of procedure originally was used in research on subliminal perception (Murphy and Zajonc, 1993) and offers several advantages in biometric research. It is most important to note that it reduces the unsystematic variability in a sample and provides greater power to detect subtle effects. Moreover, it reduces inner subject differences due to the even distribution of respondents' idiosyncrasies.
The stimuli were presented during a multimedia presentation on a 21-inch widescreen full HD monitor with a resolution of 1920 × 1080 pixels. The whole procedure, including the preparation of the equipment and calibration, lasted for a half hour.
Measuring Equipment
Two types of measuring equipment were used in this study. The first was the Arrington Research® ViewPoint PC-60 eye-tracker system, which registers the eye fixation and scan paths of participants during the time of exposure to the stimulus. The ET device is shaped like conventional glasses and is placed on to the heads of the participants. The system is thus relatively nonintrusive. The data collected in this manner permits an estimation of the noticeability of each stimulus and an assessment of the perceptual characteristics of each element of the advertisement in isolation.
The second data collection device used, EEG, made it possible to record the cortical responses of the respondents while watching an advertisement, a printed one in this case. A 32-channel Brain Vision amplifier was used. The electrodes were placed in accordance with the 10–20 International Electrode Placement System (Cacioppo, Tassinary, and Bernston, 2000). The recordings were obtained from the prefrontal and frontal regions of the cortex (Fp1, Fp2, F3, F4, F7, F8). The power of alpha band (8–12 Hz) in each of the frontal electrodes was calculated using fast Fourier transformation with coherent power-gain correction applied (Hanning window). Then the alpha power was corrected using the reference power calculated as a mean power in the frequencies of 3–70 hertz in each electrode. The alpha power in the ipsilateral electrodes was averaged and compared with the power of contralateral electrodes. The activity of left and right hemisphere was subtracted to obtain the asymmetry index that indicates left or right hemisphere dominance, that is, the frontal asymmetry effect.
The Presentation™ software from Neurobehavioral Systems was used for the exposure of the stimulus and to synchronize the EEG data with the video footage and the ET data. This synchronization made it possible to identify precisely not only the time when the neurophysiological reaction occurred but also which particular element of the advertisement (also referred to as the AOI element) was responsible for the subsequent emotional response.
EMPIRICAL RESULTS
Proposition 1 was addressed by using a McNemar test to assess the differences between paired proportions. All assumptions for the test were met.
Among the most important findings emanating from the standalone ET measurements, the AOIs of the DVD covers were experienced differently in the two tested conditions (See Figures 3 and 4).
Cover 2, which contained the awards information, evoked significantly lower levels of attention and eye fixation than Cover 1, without the awards information, for most of the AOIs. Cover 2 returned only 57.1 percent contacts when all the AOIs were considered together, compared with 85.7 percent for Cover 1. This difference was statistically different (p < 0.00). Moreover, in the case of Cover 2, a smaller number of participants had made visual contact with the director AOI. This difference was also statistically different (p < 0.05). These results demonstrated that placing the awards information on the DVD cover changed the organization of the respondents' visual perception, thus providing empirical support for Proposition 1.
Additionally, the length of fixation on AOIs for the two covers also was different. Average fixation length on AOIs in the case of Cover 1 (without the awards information) was double (0.70 seconds) the 0.35 seconds for AOIs on Cover 2 (with the awards information). Across most of the tested AOIs the average fixation time was shorter for Cover 2.
Propositions 2, 3, and 4 were addressed using a within-group t test. Type 1 errors (alpha) were avoided by applying a Bonferroni correction to account for multiple tests. All assumptions for using the test were met.
The EEG results revealed positive emotional reactions as reflected by the frontal asymmetry effect, as the EEG scores were significantly different from the baseline, t(20) = 3.18, p < 0.01, for the awards AOI (See Table 1). This result applies to those who had contact with the awards AOI. The average fixation time was 0.48 seconds. These results provide empirical support for Proposition 2—that awards information placed on the DVD cover does evoke positive subconscious responses.
Of the subconscious responses to the whole DVD cover and to its main visual element (the grimacing main actor), the study confirmed that there were no statistically significant differences between the reactions toward the whole Cover 1 and Cover 2 (M = −0.2 versus M = 0.00, respectively; ns; See Figure 5). There was, therefore, no empirical support for Proposition 3. A similar pattern of results emanated for the main visual AOI (the grimacing actor) of both Cover 1 and Cover 2 (M = −0.3 versus M = 0.0 respectively; ns).
To address the second objective of this study and thus Proposition 4 (to demonstrate the value of integrating EEG and ET data), the researchers analyzed the data from only those participants who paid visual attention to the awards AOI (55 percent of all respondents) analyzed. The results revealed that this subgroup of participants responded more positively to Cover 2 (the cover with the awards information) than to Cover 1 (see Figure 6). In other words, the response to the whole cover was significantly more positive (M = 0.1 versus M = −0.3, respectively; p < 0.05) when the awards information was provided than when it was not provided. In addition, the subconscious response to the main visual element on the cover (the grimacing main actor) was also significantly more positive (M = 0.4 for Cover 2 compared with M = −0.6 for Cover 1) when the awards information was provided than when it was not provided. This difference was statistically significant (p < 0.05). This was despite the fact that the visuals on the two covers (the grimacing main actor) were identical (See Figure 2).
DISCUSSION
In the current study, both DVD covers, one with and one without awards information, were properly explored by the participants during data collection, and all their main elements were visually attended to by the respondents. However, it appears that Cover 2 (with the awards information) evoked lower levels of attention for particular elements of the design. This cover evoked lower levels of attention, in terms of time, on each area of interest, presumably because of the higher number of elements on display compared with the time spent on Cover 1 (See Figures 3 and 4). This was not surprising: Cover 2 consisted of an additional visual element—the awards information. The cognitive processing of that additional element consumed some portion of the attentional resources of the respondents. If this were the only information available to the advertiser (based solely on the ET information), the obvious recommendation would be to select Cover 1 (without the awards information).
However, thanks to the integration of EEG and ET measurements, it was possible to move beyond mere descriptions and to compare the emotional reactions (assessed by EEG) toward the two covers and their individual elements (assessed by ET). This deeper insight into the impact of the visual gaze and the subsequent emotional responses allowed the researchers to conclude that the additional information about the awards on the DVD cover enhances the emotional involvement with Cover 2. It is more important to note that by integrating the two datasets, the researchers were able to identify which particular elements of the covers elicited an emotional response at the subconscious level.
They thus concluded that the awards information was capable of enhancing the responses toward the whole DVD cover, but the information about awards had to be clearly visible, as its value as peripheral information is limited. Thus, to optimize the communication properties of DVD covers or posters, the authors would recommend better management of the spatial positioning of the awards information, for example, moving the logos to a different position on the front cover, and its visual properties, such as using a more contrasting background or limiting the number of words that accompany the logos.
The integrative EEG/ET approach can precisely identify the source of the reaction (from the ET) and the emotional valence of the reaction (from the EEG). Such an approach offers useful and practical recommendations for the advertiser, including suggesting better spatial management of the award logos.
LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE RESEARCH
This study has a number of limitations, suggesting that the results must be interpreted with a degree of caution. Traditionally, brain wave-related research utilizing marketing stimuli was based on sample sizes in the 20 to 30 range. Using the EEG/ET integrative approach will require a higher number of participants in the future because of the relatively high loss of valid records when using this unique method of data collection. The increased sample size will be particularly important when more robust statistical analyses, such as contrast for subgroups or various AOIs, are considered.
Second, the experimental design could be enhanced by adding another intermediate condition, consisting of a DVD cover that contains neutral or irrelevant information, like when or where the movie was made. Such a design will permit the use of three experimental conditions: (a) a control condition with neutral/irrelevant information; (b) a condition with a stimulus with relevant but “ordinary” information; (c) a condition with a stimulus with information about accolades won. Such a design will enhance the validity of the results and confidence in the conclusion that the awards information triggers a positive emotional response (approach behavior).
Future research also should consider how AOI sizing and positioning may affect viewers' subconscious responses. A better understanding of eye fixation using different communication media such as an outdoor billboard on a busy commuter road versus the same advertisement used in a magazine will add further to our understanding of advertising processing.
SUMMARY AND CONTRIBUTION
This study makes a contribution at two levels. First, it empirically explores the impact on consumers' eye fixation on peripheral information placed on an advertisement and their subsequent subconscious responses. Second, it makes a methodological contribution in demonstrating how these two data-collection techniques, EEG and ET, can be integrated to better understand the relationship between where consumers look when exposed to a static advertisement (each individual advertising element individually) and how they respond (at millisecond intervals) at the subconscious level.
The empirical results reported in this study have shown that its proposed EEG/ET integrative approach yields important benefits for advertisers. The results provide designer-related guidelines to advertisers on how to better design the visual composition of their pamphlets, outdoor advertising, packaging, brochures and digital advertisements, or how to create web pages or other interactive means of digital communication. Contemporary marketers will have to reconsider how they connect with consumers at an emotional level. They need to move beyond the verbally reported conscious feelings typical of our current way of thinking, by exploring subconscious emotions as well. Neurophysiological methodologies put these insights within reasonably easy reach of advertisers, thanks to the growth and development of technological and computational capabilities.
Progressive advertisers willing to explore the value of these new methodologies, the authors believe, will adopt and embrace these new insights. That does not mean that neurophysiological research will completely replace conventional research, but having access to information and consumer insights that are accessible below the perceptual level can only be beneficial to marketers and advertisers.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Michal Matukin is a social psychologist, working in marketing-based neuroscientific research methods since 2007. Currently, he is chief scientific director at NEUROHM in Warsaw, Poland, a global neuro research and technology provider. Matukin's research focuses on affective neuroscience applied to marketing communications, including issues emerging from the application of high technologies such as electroencephalography, electromyography, and galvanic skin response. His work has been published in several journals and books including the Journal of Interactive Advertising, Journal für Marketing, and Dynamics in Emotions: Science and Practice (PWN, Warsaw, Poland, 2011).
Rafal Ohme is professor of psychology in the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Poland, and honorary professor at the department of business management at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. His research focuses on automatic processing of information, implicit social cognition, emotions, and communication. Since 2006, Ohme has worked on business applications of brain-wave and skin-conductance analyses to marketing and advertising. The company he founded, NEUROHM, creates neurophysiological and reaction-time-based methods and licenses them to research companies worldwide. He is the author of more than 150 articles, the book Subliminal Facial Information (PAN, Warsaw, Poland, 2003), scientific editor of Unconscious Affect (GWP, Gdańsk, Poland, 2007), and the trilogy Automaticity (PAN, Warsaw, Poland, 2001, 2002, 2003).
Christo Boshoff is professor in the department of business management at Stellenbosch University. He holds a doctorate from the University of Pretoria, South Africa. Boshoff's research interests are neurophysiological research, the role of risk perceptions in service marketing, and the management of service recovery and scale development. He has published articles in several international journals, including European Journal of Marketing, Service Industries Journal, Journal of Services Research, International Journal of Human Resource Management, International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, British Journal of Management, and International Journal of Market Research.
- © Copyright 2016 The ARF. All rights reserved.