Unlocking the Subconscious Consumer Bias: A Survey on the Past, Present, and Future of Hybrid EEG Schemes in Neuromarketing

Abstract

Fueled by early success stories, the neuromarketing domain advanced rapidly during the last 10 years. As exciting new techniques were being adapted from medical research to the commercial domain, many neuroscientists and marketing practitioners have taken the chance to exploit them so as to uncover the answers of the most important marketing questions. Among the available neuroimaging technologies, electroencephalography (EEG) stands out as the less invasive and most affordable method. While not equally precise as other neuroimaging technologies in terms of spatial resolution, it can capture brain activity almost at the speed of cognition. Hence, EEG constitutes a favorable candidate for recording and subsequently decoding the consumers' brain activity. However, despite its wide use in neuromarketing, it cannot provide the complete picture alone. In order to overcome the limitations imposed by a single monitoring method, researchers focus on more holistic approaches. The exploitation of hybrid EEG schemes (e.g., combining EEG with eye-tracking, electrodermal activity, heart rate, and/or other) is ever growing and will hopefully allow neuromarketing to uncover consumers' behavior. Our survey revolves around last-decade hybrid neuromarketing schemes that involve EEG as the dominant modality. Beyond covering the relevant literature and state-of-the-art findings, we also provide future directions on the field, present the limitations that accompany each of the commonly employed monitoring methods and briefly discuss the omni-present ethical scepticizm related to neuromarketing.

RNeuMark: A Riemannian EEG Analysis Framework for Neuromarketing

“…The final step of the decoding scheme consists of the extension of the previously described computations to multiple frequency bands. This decision is dictated by the fact that the decision-making process encompasses various distinct brain states (e.g., approach/withdrawal and memorization) that are associated with different frequency bands [ 33 ]. For this study, seven commonly used EEG frequency bands (i.e., ) were examined [ 40 ]: δ (1–4) Hz; θ (4–8) Hz; α1 (8–10) Hz; α2 (10–13) Hz; β1 (13–20) Hz; β2 (20–30) Hz; γ (30–45) Hz.…”

“…Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) acts on the inter-covariance distances among all available covariance pairs giving rise to feature vectors that are then fed to a support vector machine (SVM) that casts a prediction. The process is repeated, independently, for multiple EEG frequency bands (i.e., delta (δ) – gamma (γ)) so as to incorporate all possible brain rhythms associated with the cognitive processes that have been identified as significant to the decision-making process [ 33 ]. This results in the realization of an SVM ensemble, that accomplishes the final recognition of the consumers’ preferences, with the final ensemble’s response resulting from the decision-making rule of majority voting.…”

RNeuMark: A Riemannian EEG Analysis Framework for Neuromarketing

“…This decision is dictated by the fact that the decision-making process encompasses various distinct brain states (e.g. approach/withdrawal and memorization) that are associated with different frequency bands [33]. For this study, seven commonly used EEG frequency bands (i.e.…”

“…The process is repeated, independently, for multiple EEG frequency bands (i.e. delta (δ) -gamma(γ)) so as to incorporate all possible brain rhythms associated with the cognitive processes that have been identi ed as signi cant to the decision-making process [33]. This results in the realization of an SVM ensemble, that accomplishes the nal recognition of the consumers' preferences, with the nal ensemble's response resulting from the decision-making rule of majority voting.…”

An Adaptive Task-Related Component Analysis Method for SSVEP recognition

“…A Brain Computer Interface (BCI) system is a device that it translates human brain activity into artificially generated control signals, providing us with an alternative communication medium, other than physical communication, which can be used to help people with motor disabilities [1], to augment communication abilities of healthy individuals, [2], for entertainment [2], and, for neuromarketing purposes [3]. Brain activity can be measured with various specialized devices such as MRI scanners and electroencephalograms (EEG)-based devices, where, EEG devices is widely used since the required equipment is simple and inexpensive.…”