Page 4 - AeM_November_2021

RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

Neuromarketing combines economics

with psychology

The number of scientific articles on black box, which has so far been located between the
neuromarketing has almost become unmanage marketing stimulus and the observable reaction of the
-able by now, coming from neurosciences as consumer, is to be broken.
well as economics since the 1990s.
A fundamental condition for the development of the
While economics, with its behavioral models, provide research field of neuroeconomics and neuromarketing
theoretical and practical problems, neurosciences in- is the technical availability of methods that enable a
vestigate how the brain works and how this controls look “into the brain”. Functional magnetic resonance
human behavior. Neuromarketing is a branch of neu- tomography (fMRI), a method that has been known as
roeconomics that deals with the analysis of economi- magnetic resonance tomography since the 1950s but
cally relevant behavior from the consumer's point of has its breakthrough with the discovery of the “Blood
view and makes use of neuroscientific methods. Oxygen Level Dependent Contrast” (BOLD) effect in
1990, is leading the way. The BOLD effect means that
Here, the classic questions of consumer behavior are different oxygen concentrations in the blood are meas-
linked with neuroscientific research: sales policy ured, and since brain regions that are being stimulated
measures – such as advertising effectiveness, pricing, need more oxygen-rich blood, they can be “located”
and placement – are examined regarding their neural with a suitable technique. Functional magnetic reso-
effects and insights are gained about the functioning of nance imaging does not provide information about what
the human brain which decides and controls behavior. is being thought, only that a certain part of the brain is
By focusing on the human brain as the place where the active.
purchase decision is made, the previously unopened

4 November 2021: Neuromarketing & Predictive Analytics