Ethical Codes

The goal of Neuromarketing is to obtain the information about how consumers' brains are functioning while facing various market stimuli. The advantage of this measurement technique is that obtained information is unaffected by consumers' biases and unwillingness to reveal the truth. There is nothing wrong in using technologies in consumer research, but the biggest problem with those used in Neuromarketing is that with these technologies researchers can observe beyond the limits that research objects might set for these tests. That is why usage of Neuromarketing raises ethical concerns that might be divided into two categories: protection of consumers' autonomy and protection of various parties that might be harmed or exploited by these researches.

Memory

The sensory, motor, limbic and modular systems contain billions of individual neural elements with a large number of interconnections. The development of these connections is an orderly process, which follows certain rules. The establishment of the brain circuit is not a magical process. Although impressive and orderly prenatal development may be, we are by no means full creatures at the moment of our birth. From the moment we breathe in, for the first time, air sensory stimuli modify our brain and influence our behavior. In fact, one of the primary goals of the first 20 years of life is to learn the skills we need to survive in the world. We learn a huge number of things, some directly, some more abstract.

Sensory and Motor System

When we cannot see an object, it is often possible to detect its presence, to identify its origin and even to receive a message from it, precisely because we can hear it. In addition to having the ability to detect and locate sound, we are also able to perceive and interpret its nuances. We can immediately distinguish a dog's bark, the voice of a certain friend, a sea wave breaking. Because humans can produce a wide variety of sounds as well as listen to them, spoken language and their reception by the auditory system have become an extremely important medium of communication. Hearing in humans has evolved beyond the strictly utilitarian functions of communication and survival; in a manner analogous to artists who use visual means, musicians exploit the sensations and emotions caused by sound.

The Neuroscience

The Society of Neuroscience is a larger association of professional scientists in all of experimental biology, and also the fastest growing. Far from being very specialized, the field is as broad as the natural sciences, with the nervous system serving as a common point. Understanding how the brain works requires knowledge about many things, from the structure of the water molecule to the electrical and chemical properties of the brain, and why Pavlov's dog salivated when a buzzer rang. This chapter intends to provide a quick overview of Neuroscience and its evolution. The main source of this chapter was (Bear, Barry, & Paradiso, 2002).

The Challenge of Neuromarketing

The global market research spending increased in 2013 to US 30 billion. However, only 1% of the global market research expenditure is spent on Neuromarketing (~US 330 million). The number of buyers who report using Neuromarketing has remained steady at around 10% in almost every poll since 2010. However, each year a higher percentage of respondents say they are considering using Neuromarketing at some point in the future (e.g. in 2013 in total 21%), but when the next survey comes in, actual usage has not really changed (Sousa, 2016). Therefore, in spite of Neuromarketing is at early stage, statistics show that this science needs to be improved in terms of technology. In fact, Neuromarketing comprises neuroscience, biometrics, and facial recognition for marketing purposes, and currently the main technology is EEG, fMRI and eye-tracking. These technologies are not new in marketing; however, Neuromarketing feels the need to improve the usability and the portability of the technology, as well as the associated software (Sousa, 2016). This chapter intends to present some Neuromarketing challenges and some opportunities namely regarding policy recommendations.

Other Applications of NeuroEmotions

NeuroEmotions is the newest concept trying to integrate the neuroscience discipline with emotions analysis. The main relevant fields that are using NeuroEmotions are health to study depression or children with paralysis, and Marketing based on Neuromarketing. Even so, NeuroEmotions can be applied in an infinite topics or fields. In this chapter, we will give some examples like Education (NeuroEducation), Architecture (NeuroArchitecture) and Design (NeuroDesign).

Neuromarketing Trends

More and more there is a growing number of neuroscience studies applied to consumption, the volume of scientific publications increases, available technology increases and prices become more accessible. Large companies such as Nielsen, DDB and others already have their own laboratories for Applied Neuroscience. New areas of study emerge with great force, such as Neuropsychology, Neuroeconomics, Neuropsychiatry, Neuroarchitecture, Neurodesign, which increasingly gain prominence and impact in society, eliminating the need for studies with less certainties. Product development studies, adapted to the brain of consumers such as Pepsi (Sousa, 2014), Frito Lay (Nobel, 2013), cars like Mercedes (Moya, 2014), among others, will become the norm. There is a work of maturation in the decision-makers of the companies that need to understand the proofs of those who advance first. Product development engineering and neuroscience have just begun to shake hands. We can assure you today that the Neuro, after the US investment in the 90s in brain study, came to stay.

Neuromarketing Stories

In previous chapters, we discussed what emotions are, how these emotions can impact decision making, and how technology can help in the interpretation of these emotions and help the consumer perceive. All these matters are still in the discovery phase and their practical use sometimes becomes obscure. However, Neuromarketing is in fact a science that is still at an early stage and consolidation in some more technical points. Still, there are already some examples of how Neuromarketing can be applied and what the real practical result is (Burkitt, 2009). In this way, this chapter intends to present some practical examples of the use of Neuromarketing and how this science already begins to enter our routines as consumers.

Neuroeconomics

Neuromarketing is a relatively new discipline that studies of how the brain processes economically relevant decision-making, directed not at medical professionals, but rather at marketers. Following this, Neuroeconomy emerged as an independent field as a result to the increased interest in investigating how the decision-making process actually takes place. The goal of this chapter is to study the influence of Neuroeconomy in Neuroscience, allowing researchers to study the processes on a large scale, discovering the brain reactions that determine complex cognitive processes. Using the Neuroeconomic framework combined with the knowledge of the neuroscientists, some models have been drawn, which correlate neuroscience concepts (decision making, memory or emotion) with marketing ones (positioning, reaction to brand advertisements or brand loyalty).

Emotions and Feelings

The neural basis of emotion is a complex subject, as it is difficult to study emotions using the techniques normally employed for the study of sensory and motor systems. If you are studying a sensory system, simply present a stimulus and look for the neurons that respond to it. You can manipulate the stimulus to determine the attributes (orientation, frequency of sound, etc.) that best evoke a response. But how can this technique be used to study emotions? It is not straightforward and straightforward to study emotions in animals that cannot tell us their subjective sensations. What we observe are the behavioral manifestations of inner emotions. Therefore, we must carefully distinguish the emotional experience from the emotional expression. What we know about the mechanisms of emotion in the brain comes from a synthesis of animal studies on the expression of emotions and clinical cases that give us glimpses of human feelings.