The Buying Brain: Secrets for Selling to the Subconscious Mind

Chapter 2. Neuromarketing Technology

At the end of this chapter, you'll know and be able to use the following:

• Why it's critical to use a dense array of EEG sensors to cover the whole brain

• Why neurological testing can rely on sample sizes far smaller than surveys and even some focus groups, and get results that are more scientifically accurate

• The differences between EEG, fMRI, and biometrics

So much attention is being paid to the advances that neuromarketing is making in today's marketplace that its origins have gone largely unnoticed. I want to shine a little light on the reasons why this marriage of science and marketing was consummated, and the driving forces behind it.

It usually surprises audiences I address to learn that electroencephalography (EEG), the basic technology underlying most brainwave-based neuromarketing and the form of neurological testing that we use at NeuroFocus, is not really new. In fact, it is the staple methodology used in neuroscience laboratories around the world.

Hans Berger made the first practical application of EEG measurement in the 1920s. He was the first scientist to design sensors to pick up electrical signals naturally emanating from the brain, and his discovery is directly responsible for our ability today to capture brainwave activity as accurately and reliably as we do. He understood from the start that his invention could and should be used to measure the brain's full range of activity, not just an extremely small portion of it. When you consider ...