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Thesis
Does EEG Frontal Asymmetry Neuromarketing Predict Eating Behavior?
Master of Science (M.S.), Drexel University
Jun 2023
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/00001704
Abstract
Neuromarketing, or marketing research based on neural data, reveals novel insights into consumer decision-making that are invisible to behavioral and self-report research. A notable gap in the neuromarketing literature is its focus on average group responses to products and advertisements rather than how individual differences in prior brain states may influence decisions following exposure to advertising or products. The current study investigated whether post-satiation snack-eating behavior was better predicted by initial resting-state frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) alpha-band asymmetry recorded prior to watching television commercials or by frontal asymmetry recorded while participants watched commercials. Frontal EEG asymmetry is a well-studied measure of approach motivation (left > right neural activity) versus cognitive control (right > left neural activity). Participants knew at the outset that they would be watching commercials and eating food. The session began with a recording of resting-state brain activity (eyes open and eyes closed) with no task to perform. Then, participants viewed 60 television commercials (30 food and 30 nonfood) while their EEGs were recorded. After viewing the commercials, participants ate a standardized satiating meal and were then offered a series of snacks to measure post-satiation eating behavior. EEGs collected from 58 participants showed that (rightward) baseline frontal asymmetry significantly predicted post-satiation eating behavior (measured in calories consumed; r = -.38, p < .01), but that frontal asymmetry measured during the total time duration of all 60 commercials (r = -.15, p = .12) did not. However, the first four minutes of food commercials (r = -.27, p = .03) significantly predicted post-satiation eating. The rightward direction of baseline frontal asymmetry associated with greater eating implies that the initial anticipation of food commercials and the subsequent availability of food activated self-control mechanisms in participants who ate the most and were then unable to restrain later eating. Furthermore, the fact that viewing the commercials reduced the ability of frontal asymmetry to predict eating suggests that the commercials had minimal effects on the balance between approach motivation and transient self-control across subjects. Thus, to understand how neural data can help marketing researchers understand and predict consumer behavior, future neuromarketing studies should examine the relationship between baseline neural activity and activity concurrent with exposure to advertising or products.
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Details
- Title
- Does EEG Frontal Asymmetry Neuromarketing Predict Eating Behavior?
- Creators
- Alexa R. Schlyfestone
- Contributors
- John Kounios (Advisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Drexel University
- Degree Awarded
- Master of Science (M.S.)
- Publisher
- Drexel University; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Number of pages
- vii, 32 pages
- Resource Type
- Thesis
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Psychological and Brain Sciences (Psychology); College of Arts and Sciences; Drexel University
- Other Identifier
- 991020876803304721