by With the help of portable EEGs, researchers discovered that when groups of people watch the same videos for health promotion, their brain activity synchronizes, indicating that the message went beyond and heard. This approach can lead to ‘neural’ focus groups and more effective health campaigns.
Think of an advertising jingle that you have heard as a child, but still know. That is an example of effective marketing there. Nowadays marketing is difficult. Competition for attention, shorter attention span, wrong information and distrust, personal algorithms and ultrasound rooms make it increasingly difficult to bring products to the market effectively, especially critical messages such as health campaigns.
Researchers from the University of Konstanz in Germany led a recent study with the help of portable Elektro -Falography (EEC) to measure the brain activity of groups of people watching videos of health reports on risky alcohol consumption. Their findings take us one step closer to what effective focus groups would be at the next level, so -called neuromarketing that uses brain -based information to make marketing more effective.
“Unfortunately, not all health campaigns are equally effective, because our research into the effectiveness of anti-alcohol health campaigns has shown,” said Harald Schupp, professor of Psychology at the University of Konstanz in Germany and the co-correct author of the study.
Focus groups have been used for decades because they are an effective way to collect qualitative data and insights from potential consumers. The researchers in the current study thought that the process could be improved by supplementing these self -reporting measures with objective, neuroscientifically that may be outside of consciousness.
“With neural measures we can follow the processes that occur in the brain of participants in the study while watching these videos – something that we cannot do with a survey,” said Schupp. “Neural measures therefore offer us tools for analyzing dynamic stimuli – such as video or audio recordings – and, in combination with survey data, they considerably strengthen the overall analysis.”
University of Konstanz/Karl-Philipp Flösch
They used Inter -subject Correction (ISC) analysis, which assesses how a stimulus, such as a video, activates similar brain reactions based on the public. So, instead of collecting neural statistics at individual level, ISC identifies common effects that are seen in the brain of multiple subjects. In an earlier study, the researchers had shown that strong health reports against risk alcohol use increased EEC-disc in the lab. With this study they wanted to collect neural data from different participants in the study grouped in a regular room, so they used a portable EEG with low density.
EEG is a non-invasive way to absorb electric waves generated by brain through electrodes that are applied directly to the scalp, or a cap with electrodes in it can be worn instead. The number of sensors used to absorb brain activity can vary from one to hundreds. A standard EEG uses 19 to 32 electrodes, an EEG with high density uses 64, 128 or 256, and an EEG with low density used between one and 32 electrodes. In this study, the EEG was a system of 24 electrodes. Data from Independent Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (FMRI) Scans were used to link their ISC findings to certain brain areas.
“The current study is an attempt to relocate neuroscience for health communication from basic and” can it work? ” – Internship for a more practical implementation – or ‘it works in practice’ – phase ‘, the researchers said. “For this we have used a series of strong and weak video health messages against risky alcohol consumption. These messages previously created different differences in both self-reported perceived message effectiveness and synchronized brain reactions, as laid down by FMRI and EEG-disc. “
Forty -one participants, 24 women and 17 men, with an average age of 23, were recruited for the study. Half participated in a group group session, where six participants at the same time viewed video health messages while they were in a semicircle in a room. The other half has viewed the videos one person at the same time in the same room. Laptops received the wirelessly sent EEG signal.
For each video, the participants assessed the observed effectiveness, argument strength and the amount of threatening or shocking content. To measure the change in alcohol-related risk perceptions and behavior, self-reporting data on alcohol consumption was collected prior to treatment, immediately after the video session and with a follow-up of four weeks.
Brain synchronization: people who watch the same film
The findings of the study showed various things important. Firstly, a high degree of correlation between ISC data was collected in the previous study (Laboratory Institution, 256-Electrode EEG with high density) and data collected by the low density EEG in the current one. Secondly, the ISC data replicated the findings of the earlier study, namely that strong health reports were considered more effective because they improved the correlation between topics. Thirdly, the investigation showed that it is feasible to assess neural data in a group environment. Finally, even with the help of portable EEG with low density, the areas of the brain were influenced by strong messages, simply linked to personal relevance, the outer expression of feelings and emotion (affect) and the same thing as in the previous work. One thing differed between the previous study and this: in these there were no significant changes in the perception and the behavior of alcohol risks.
“This shows that an important signal is received, one that goes beyond just seeing and hearing,” said the protagonist of the study and the co-racking author, Martin Imhof, of the Psychology department of the University of Konstanz. “We assume that what we observe here is the audience that deals with the message of the videos.”
Although the findings indicate that portable EEG could transform focus groups in one day, there is still a lot of work to do. Although cheaper than the lab-based, high density units, EEG with low density is still relatively endurance and complex. Once the set -up is made easier and cheaper, it can make the health campaigns – or any marketing campaign, when you think about it, make it more effective.
“That is why we have to build on our proof-of-concept studies and consider how we can make these methods useful for organizations or health care agencies when developing their campaigns, even without our technical means,” said Schupp.
The study was published in the magazine Social cognitive and affective neuroscience.
Source: University of Konstanz
