World's Leading Neuromarketing Research Firm Details Sixty-Seven 'Best Practices'; Key Guidelines For Successfully Communicating To Viewers, Based Upon Brainwaves
BERKELEY, Calif., April 17 /PRNewswire/ -- They number in the billions now: the sheer amount of television, computer, PDA, MP3, smart phone and the multitude of other display devices that increasingly populate -- some would say dominate -- our lives.
But it's what crosses them that counts -- and until now, knowledge of how best to communicate on these ubiquitous screens has largely been a function of guesswork -- at best.
Now NeuroFocus, Inc., the world's leading firm in the rapidly-emerging field of neuromarketing, has the answers. According to the company's CEO, and its chief science advisor who oversaw the research, the findings are clear and indisputable, because they are based upon measuring consumers' actual brainwave responses and eye motion during testing.
"The human brain is the most amazing processor of information that exists, and the most challenging to understand in terms of how it treats information streaming into the visual cortex," said Dr. A. K. Pradeep, NeuroFocus's founder and chief executive officer. "But now, thanks to the advances that have been made in neuroscience, we have gained new insights into how people perceive and process images. That new knowledge enables us to spell out, in detail, exactly what are the most efficient and effective ways to communicate on a screen. Conversely, now we also know specifically what doesn't work well, or is even counterproductive."
NeuroFocus has distilled and compiled its findings into 67 key points, or "best practices", designed to serve as a roadmap for ensuring that visual communications on a screen match what the brain desires to see the most, and what it responds to the best.
Dr. Robert T. Knight, Director of the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute at the University of California, Berkeley and one of the world's most acclaimed experts in the field, who serves as chief science advisor to NeuroFocus, explained the importance of this knowledge from a scientific perspective.
"Advances in the scientific ability to record, measure and interpret how the brain processes, selects and chooses to respond to the myriad of information provided by the environment has grown exponentially in the last decade," Dr. Knight said. "This expanding corpus of knowledge has led to breakthroughs in our ability to understand how the brain implements human behavior with critical implications for the diagnosis and treatment of a host of disabling neurological conditions. This same technology can be used in the field of neuromarketing to provide scientifically based insight into attention, emotion, and memory, which form the essential elements of all human decision making."
NeuroFocus's findings are broken out into eleven categories, each related to various individual forms of imagery and information that appear on screens:
-- Positioning of imagery
-- Positioning of semantics and quantitative information
-- Positioning of logos and symbols
-- Use of pop-out paradigms
-- Use and positioning of animation
-- Use of occlusion
-- Stroop effects
-- Use of motion, novelty, error and ambiguity
-- Puzzle resolution
-- Locus of eye movements on the screen
-- Partitioning of screens
"In very practical terms, what this new research provides to companies and individuals who create messages for display on any type of screens are expert guidelines. For example: if you are showing your company's logo, it's critical to know exactly where on the screen is the best place to put it. But we go beyond that, to make specific recommendations on how to make the presentation of your logo even more effective," Dr. Pradeep said.
"The human brain has clear preferences for what it likes and responds to best in the way of visual imagery, and those are universal. Learning what those preferences are means that your messages will get the mind's best attention; will best engage the viewer's emotions; and will be remembered the best. Those three criteria are the most important, if you want your messages to be the most impactful and effective."
Staffed with Ph.D.'s in neuroscience, as well as neurophysiologists and psychometric experts, the company employs the key discipline of human electrophysiology to address the precise timing of brain activity underlying human behavior. Using high density arrays of EEG (electroencephalography) sensors, NeuroFocus monitors and captures test subjects' brainwave activity 2,000 times per second.
This powerful technology is complemented by additional measurement techniques:
-- Pixel-level eye movement tracking technology
-- An innovative method to capture the facial emotional state
-- GSR (galvanic skin response)
The EEG, eye tracking, facial emotional measure and GSR data streams are captured simultaneously, processed and analyzed. Brainwave and biophysical reactions are evaluated to determine which individual visual and aural elements contribute to attention, emotional engagement, and memory retention. Additional metrics derived from this data are persuasion, awareness, and novelty. Implications and concrete recommendations are drawn from this cumulative data, all related to improving and refining the content material or message for maximum impact, likeability, and recall.
About NeuroFocus
NeuroFocus Inc. (http://www.neurofocus.com/) is the market leader in bringing neuroscience to the world of advertising, marketing, product development and packaging, and entertainment. The company leverages Doctorate- level academic expertise in neuroscience and marketing from Berkeley, MIT, Harvard, and the Hebrew University combined with C-suite level business management and consulting experience.
NeuroFocus clients include Fortune 100 companies across the consumer package goods, food and beverage, financial services, automotive, and retail sectors. Entertainment category clients include major companies in the broadcast and cable television and motion picture industries. The Nielsen Company is a strategic investor in NeuroFocus.
NeuroFocus, Inc.
