Wine tasting: a neurophysiological measure of taste and olfaction interaction in the experience

In the last years have been provided evidences of sensory–sensory connectivity and influences of one modality over primary sensory cortex of another, a phenomena called crossmodality. Typically, for the wine tasting, sommeliers in addition to the use of the gustation, by the introduction of the wine into the mouth, employ the stimulation of the olfactory system both through a direct olfactory stimulation (by the nose) and a retro-nasal pathway (inhaling air while swirling the wine around in the mouth). Aim of the present study was to investigate the reaction to the wine gustation with and without the direct olfactory contribution, through an electroencephalographic index of approach or withdrawal (AW) motivation, and an autonomic index (Emotional Index – EI), deriving from the matching of heart rate and galvanic skin response activity and considered an indicator of emotional involvement. Results showed a statistically significant increase of the EI values in correspondence of wine tasting with the olfactory component (p<0.01) in comparison to the tasting without the direct olfactory contribution, and a trend of greater approach attitude was reported for the same condition. Data suggest an interaction of the two sensory modalities influencing the emotional and the cognitive aspects of wine tasting experience in a non-expert sampl

Using neuro-IS/ consumer neuroscience tools to study healthy food choices: a review

Dietary choices are one of the main drivers of preventable health issues such as obesity or diabetes. Food choice is a complex behavior that is hard to measure with traditional, paper, and pencil-based methods. Neuro-Information Systems (NeuroIS) research is well suited to examine neurophysiological and psychophysiological processes behind complex food choices. This paper aims to scrutinize the feasibility of applying NeuroIS tools in healthy food research. We argue that the most important food choices are made in extra-laboratory conditions–mostly grocery stores. Thus, mobile EEG and eye-tracking seem to be the most promising research tools in this context. Surprisingly, there are only a few EEG and eye-tracking studies on healthy food choices held in extra-laboratory conditions. We discuss this phenomenon and propose future research directions to fit this gap in the literature.publishedVersio

Neurophysiological Responses to Different Product Experiences

It is well known that the evaluation of a product from the shelf considers the simultaneous cerebral and emotional evaluation of the different qualities of the product such as its colour, the eventual images shown, and the envelope’s texture (hereafter all included in the term “product experience”). However, the measurement of cerebral and emotional reactions during the interaction with food products has not been investigated in depth in specialized literature. (e aim of this paper was to investigate such reactions by the EEG and the autonomic activities, as elicited by the cross-sensory interaction (sight and touch) across several different products. In addition, we investigated whether (i) the brand (Major Brand or Private Label), (ii) the familiarity (Foreign or Local Brand), and (iii) the hedonic value of products (Comfort Food or Daily Food) influenced the reaction of a group of volunteers during their interaction with the products. Results showed statistically significantly higher tendency of cerebral approach (as indexed by EEG frontal alpha asymmetry) in response to comfort food during the visual exploration and the visual and tactile exploration phases. Furthermore, for the same index, a higher tendency of approach has been found toward foreign food products in comparison with local food products during the visual and tactile exploration phase. Finally, the same comparison performed on a different index (EEG frontal theta) showed higher mental effort during the interaction with foreign products during the visual exploration and the visual and tactile exploration phases. Results from the present study could deepen the knowledge on the neurophysiological response to food products characterized by different nature in terms of hedonic value familiarity; moreover, they could have implications for food marketers and finally lead to further study on how people make food choices through the interactions with their commercial envelope

Forefront users\u2019 experience evaluation by employing together virtual reality and electroencephalography: A case study on cognitive effects of scents

Scents have the ability to affect peoples\u2019 mental states and task performance with to different extents. It has been widely demonstrated that the lemon scent, included in most all-purpose cleaners, elicits stimulation and activation, while the lavender scent elicits relaxation and sedative effects. The present study aimed at investigating and fostering a novel approach to evaluate users\u2019 experience with respect to scents\u2019 effects through the joint employment of Virtual Reality and users\u2019 neurophysiological monitoring, in particular Electroencephalography. In particular, this study, involving 42 participants, aimed to compare the effects of lemon and lavender scents on the deployment of cognitive resources during a daily life experience consisting in a train journey carried out in virtual reality. Our findings showed a significant higher request of cognitive resources during the processing of an informative message for subjects exposed to the lavender scent with respect to the lemon exposure. No differences were found between lemon and lavender conditions on the self\u2010reported items of pleasantness and involvement; as this study demonstrated, the employment of the lavender scent preserves the quality of the customer experience to the same extent as the more widely used lemon scent

Public policy, social marketing and neuromarketing: from addressing the consumer behaviour to addressing the social behaviour - a study on the assessment of Public Service Announcements’ efficacy by neuro-metric indexes and techniques

The overall aim of this thesis is to investigate to what extent marketing can be a useful science for the public policy in developing effective Public Service Announcements (PSAs). In particular, hereby a specific discipline will be taken in consideration: the one that merges marketing with neuroscience, that is the so-called ‘neuromarketing’, which - in order to assess the advertising efficacy - adopts biometric and neurometric indexes. The objective of this work is to gain insights into the above-mentioned fields (marketing, neuroscience and public policy) by: - reviewing previous studies, as well as topical literature; - exploring the latest case studies and best practises; - examining the traditional methods’ results for the assessment of the PSAs (i.e. polls, surveys, focus groups) in their evolutionary path (till arriving to birth of the the neurometric methods) Such kind of research has the purpose to identify the factors that are considered relevant to answer the ultimate research question: is it possible today, by using state-of-the-art neurometric indexes and techniques, to provide policymakers with precise guidelines for developing effective PSAs, so that marketing will be able to address no more just the consumer behaviour, but also the social behaviour? In fact, the goal of any advertising campaign is to convey a specific message and reach a specific audience: the consumers. But, when talking about PSAs, many things changes: the KPIs for the assessment of their efficacy are no longer the commercial ones (GRP, reach etc.), but rather the gain obtained in public health after the airing of the campaign. Consequently, the specific message will be a different ‘call-to-action’: no more an invite to purchase, but rather to change a (wrong) social behaviour or adopt a (right) civil conscience. Given these premises, it is possible that marketing could be invested with a precise responsibility in terms of lives saved and public health. The practical and managerial implications of the research are the following: EU policymakers and local governments will have the opportunity to dispose of scientific data and information about the society that might be transformed in guidelines for producing effective PSAs based on the inner audience’s insights. The originality of this research resides in having framed the new neuromarketing protocols in the traditional Consumer Behaviour theory, combining thus future and past of the marketing research