Chapter-5: Neurocognitive approach to anthropomorphic product appearance evaluation
3. Neurocognitive techniques and its application in product design related disciplines
As cognitive/ neuroergonomics, neuromarketing and neuroeconomics are related disciplines, many techniques applied for the product or the brand evaluation are common. These are electroencephalography (EEG), magnetoencephalography (MEG), positron emission tomography (PET), functional magnetic resonance imaging (f-MRI), facial electromyography (Facial EMG), Eye-tracking , transcortical magnetic stimulation (TMS) technique, and galvanic skin response (GSR). Commonly used neurocognitive techniques for product or brand evaluation are electroencephalography (EEG), magnetoencephalography (MEG), functional magnetic resonance imaging (f-MRI), Eye-tracking and galvanic skin response (GSR). Applications of different neurocognitive techniques in the fields of product and/ brand evaluation are presented in Table 5.1. Although these studies identified neuropsychophysiological basis of either product decision or brand value using different techniques, there are hardly few studies which applied
facial EMG and Eye-tracking together for the same purpose. In addition, facial EMG and Eye-tracking techniques were less explored in the determination of product choice.
Table 5.1 Applications of neurocognitive techniques in different fields related to design and social sciences.
Author (s) Purpose
Neurocognitive techniques
EEG MEG PET f-MRI Facial EMG
Eye-
tracking TMS GSR Kenning, &
Linzmajer (2011)
Price policy
Product policy
Communication policy
Distribution policy
Brand research
Kenning, Plassman, &
Stanford (2007)
Brand choice
Product choice
Advertisement
Garcia, &
Saad (2008) Brand choice
Product choice
Price distinctions
Dapkevicius,
& Melnikas (2009)
Brand building
Product quality
Product choice
price distinctions
Fugate 2008) Brand personality
Service products
Emotional satisfaction
Product decision
Wilson, Gaines, &
Hill (2008)
Decision making
Persuasion
Javor et al.
(2013) Trustworthiness evaluation
Prediction of the other person‟s future action
Calculation of future reward
Processing of cognitive conflict
Neto, Filipe,
& Ramalheiro (2011)
Product colour
Product price
Product choice
Branding
Butler (2008) Brand positioning
Advertising
Pricing
Madan (2010) Brand familiarity
Product preference
Advertisement
Morin (2011) Advertisement
Brand choice
Product choice
Eser , Isin &
Tolon (2011) Advertisement
Brand choice
Product choice
Lee, Butler &
Senior (2010) Advertisement
Brand choice
Product choice
Vecchiato et
al. (2010) Advertisement
Murphy, Illes,
& Reiner (2008)
Brand preference
Product effectiveness
Product validity
Lee, Broderick, &
Chamberlain (2007)
Smell of product
Colour of product
Brand trust
Advertisement
Farah (2005) Consumers‟ desire for product
Brand preference
Hubert (2010) Advertisement
Product policy
Brand impact
Maa et al.
(2008) Brand/ product
extension
Laparra- Herna´ndez et al. (2009)
Emotion
Product experience
Product perception
Product evaluation
Miesler, Leder, &
Herrmann (2011)
Affect/ Emotion
Automobile design
Product perception
Product evaluation
van der
Zwaag et al.
(2013)
Emotion
Mood
Driving experience
Windhager et
al. (2008) Emotion
Automobile design
Product perception
Product evaluation
Windhager et
al. (2010) Emotion
Product perception
Product evaluation
van den
Broek &
Westerink (2009)
Emotion
Product experience
Product perception
Product evaluation
Clement
(2007) Brand Choice
Packaging design
Buying decision
N o t e
: In this table, ‘Cross’ mark designates the technique which is not mentioned in the study; whereas, the ‘Tick’ mark in the table means the opposite fact.
Table 5.2 Summary of the main brain areas of interest to consumer neuroscience.
Source: This figure is adapted from: Solnais et al. (2013)
These neurocognitive techniques are so sensitive that if we are able to use these techniques (one or more than one) for product evaluation it gives us insights about neuropsychophysiological basis of buying behaviour and product choice (Butler, 2008; Damasio, 1996; Dapkevicius and Melnikas, 2009). Please see various purposes of studies which employed these neurocognitive techniques in
Brain area Key functions of interest
Amygdala Processing of emotions, particularly negative emotions; aversive responses to inequity
Modulator of the memory system
Anterior cingulate Integration of emotional and motivational information in the decision-making process
Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC)
Internal conflict between alternative options
Cognitive control, including over impulses towards social norm compliance Hippocampus Formation and consolidation of memory (long-term memory)
Acquisition and recall of declarative memory
Insula Perception and expectation of risks (e.g. financial and social risks)
Anger and disgust against unfair economic situations Occipital lobe Processing of visual stimuli
Orbitofrontal cortex (OFC)
Evaluation of the capacity of outcomes to satisfy one‟s needs
Experience and anticipation of the emotion of regret when outcomes differ from expectations
Striatum Evaluation of actual rewards with respect to expectations
Ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC)
Representation of the threat of punishment for non-compliance with social norms
Ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC)
Processing of different alternatives and their perceived value Pieters, &
Warlop (1999)
Brand choice
Decision making
Chowdhury et
al. (2012) Brand recognition
Orthography
Singh, & Das
(2010) Automobile design
Visual attention
Chowdhury et
al. (2013) Website design
Product choice
Product personality
Table 5.1. After many studies which employed these techniques, now, researchers have identified the brain areas responsible for different buying behaviours.
Identified functions of different brain areas were presented in Table 5.2.
Figure 5.3 Percentage of neurocognitive technique usage.
In present thesis, total 30 articles related to the application of neurocognitive techniques in brand/product design evaluation were reviewed.
Among these studied literature, around 50.0% of the studies mentioned about EEG, 26.7% mentioned about MEG, 13.3% mentioned about PET, 63.3%
mentioned about f-MRI, 30.0% mentioned about eye-tracking, 13.3% mentioned about TMS and 16.7% studies mentioned about GSR. Therefore, it was profound that maximum studies applied f-MRI for product/brand evaluation whereas, comparatively very few studies were reported about eye-tracking and facial EMG based product evaluation (Figure 5.3). Moreover, f-MRI is a much costlier technique than the eye-tracking and facial EMG. Literature review from journals related to cognitive and neuroergonomics, neuromarketing and design, it become clear that few neurocognitive techniques are common across these three disciplines. These techniques are eye-tracking, facial EMG and GSR (Figure 5.4).
Therefore, these techniques may be more fruitful for the present thesis work. As
the ergonomics laboratory of the Department of Design, IIT- Guwahati has BIOPAC MP-100 EMG system and SMI-HED-Eye-tracking system; hence, it was feasible to evaluate anthropomorphic product appearances only through two techniques facial EMG and eye-tracking, for the present thesis work.
Figure 5.4 Similar psychophysiological techniques have been used in different related field for product evaluation.
4. Study 1: Facial EMG based evaluation of product appearance