Opening the “Black Box” in the Consumer's Mind: Understanding What is Neuromarketing

Neuromarketing(NM) and its predecessor, neuroeconomy, use clinical information about brain functions and mechanisms to help explain what happens in the “black box”, predominant in many explanations about consumer behavior. This paper has the objective of showing the most recent discussions about the concepts and applications of NM techniques, by means of a literature review. It was found that there is still much controversy about the scope of what should be considered NM or even if it is a sub-area of marketing or a sub-field of neuroscience or neuroeconomics. Furthermore, the potential ethical problems of this research have still been little discussed. Although some research has addressed this issue, very little was done to control this line of research to avoid abuse and invasion of privacy by companies or specialized consultancies.


Introduction
With the advent of cognitive neuroscience in the 1980s, techniques and devices have been developed to measure thoughts and feelings, at least indirectly (Walter, Abler, Ciaramidaro, & Erk, 2005). In traditional neuroscience studies, a relationship has been observed between pleasant and unpleasant emotional responses and the increase in neural activity of the medial, thalamus and hypothalamus pre-frontal cortex.Furthermore, unpleasant emotions are associated with neural activity in the occipital-temporal cortex, parahippocampalgyrus and amygdala (Lane et al., 1997). Facial expressions of dislike or anger have been associated with an increase in neural activity in the left inferior frontal gyrus and the anterior insular cortex (Phillips et al., 1997). A meta-analysis study on the activation of emotions using PET and fMRI concluded that no brain region is activated by all the emotions (Phan, Wager, Taylor, & Liberzon, 2002).  considered that the skills of researchers in directly observing brain activity has recently grown exponentially through the use of functional neuroimaging methods like magnetoencephalograms (MEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). For example, they cite the fact that, on average, six to seven papers were published per day in 2007, using only the fMRI technique.Additionally, older techniques like the electroencephalogram (EEG), eye tracking and electrodermal response (EDR) remain popular, and they have received a renewed interest together with new methodologies.
Advances in neuroscientific methods have provided researchers with in-depth information on previously little understood psychological issues and they have also provided new interpretations for enrooted theories and concepts . The neuroscience methodologies, especially non-invasive neuroimaging technology, now enable researchers to probe brain activity at the basic neural level of operation (Shiv et al. 2005).
It should be underscored that recently some studies in neuroscience and psychophysiology have dealt with relevant organizational problems, especially in decision making and information processing . Such studies have received many names, such as Neuroeconomy (Braeutigam, 2005) or Neuromarketing (NM) (Lee, Broderick, & Chamberlain, 2007). To Hubert and Kenning (2008), in fact Neuroeconomics is an area of research that evolved from the combination of both neurology and economics, andspecifically examines the neural correlates of decision-making. Neuroeconomics and Neuromarketing are not the same, according to Hubert and Kenning (2008), to whom Neuromarketingis a sub-area of Neuroeconomics that addresses relevant marketing problems withmethods and insights from brain research (Fugate, 2007). The term "consumer neuroscience" also differs from Neuromarketing (Hubert & Kenning, 2008): the former concerns the scientific proceeding of this researchapproach, and the latter designatesthe application of the findings from consumer neuroscience within the scope of managerial practice. Walter et al. (2005) indicate that cognitive neuroscience deconstructs the picture of perfectly rationalhumans, which are deliberating their choices by weightingcosts and benefits until a deliberative equilibrium is reached. Hubert and Kenning (2008) also mention that theconsideration of all aspects thatdetermine decision-making can help consumerresearchers and social scientists to more fullyunderstand human behavior, been this one of the advantages of using NM techniques. Consumer choice-making has proved to be a popular subjectfor neuroimaging research . However,  explain that research in marketing is considerably broader than simplyexploring end consumers and their decision making though, such as trust, pricing and negotiation.
According to Fugate (2007), NM use clinical information about brain functions and mechanisms to help explain what happens in the "black box", predominant in many explanations about consumer behavior. Until now, most explanations about market behavior were based on inferences. If NM professionals can use the science to locate the consumers' "buttons", we will be closer to opening the consumer's mind's black box. Fugate (2008) indicates that this area of marketing research can have important implications for the future of the area, especially service marketing. This is not a new area of research, since equipment capable of performing neurological studies has been around for several decades. However, the application for marketing is relatively recent and the extrapolation of neural sciences for marketing has received the name "neuromarketing".
The idea subjacent to NM is that understanding the human brain will help marketing professionals develop better methods for selling products (Lindstrom, 2009). For example, it is possible to check whether people simply like the products or if they also want to have them.Furthermore, if people in general buy products they want to have, then it could also be possible to obtain information about the probability of people buying the products.Recent studies have shown that the information about the brand has considerable influence on brain activation. In this context, this paper has the objective of showing the most recent discussions about the concepts and applications of NM techniques, by means of a literature review, which is presented next.

Concepts Related to Neuromarketing
The objective of this section is to permit a brief understanding of neuroscience discussions and points related to NM, that is, brief knowledge of how the brain operates and how it is possible to observe and study it.As cited previously, the use of brain tracking techniques, fundamental to the areas of medicine and biology, have contributed significantly to non-medical areas, like marketing, for example.The use of some of these methods has been aimed at analyzing and understanding consumer behavior at the brain level.
The interaction between marketing and neuroscience, or better, NM, has permitted the formulation of some questions, such as, how does a brand, product, an ad or decision making affect our brain and, consequently, behavior.Neuromarketing has permitted, within the methodological limits inherent to those brain mapping techniques used, unveiling which brain areas are activated in response to certain stimuli tied to consumer experiences.However, Hubert and Kenning (2008) indicate that consumerneuroscience is still in its infancy and it constitutes acomplementing advancement for further investigationof specific decision-making behavior.
According to Lindstrom (2009), NM can contribute to expanding the knowledge of how our unconscious drives our behavior.For him, a greater understanding of apparently irrational behavior, involved at the moment of a choice, such as the purchase of a high-cost product, for example, would permit greater control over this behavior and greater perception of possible strategies used by advertisers, thus making it possible to defend against eventual tactics and tricks they use.Meanwhile, NM could be a fundamentally important tool for companies because as the subconscious needs and desires of the target public become known, production and introduction of increasingly more useful and significant products for the population could be expanded in the market.Although very interesting, this knowledge is still limited by our restricted understanding of the functional organization of the human brain. described the morphology of a typical neuron, which is comprised of dendritic ramifications, cell body and axon.Later, with the advent of electronic microscopy, the existence of electrical synapses was observed. These occur through cell membranes maintained in touch by gap junctions that enable the exchange of substances between cells, including ions (Guimarães, 1999).
The human being has approximately 10 11 to 10 12 neurons, and due to their morphological and biochemical characteristics and their interconnections, they play the role of control and integration of body activity, and they participate in the elaboration and modulation of mental activity (Guimarães, 1999). The central nervous system is also comprised of glia cells, which are bigger in number than the nerve cells, and with primordial functions for operation of the neural network, such as support for neurons and the transporting of nutrients and other substances between blood vessels and brain tissue (Vallejo, Tilley, Vogel, & Benjamin, 2010).
The transmission of information between nerve cells occurs through the propagation of electric stimuli, nervous impulses, which generate sources of electric currents, which in turn promote hemodynamic changes and alterations in the magnetic field.These cerebral structure properties permit using neuroimaging techniques, such as fMRI, MEG and EEG (Araújo, 2002).
The neuron membrane in a relaxed state is polarized due to an unequal distribution of ions between the intra and extracellular mediums and membrane permeability to these ions.In this condition, neuronal membrane hampers the entry of sodium (NA + ) and chlorine (Cl -) ions, while the opening of potassium channels facilitates the passage of potassium ions.Besides the selective opening of ionic channels, protein molecules called Sodium-Potassium Pumps act against the grain of existing concentration, pumping three Na + ions out for every two K + ions that enter, generating a difference in electrical potential between the intra (electrically negative) and extracellular (electrically positive) mediums (Guimarães, 1999).
When excitatory stimuli promote the depolarization of neuron membrane beyond a certain threshold, the cell triggers an nerve impulse of potential for action that consists of a rapid change in membrane voltage polarity, from negative to positive and back to negative, causing a repolarization.The inversion of electrical charges occurs because membrane depolarization promotes the opening of Na + channels with the consequent increase in the inflow of this ion, with the simultaneous outflow of K + .Thus, the potential for action propagates throughout the entire extension of the axon.The arrival of the potential for action at the pre-synaptic terminal, located at the extremity of the axon, promotes the opening of calcium (Ca ++ ) channels in the terminal.The increase in Ca ++ levels causes the fusion of synaptic vesicles located in the terminal (organelles that contain chemical mediators or neurotransmitters) with presynaptic membrane and the consequent release of the neurotransmitter in the synaptic cleft.Once released in the cleft, the neurotransmitter can act on specific chemical receivers located in the postsynaptic neuron, generating inhibitory or excitatory alterations in postsynaptic membrane.Inhibitory stimuli cause a hyperpolarization of the membrane impeding the formation of a new potential for action in the postsynaptic neuron.Thus, a nerve cell is able to receive information from thousands of neurons and transmit it to thousands of other nerve cells (Guimarães, 1999).
Interest concerning the location of brain functions, and the interconnections between areas, emerged mainly from studies conducted by French surgeon Paul Pierre Broca in 1861. He discovered the center for speech, located in the third circumvolution of the left frontal lobe, demonstrating that patients who are unable to speak had lesions in that region of the brain, known today as the Broca area. At the same time, German neurologist Carl Wernicke detected that lesions in a similar area of the temporal lobe, caused sensorial language deficit and that this area maintained intense communication with the Broca area, forming a complex system responsible for the understanding and expression of spoken language (Sabbatini, 2003;Thomson et al., 2008).
In 1937, neuroanatomist James Papez observed that superior cognitive processes, such as emotional experiences, would be processed and controlled not in a single brain structure, but rather a neural circuit that was given his name, and comprised of the hypothalamus the anterior thalamus nucleus, the cingulate gyrus and the hypofield (Papez, 1937).

Neuroscience Research Techniques
The objective of this section is not to exhaust the discussion of neuroscience research techniques, but rather permit a general perspective for professionals not from the medical area, especially marketing scholars.Many of these techniques will not be cited in this topic, but an attempt was made to identify the main ones that have direct or indirect importance for studies related to NM.The excess abbreviations and sub-techniques derived from equipment would distort the objectives of this paper.
SPECT (Single Photon Emission Computer Tomography) and PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scanner equipment permit a visualization of brain operations through the association of equipment with the injection of radioactive agents in a person.The main idea for mapping is for the injected substance to travel the entire body, including the brain and when a person uses another part of the brain, it will necessarily use more energy, in the form of glucose, and this injected substance interacts with glucose.In this case, it is as if the substance were a glucose marker, indicating the part of the activated brain (Araújo, 2002;Cabeza & Nyberg, 1997). These techniques represent methods we can consider invasive for studies about consumer behavior, as well as having very high costs (especially PET), which alone would make many studies in the area unfeasible.
Another technique currently used is fMRI (Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging).Popularly known as magnetic resonance, it is an improvement over conventional magnetic resonance (MRI), where the latter permits only images of the brain anatomy.Like SPECT and PET, fMRI is a hemodynamic technique, that is, it seeks to identify the activated areas of the brain using blood flow, although the measurement is different, through oxygenation (Cabeza & Nyberg, 1997).
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) uses intense magnetic fields to excite specific regions of the brain (Araújo, 2002).TMS is being used to identify consumer patterns and the specific role of some areas of the brain in these patterns.This is done through a "virtual lesion".This device permits "turning off" a specific brain region through magnetic fields, which enables identifying the real effect of the studied region on consumer behavior during the test .
Some techniques have an indirect relationship with brain study, but they the category as likely to be included in NM because they study physiological or cognitive effects and responses tied to the brain.Such is the case of Electrodermal Response (EDR), also known as electrodermalactivity (EDA) or Galvanic Response of Skin (GRS), which is a classical technique (Montagu & Coles, 1966) and has shown potential for NM studies.The technique consists of identifying emotions based on measuring electrical conductivity in the palms of the hands and the feet when they imperceptibly perspire.This technique permits analyzing existing emotions in decision making, relating them to aversion or pleasure (Gakhal & Senior, 2008). The Electrodermal Response permits capturing some types of emotions that questionnaires often do not capture.
Along this same line of physiological and/or cognitive response techniques, there is eye tracking. As explained by Perrachione and Perrachione (2008), this technique uses the measurement of cornea reflectiveness aimed at understanding the spatial attention given an object of an individual under study.This technique permits identifying the areas of the object or image that were given more attention and, consequently, that represented greater interest on the part of the individual.
Another technique is called electroencephalogram (EEG) involves the direct measurement of electrical fields generated in brain activities. For such, the equipment has a hair net with electrodes attached to the scalp (Araújo, 2002).Of all the equipment listed, the EEG is one of the most used due to the comparative lower cost and its characteristic of exceptional temporal resolution, which permits identifying practically instantaneous changes in brain activities, with minimal delay (Costa & Cabral, 2000). This characteristic makes it very interesting for use in image analysis, such as commercials.

Applications in Marketing
For Fugate (2008), the skill in using equipment for capturing images when the brain is performing functions related to consumption has garnered enthusiastic proponents as well as pessimistic detractors. The proponents indicate that such images can help marketing researchers understand the consumer's "black box", which tends to be used to explain the mystery of the purchase decision. However, Fugate (2007) explains that if knowledge about brain functions during decision making by the consumer simply reaffirm what is already known about the process through thousands of inferential studies, then NM will certainly be less controversial. Its power and contribution will be more confirmatory than explanatory.  also indicate that NM studies add a "layer of theory" on top of theactual cortical activity measure, and that it should not be forgotten thatthis layer of theory is essentially subjective and cannot www.ccsenet.org/ijbm International Journal of Business and Management Vol. 9, No. 9; directlyprove a posited relationship between marketing constructs. There is a number of different layers of theory that one could overlay onthe basic neural activity of the brain: the cognitive layer (internal mental processes that rely on these neural substrates, such as memoryand information processing), and the social layer (how social interactioncan provide an interactive influence in conjunction with cognitive orneurophysiological mechanisms or both) .
That been said, table 1 summarizes some of the important studies in NM.  The possibility of using functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) was tested to predict the relative popularity of a common consumer item: music. It used fMRI to measure brain responses of a relatively small group of teenagers while listening to songs by mainly unknown artists. As a measure of popularity, sales of these songs were combined for the next three years, scan and brain responses were then correlated with these "future" sales. The aim of the study was to identify activation of the frontal cortex in response to TV advertisements. We compared three consecutive creative processes of world famous advertisements from Sony Bravia ("Balls", "Paint" and "Play-Doh"). It was concluded that the frontal asymmetry measured may be a diagnostic tool for examining the potential of advertisements for creating trends related approaches.
It is believed that methodologies based on measuring brainwave activity very quickly significantly enrich the portfolio of marketing research and will help traders to go beyond simple verbal declarations of their consumers. At a time when the balance of power is quickly changing in favor of the consumer, gaining access to neural diagnostic tools has important implications. The use of these tools avoids the problem of strongly trusting verbal responses from researched subjects, because it is improbable for people to precisely articulate their subconscious motivations for the purchase (Fugate, 2007).
According to Wilson, Gaines and Hill (2008), new neuroimaging technologies could permit marketing researchers to better understand the role of emotions in decision making, to develop more effective methods for releasing these emotions, to build more trust and loyalty in relation to the brand, to better measure the intensity of consumer preferences and, in general, to be more persuasive.
An example of applying neuroscience techniques to marketing, according to Fugate (2008), is the study of service ads.Obvious applications refer to observation of the level of emotional involvement or power of attraction exercised in subjects exposed to the elements of the service ad.However, there are more specific applications, such as the understanding of images/characters that can be used in ads to generate associations with service tangibility (a means to provide specificity and meaning to intangible services).
Another application of NM is in product appeal tests in which researchers in general use consumer preferences, consciously generated, to determine which product designs have greater appeal in their target markets (Fugate, 2007). This application is important because, according to Friedman (2006), the most authentic responses (no bias) could be obtained.
However, for , despite their potential, neuroimaging applications in marketing have focused only on brands and consumer behavior.In particular, the EEG technique has been used to explore reactions to television ads in a number of ways.The authors believe research in marketing is much broader than merely exploring end users and their thoughts during decision making.
A theme with potential for applying neuroimaging techniques, according to , is trust, not only in brands and products, but also in organizational agreements (joint ventures, strategic alliances, commercial agreements), which depend on mutual trust between the parties. The social utility of trust is clear www.ccsenet.org/ijbm International Journal of Business and Management Vol. 9, No. 9; when considering companies that sell products with "fair trade" or "organic" appeals, which depend on consumer trust in these appeals for success.
Furthermore, another area for application is in pricing, crucial for the organizations' product positioning  want to make excellent decisions and truly have utility, in a broader sense.For Fugate (2008), NM can be used to help marketing researchers develop more effective price strategies.Neural research shows the reward for immediate economic gratification (generated by the limbic region, which governs emotion) prevails over the rationality of future rewards generated by the prefrontal cortex (region associated with reason and calculations) (Fugate, 2008).
Finally, since exchanges are a central concept in marketing, negotiations are also of critical importance and can be analyzed using neuroimaging techniques . For example, consumers are frequently in situations that require price negotiations or other benefits, especially for high-price items like cars and houses.
A brand can be considered a set of associations with a name in a person's brain (Franzen & Bouwman, 2001). According to this perspective, a brand is a set of information, meanings, experiences, emotions, images, intentions, etc., interconnected by neural bonds of various strengths (Walvis, 2008).
It is important to consider that, for Walvis (2008), in order to increase the probability of a brand being chosen, it is necessary to increase the probability of an associative network that represents the brand being activated and of a brand name entering our consciousness during the choice process.Therefore, marketing researchers should understand the neurological rules that determine what Walvis called the "probability of a brand's cortical representation".In order to increase this probability, the author suggests brands should have three characteristics:distinctive relevance, coherence and participation (involvement of the brand's environment).

Final Thoughts
The measurement of neurophysiological responses is the future of marketing research and should be a mandatory complement to traditional marketing research in the coming decades. The potential applications of current techniques already allow the scientific community studying marketing to make emphatic statements in this sense. One should take into account that each new technological development in the field of diagnostic medicine, each new discovery about the human brain and its effects on the body and each new understanding of the various interactions between different brain structures will irreversibly have a direct impact on new marketing studies through this new area of research called Neuromarketing. There is still much controversy about the scope of what should be considered NM or even if NM is a sub-area of marketing or a sub-field of neuroscience or neuroeconomics. It does not seem that it should be any of these options, but rather a new multidisciplinary area with peculiarities and specificities that can be very useful either by marketing researchers or neuroscientists who could better understand cognitive processes of everyday consumption experience of people, their vices, desires, interests and conflicts. Moreover, the potential ethical problems of this research have still been little discussed.
Although some research has addressed this issue, very little was done to control this line of research to avoid abuse and invasion of privacy by companies or specialized consultancies.