Can Researchers Read Your Mind?
Armed with a headset that can sense breathing patterns, heart rate, blink rate, temperature and motion, San Fransisco based Emsense says it has your thoughts down to a science.
Their technology centers around an electroencephalography sensor (EEG) on the forehead and an algorithm that has been built upon three years of market research. Metrics are analyzed in real-time while participants watch ads and play video games.
One of the biggest problems with market research is being able to track the visceral responses that consumers will have during an ad campaign. When asked to rehash their experience of any sort of stimuli they often frame it differently from how they emotionally reacted. As Emsense puts it, “consumers do not make decisions in a purely rational, linear fashion. Emotion has a huge and predominant impact. [Our technology] provides a complete second by second mapping of viewer response.”
But if consumers aren’t logical what suggests that a map of responses will yield to a purchase? Sure, you can see the exact moment when a participant is responding positively. Yet is it possible to gather enough data and change the ad to invoke a sale?
Skeptics counter that this approach may not be much better than self-reporting. Even with all those metrics and a great algorithm it may just be another tool to use during the formulation of a campaign. They also complain that this type of technology has not been properly researched and the data needs to be peer-reviewed in journals before it’s taken seriously.
While the naysayers gather, Emsense and its army of MIT graduates soldier on. They have twenty two patents to date and repeat customers. By the time peer-reviewed research is available for scrutiny they may already be deep into profits, but only time will tell.
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nicusor said
am December 11 2007 @ 12:44 am
Ok, so maybe they have the technology… but how they intend to use it?
I mean, they will chase people with that SF headset to gather info?!?
I know they already gathered data, but people tend to response differently in real life rather than when they know they are used for researching…
Just my opinion…
Nick
Jerad Kaliher said
am December 11 2007 @ 10:17 am
@nicusor, as of now the headset is being used in paid and voluntary trials. But I wouldn’t put it past researchers to try to develop it into a hat to make the participants less aware that they are being monitored.
And yes, I agree with you. People do tend to respond very differently when they know they are being watched. The same goes for self-reporting research as well though, so nothing is really all that different there. The difference is whether or not being able to monitor their physiological responses will gain further insight.
Wayne Smallman said
am December 11 2007 @ 2:26 pm
As extreme marketing tactics go, this is out there with the best of ‘em.
While this kind of research will offer an insight into the thinking of the study group, it’s the “quality” of the study group which will ultimately decide the quality of the data they gather…
Jerad Kaliher said
am December 12 2007 @ 10:40 pm
@Wayne Smallman, I agree whole-heartedly that this is a bit on the extreme side. The quality of focus groups and selection of those participants is important but the way the experiment is conducted is equally important.
This may offer a way for researchers to compile further data. But I have my doubts about it being used independently until the data comes in.