Neuromarketing as a Tool for Inferring Consumption Preferences in Functional Foods

Abstract

Specific attributes of products have been studied about consumer characteristics and how these factors directly impact the food production chain. Due to the barriers to penetration in a market segment, the knowledge of consumer preferences is important to enable adaptation of effective commercial strategies. Utilizing neuromarketing, electroencephalograms (EEGs), and principal component analysis (PCA), this study investigates the cognitive responses of 20 to 29-year-olds to samples of functional foods and correlates this information with purchase decisions. Brain responses were monitored using an EEG while participants tasted eight functional foods. Analysis demonstrated that important factors in deciding whether to buy or not included, after PCA processing, low beta and low gamma frequencies as well as attention and meditation percentages. The results showed that 0.96 of consumers were accurately identified as favoring a specific food and flavors, were accurately classified as bitter, sour, sweet, or salty with over 0.91 accuracy. These findings indicate that the key to effective strategies in the marketing of functional foods lies in aligning the sensory, emotional and brain attributes with consumer expectations.