Review

The study by Telpaz, Webb and Levy (2015) looks at whether electroencephalography (EEG) can be used to predict consumer behavior. The researchers conducted an experiment in which the EEG was used to measure brain activity while consumers looked at different consumer products. The EEG, when placed at a close enough distance, and when preference for one product over another was strong (resulting in different brain activity), the EEG reading was an effective means of predicting consumer purchasing choices.

The relevance of the study is that it provides retailers a cheap but effective way to determine consumer behavior so long as the right conditions are met. In order for EEG to be an effective predictor of purchasing actions, the ordinal and cardinal distance has to be substantial. If the EEG activity is not significantly different from one product to another the predictive value of this method declines. The meaningful finding of the study was that “a midfrontal electrode displays an increase in the N200 component and a weaker theta band power that correlates with a more preferred product” according to the authors (Telpaz et al., 2015, p. 511). In short, this means that the EEG can pick up signals in the brain that correlated with preference when the consumers selected the product they liked the most during the experiment.

The limitations of this study were that it did not factor in other purchasing factors but rather only the preference that a consumer might have for a certain product. While this information could be quite useful to retailers, the study lacks data on how purchasing factors may impact consumer behavior. Nonetheless the study itself is quite compelling in terms of how it shows consumer brain activity differing as consumers evaluate one product after another.

References

Telpaz, A., Webb, R., & Levy, D. J. (2015). Using EEG to predict consumers’ future choices. Journal of Marketing Research, 52(4), 511-529.