Reporter’s Notebook: Tapping the "Nonconscious" Mind for Market Research (VIDEO)

At last Wednesday's I met Sheida Neman who’s a Neurophysiologist, which is a "fancy name for a person who collects EEG data from subjects," Neman says.

Neman works for NeuroFocus on 5th Street in Berkeley. It’s a Nielson research company that examines people’s brains to see if they’re being activated when they look print ads, TV ads, or engage with the products themselves.

NeuroFocus recruits the subjects, and pays them 75 dollars a pop.

The focus of their study is the "nonconscious mind," meaning the waking mind you're not aware of.

EEG stands for An electroencephalogram and it's a test that "measures and records the electrical activity of your brain," according to WebMD.

Though folks may object to what NeuroFocus does, is it really much different than other advertising research? And that’s not a rhetorical question – maybe it is?

If I could learn the results of the test (which you can't), like what ads my brain responded to, then I'd take get hooked up and try it.

Here’s a Q & A with Neman.

Tanya Miller: How exactly do you look at the people’s brains?

Sheida Neman: They get hooked up to an EEG system. It’s a way to get the electrical signals from their cortex.

TM: Then what do they do?

SN: They look at different marketing materials, and we see how their brains react to the material. We find that shopping decisions are not rational. That a shopper’s mind is an emotional mind.

We don’t administer surveys, or focus groups – which is a very calculative way of asking consumers what they think and what they like. Our research methods tap into the unconscious brain and the emotional brain.

TM: Is it physically harmful?

SN: Absolutely not.

TM: Can subjects see their data?

SN: Unfortunately no.

TM: What would you like to see EEG applied to in the future?

SN: I’d love to see it applied to teaching and education. You could find out if the students are engaged, if they’re paying attention, and if their memory centers are being used. With what they learn, they could create curriculum around that.