Table 1.

Overview of neuromarketing tools in marketing research.

Neuromarketing tools	What is measured?	Business application	Advantages	Limitations
Metabolic activity in the brain
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)	Human memory encoding, sensory perception, craving, trust and brand engagement, loyalty, preference, and recall	It is used to test products, advertising campaigns, packaging, designs, and prices; to predict customers' choices or identify their needs; to reposition a brand; and to test sensory characteristics and a celebrity endorsement.	High spatial resolution, ability to localize neural processing during consumer choices and consumption experience, valid measure for cognitive and affective responses, and ability to detect changes in chemical composition or changes in the flow fluids in the brain	Low temporal resolution, expensive, immobility of participants during the experiments, nonscalable, and ethical barriers
Positron emission tomography (PET)	Sensory perception and valence of emotions	It is used to test new products, advertisements, and packaging designs.	High spatial resolution, valid measure for cognitive and affective responses, and ability to detect changes in chemical composition or changes in the flow fluids in the brain	Poor temporal resolution, expensive, and invasiveness by the application of radioactive contrast
Electrical activity in the brain
Magnetoencephalography (MEG)	Perception, attention, and memory	It is used to test new products, advertisements, packaging design, and sensory studies and identify needs.	Has good temporal resolution and spatial resolution better than that of EEG	Need for a room free from the earth's magnetic field, expensive, and ethical barriers
Electroencephalography (EEG)	Attention, engagement, excitement, emotional valence, cognition, memory encoding, recognition, approach withdrawal, and mental workload	It is used to test advertisements, movie trailers, website design and usability, app and social media, in-store experiences, print and image design, new product, packaging design, pricing, sensory studies, outdoor advertisements, political debate, and other marketing stimuli.	High temporal resolution, relative low equipment costs, noninvasiveness, valid measure for cognitive information processing, and portability	Low spatial resolution, nonscalable, and susceptibility of the results to the influence of the moving artifacts
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)	Attention, cognition, and changes in behaviour	It is used to test new products, advertisements, packaging design, and other marketing stimuli.	Portability and possibility of studying specific brain areas	Expensive and ethical barriers manipulating brain activity
Steady-state topography (SST)	Memory encoding, engagement, emotional engagement, attention, and processing visual and olfactory input	It is used to test advertisements, movie trailers, prints and images, and brand communication.	High temporal resolution and tolerance for high levels of noise or interferences	Low spatial resolution
No brain activity
Eye tracker	Visual search, fixation position, eye movement patterns, spatial resolution, excitement, attention, and pupil dilation	It is used to test websites and usability, app and social media, in-store reactions, packaging designs, advertisements and video materials, print and image design, shelf layout, product placement, and aesthetic stimuli. It can test how a consumer filters information and determines the hierarchy of perceptions of the stimulus material.	Portability and noninvasiveness	Low flexibility since it does not work efficiently with glasses and contact lenses
Physiological response: HR and GSR	Emotional engagement, valence, arousal	It is used to test advertisements, movie trailers, website design, app and social media, product perception, aesthetic stimuli, and other marketing stimuli. It can measure reactions and consumer measures in both laboratory settings and the natural environment (i.e., store).	Portability and noninvasiveness	More informative if combined with other neurometric tools
Indirect measures: reaction time	Reaction time and underlying attitudes/evaluation	It is used to test consumer attitudes (for brands and categories), celebrity endorsement (choosing the right option), and salient packaging features/brand image.	Less biased	Responds depending on the subject collaboration
Facial coding	Unconscious reactions and emotions	It is used to test advertisements (e.g., dynamic and static) and movie trailers.	Real-time data and noninvasiveness	Subjectivity