rTMS and individual trait effects on decision-making: study about advertising and consumer preference in neuromarketing

This neuromarketing research aimed at detecting changes in brain activity in response to commercial stimuli and goods to understand the impact of neurophysiological measures on marketing efficacy. The study explored the effects of subjective evaluation and personality attitudes (BIS/BAS: Behavioural Inhibition and Activation System) on brain oscillations, in response to some consumer goods relative to different commercial brands. We adopted a combined rTMS (repeated Transcranial Magnet Stimulation; low-frequency 1 Hz on left and right DLPFC) and electroencephalography (EEG) to determine the consumers’ (N =24) response during the vision of five commercials. Two control conditions were included in the experimental design to control both the simple inhibition effect (SHAM condition with absence of TMS stimulation) and the localization effect (brain frontal areas, F3 and F4 stimulation). After the stimulation subjects evaluated goods and expressed their preferences by using semantic differential. The results showed higher left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) theta activity related to subjects with higher rewarding trait (BAS-Reward) during the vision of emotionally involving commercials(more preferred or rejected goods). Emotional and rewarding condition effects were adduced to explain the preference formation and the DLPFC activity.