Brain Sensor for Market Research
A startup claims to read people's minds while they view ads.
Dec. 7, 2007 — -- Market researchers have long sought people's assessments of not-yet-released advertisements and products. But when people recall how they felt during a commercial, for instance, they often can't accurately describe what their reactions were at each moment in the 30-second spot. Now a San Francisco startup called Emsense claims that it has the tools needed to monitor a person's true reactions during an entire commercial or video game.
The company has developed a sensor-laden headset that tracks brain activity using a single electroencephalography sensor (EEG) at the forehead, and other sensors that monitor breathing rate, head motion, heart rate, blink rate, and skin temperature--all of which can be indicators of whether a person is engaged or excited. In addition, says Hans Lee, chief technology officer at Emsense, his team has built proprietary algorithms that find meaning from the data collected by the sensors. Founded in 2004, the company was originally developed to build an EEG-based video-game controller. (See "Connecting Your Brain to the Game.") Recently, though, the team found that using its technology for market research is more lucrative. And, as the political season ramps up, the company is testing its system internally on campaign ads.
"Our technology allows us to collect moment-by-moment metrics while avoiding the cognitive bias that can interfere with self-reporting and focus groups," says Lee. He explains that Emsense spent about four years collecting data on how viewers reacted to specific events in commercials and games, such as an intense battle scene, or a joke or a sales pitch in an ad. The company used this data to build mathematical models describing how physiological signals change in response to specific events. The technology, he claims, can let a game maker know the point at which people get sucked into a game and the point at which they lose interest. An advertiser can learn if its sales pitch comes at a time when commercial watchers have a positive or a negative feeling about the ad, Lee says.
