EEG (Electroencephalography)

On occasion, our clients require a deep understanding of real time, real world brain activity as it relates to in-store test products, packaging, signage, or other types of visual design elements. In such cases, we deploy EEG, or electroencephalography, technologies that are specifically designed to measure patterns of electrical activity from neurons within the brain's cortex when the wearer of the device is exposed to specific test elements.

The patterns of electrical activity are then interpreted by a team of experts, allowing for an understanding of not only what parts of the brain are active during exposure to a test element, but also what types of emotional responses and level of engagement are elicited by those test elements.

The ambulatory EEG methodology can be deployed within true in-store contexts, eliminating the need to collect such data in clean rooms, virtual labs or other mock environments. The resulting data has the highest degree of external validity as it captures responses from consumers in actual retail contexts.

We often suggest pairing EEG methodologies with other methodological tools in our toolbox, including observational and qualitative, self-report, tools. In pairing these tools, we are able to generate a holistic picture of human response to the test element, from attitude to behavior to brain.