Cognitive Science and Neuromarketing: Academic Research, Emerging Technologies and Professional Challenges

To analyze the efficiency of the messages produced by advertisers is the first step for establishing whether or not they are reaching the communication objectives which they have set out. Each person, on a daily basis, is met with thousands of persuasive messages and, for decades, a wide variety of measuring techniques have been used, the main limitation of which is their dependence on the will and ability of consumers to describe their level of attention, emotions, preferences and future buying behaviour. The end of the 20th century witnessed the birth of a paradigm which provided new methods for going more in-depth and furthering knowledge of persuasion mechanisms, particularly those related to the emotional aspects of the story, and how they affect our cognitive changes. This paradigm, applied to the field of marketing, implies an adaptation of neuroscience techniques to those of marketing communication, leading to neuromarketing. The aim of this piece of work is to study this discipline in greater depth - a discipline which, despite coming into existence barely two decades ago, already boasts a extensive scientific corpus, founded on empirical research studies.