research paper on advertising agency

• Browse All Articles
• Newsletter Sign-Up

Advertising →

• 20 Jun 2023
• Cold Call Podcast

Elon Musk’s Twitter Takeover: Lessons in Strategic Change

In late October 2022, Elon Musk officially took Twitter private and became the company’s majority shareholder, finally ending a months-long acquisition saga. He appointed himself CEO and brought in his own team to clean house. Musk needed to take decisive steps to succeed against the major opposition to his leadership from both inside and outside the company. Twitter employees circulated an open letter protesting expected layoffs, advertising agencies advised their clients to pause spending on Twitter, and EU officials considered a broader Twitter ban. What short-term actions should Musk take to stabilize the situation, and how should he approach long-term strategy to turn around Twitter? Harvard Business School assistant professor Andy Wu and co-author Goran Calic, associate professor at McMaster University’s DeGroote School of Business, discuss Twitter as a microcosm for the future of media and information in their case, “Twitter Turnaround and Elon Musk.”

• 06 Jan 2021
• Working Paper Summaries

Aggregate Advertising Expenditure in the US Economy: What's Up? Is It Real?

We analyze total United States advertising spending from 1960 to 2018. In nominal terms, the elasticity of annual advertising outlays with respect to gross domestic product appears to have increased substantially beginning in the late 1990s, roughly coinciding with the dramatic growth of internet-based advertising.

• 15 Sep 2020

Time and the Value of Data

This paper studies the impact of time-dependency and data perishability on a dataset's effectiveness in creating value for a business, and shows the value of data in the search engine and advertisement businesses perishes quickly.

• 19 May 2020
• Research & Ideas

Why Privacy Protection Notices Turn Off Shoppers

It seems counterintuitive, but website privacy protection notices appear to discourage shoppers from buying, according to Leslie John. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 02 Mar 2020
• What Do You Think?

Are Candor, Humility, and Trust Making a Comeback?

SUMMING UP: Have core leadership values been declining in recent years? If so, how do we get them back? James Heskett's readers provide answers. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 06 Aug 2019

Super Bowl Ads Sell Products, but Do They Sell Brands?

Super Bowl advertising is increasingly about using storytelling to sell corporate brands rather than products. Shelle Santana discusses why stories win (or fumble) on game day. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 27 Jul 2019

Does Facebook's Business Model Threaten Our Elections?

America's 2016 presidential election was the target of voter manipulation via social media, particularly on Facebook. George Riedel thinks history is about to repeat itself. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 10 Oct 2018

The Legacy of Boaty McBoatface: Beware of Customers Who Vote

Companies that encourage consumers to vote online should be forewarned—they may expect more than you promise, according to research by Michael Norton, Leslie John, and colleagues. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 27 Sep 2018

Large-Scale Demand Estimation with Search Data

Online retailers face the challenge of leveraging the rich data they collect on their websites to uncover insights about consumer behavior. This study proposes a practical and tractable model of economic behavior that can reveal helpful patterns of cross-product substitution. The model can be used to simulate optimal prices.

• 18 Jun 2018

Warning: Scary Warning Labels Work!

If you want to convince consumers to stay away from unhealthy diet choices, don't be subtle about possible consequences, says Leslie John. These graphically graphic warning labels seem to do the trick. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 18 Sep 2017

'Likes' Lead to Nothing—and Other Hard-Learned Lessons of Social Media Marketing

A decade-and-a-half after the dawn of social media marketing, brands are still learning what works and what doesn't with consumers. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 26 Jul 2017

The Revolution in Advertising: From Don Draper to Big Data

The Mad Men of advertising are being replaced by data scientists and analysts. In this podcast, marketing professor John Deighton and advertising legend Sir Martin Sorrell discuss the positives and negatives of digital marketing. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 13 Mar 2017

Hiding Products From Customers May Ultimately Boost Sales

Is it smart for retailers to display their wares to customers a few at a time or all at once? The answer depends largely on the product category, according to research by Kris Johnson Ferreira and Joel Goh. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 06 Mar 2017

Why Comparing Apples to Apples Online Leads To More Fruitful Sales

The items displayed next to a product in online marketing displays may determine whether customers buy that product, according to a new study by Uma R. Karmarkar. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 13 Feb 2017

Paid Search Ads Pay Off for Lesser-Known Restaurants

Researchers Michael Luca and Weijia Dai wanted to know if paid search ads pay off for small businesses such as restaurants. The answer: Yes, but not for long. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 08 Dec 2016

How Wayfair Built a Furniture Brand from Scratch

What was once a collection of 240 home furnishing sites is now a single, successful brand, Wayfair.com. How that brand developed over time and the challenges and opportunities presented by search engine marketing are discussed by Thales Teixeira. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 04 May 2016

What Does Boaty McBoatface Tell Us About Brand Control on the Internet?

SUMMING UP. Boaty McBoatface may have been shot down as the social-media sourced name of a research vessel, but James Heskett's readers are up to their hip-boots in opinions on the matter. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 02 May 2016

Why People Don’t Vote--and How a Good Ground Game Helps

Recent research by Vincent Pons shows that campaigners knocking on the doors of potential voters not only improves overall turnout but helps individual candidates win more of those votes. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 21 Mar 2016

Can Customer Reviews Be 'Managed?'

Consumers increasingly rely on peer reviews on TripAdvisor and other sites to make purchase decisions, so it makes sense that companies have a stake in wanting to shape those opinions. But can they? Thales Teixeira says a good product trumps all. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 28 Oct 2015

A Dedication to Creation: India's Ad Man Ranjan Kapur

How do you build a brand amid the uncertainties and opportunities of a developing market? Harvard Business School Professor Sunil Gupta shares lessons learned from Ranjan Kapur, an iconic figure in the Indian advertising industry. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• Publications
• Account settings

Preview improvements coming to the PMC website in October 2024. Learn More or Try it out now .

• Advanced Search
• Journal List
• Behav Sci (Basel)

Consumer Behaviour to Be Considered in Advertising: A Systematic Analysis and Future Agenda

Ahmed h. alsharif.

1 Azman Hashim International Business School, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai 81310, Johor, Malaysia

Nor Zafir Md Salleh

Shaymah ahmed al-zahrani.

2 Department of Economic & Finance, College of Business Administration, Taif University, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia

Ahmad Khraiwish

3 Department of Marketing, Faculty of Business, Applied Science Private University (ASU), Amman 11931, Jordan

Associated Data

Not applicable.

In the past decade, neurophysiological and physiological tools have been used to explore consumer behaviour toward advertising. The studies into brain processes (e.g., emotions, motivation, reward, attention, perception, and memory) toward advertising are scant, and remain unclear in the academic literature. To fill the gap in the literature, this study followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) protocol to extract relevant articles. It extracted and analysed 76 empirical articles from the Web of Science (WoS) database from 2009–2020. The findings revealed that the inferior frontal gyrus was associated with pleasure, while the middle temporal gyrus correlated with displeasure of advertising. Meanwhile, the right superior-temporal is related to high arousal and the right middle-frontal-gyrus is linked to low arousal toward advertisement campaigns. The right prefrontal-cortex (PFC) is correlated with withdrawal behaviour, and the left PFC is linked to approach behaviour. For the reward system, the ventral striatum has a main role in the reward system. It has also been found that perception is connected to the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and ventromedial (Vm) PFC. The study’s findings provide a profound overview of the importance of brain processes such as emotional processes, reward, motivation, cognitive processes, and perception in advertising campaigns such as commercial, social initiative, and public health.

1. Introduction

Self-report has been adopted in marketing activities to evaluate and identify consumer responses toward stimuli in the marketing sector, such as advertising practices. According to Carrington, et al. [ 1 ], the self-report methods reflect/measure the conscious responses (e.g., perception, approach/withdrawal attitudes, and thoughts) toward advertising. In fact, self-report cannot measure the unconscious or subconscious responses, which represent the majority of consumer responses, such as decision-making. Thus, researchers and marketers have adopted neuroscience tools such as electroencephalography (EEG) in the marketing field, to better understand the unconscious responses of consumers [ 2 , 3 , 4 ], which has led to an emerging new field, the so-called “Neuromarketing”. Smidts [ 5 ] was the first business researcher who coined the term “neuromarketing”, in 2002. Neuromarketing is a hybrid field containing numerous areas/fields such as psychology, marketing, and neuroscience [ 6 ]. According to Fortunato, et al. [ 7 ], the thanks for spreading this term was given to the Bright House Company when it created the first fMRI laboratory for marketing research.

In the hyper-competitive environment, neuromarketing is a mainstay in advertising because it has an opportunity to gauge consumers’ neural responses as emotional responses toward advertising; thereby, it is a revolutionary field for a better understanding of the subconscious and unconscious consumer responses. According to the literature, the rapid technological progress in neuroscience technology led to a better understanding of consumers’ behaviour in several contexts, such as, but not limited to, advertising [ 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 ]. Therefore, marketing and advertising leaders have used this technology to boost innovation and success in marketing and advertising, by controlling and minimizing task conflict [ 12 ]. According to Ramsoy [ 13 ], neuromarketing tools have been divided into four clusters, as follows: (1) neuroimaging tools such as electroencephalography (EEG), magnetoencephalography (MEG), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), positron emission tomography (PET), and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS); (2) physiological tools such as galvanic skin responses (GSR), eye-tracking (ET), electrocardiogram (ECG), and electromyography (EMG); (3) self-report methods such as surveys, observations, focus groups, and interviews; (4) behavioural measurements, such as the implicit association test (IAT). For instance, neuroimaging tools have been used to gauge emotions, attention, and memory regarding advertising [ 14 , 15 ]. At the same time, physiological tools have been used to gauge the physiological responses of consumers, such as, but not limited to, visual fixation in-store at the purchasing point, thereby providing valuable and fruitful insights into the attitudes of consumers (i.e., approach, withdrawal) [ 16 , 17 , 18 ]. Behavioural measurements are used to measure the reaction time of consumers toward stimuli, and self-reporting is used to measure the conscious behaviour of consumers toward stimuli such as approach/withdrawal attitudes [ 18 ].

According to the literature, the first fMRI investigation in neuromarketing was carried out by McClure, et al. [ 19 ], and largely contributed to the practical studies of neuromarketing [ 18 ]. Therefore, neuromarketing research has received attention from both academia and the industrial world as a means of filling the gap in traditional marketing methods and overcoming the limitations by reducing consumer social-bias (e.g., consumer choices can be affected by others) [ 7 ]. However, understanding the global trends in advertising research within the neuromarketing field is still unclear in academic studies. In addition, to date, no investigation has determined the current neurophysiological and physiological techniques that have been used in studying the unconscious/subconscious responses of consumers toward advertising such as YouTube video scenes, TV ads, public health ads (antismoking), initiative ads (encouraging the use of seat belts in cars). To sum that, this study tries to analyse the extracted articles in depth, to provide a precise and concise conclusion. The contributions of this work are summarized as follows:

• Provides a profound evaluation of the current advertising research that has been used to investigate unconscious and subconscious consumer behaviour, such as emotional dimensions, perceptions, reward processes, and approach/withdrawal motivation toward advertising.
• Provides an overview of the current neurophysiological and physiological tools that were used in advertising within the neuromarketing context between 2009 and 2020.

In this vein, the current paper provides an inclusive overview of neuromarketing research and the current research objectives. Section two presents the methodology and data-collection process. Section three presents the growth of the publication, topics of interest and a thematic analysis. A discussion of the study’s findings is presented in Section four. Section five presents a concise conclusion and the implications of our work. Finally, Section six presents the limitations and future directions.

2. Materials and Methods

This review study is designed to select empirical articles from the Web of Science (WoS) database in advertising within the neuromarketing context, to fill the gap in the literature. The reason behind choosing the WoS database over Scopus is the availability of cleaner data, which means reducing the duplications as compared to the Scopus database; additionally, WoS includes publications in top-tier journals [ 20 ]. The first step was to follow the instructions of the PRISMA protocol to select the empirical articles which used neuroimaging and physiological tools to investigate consumer responses to advertising research within neuromarketing [ 21 ]. The reason behind the use of the PRISMA protocol to select the relevant articles for this study were that it has been widely used in social science and business to extract and select articles related to the study, for example, online learning [ 22 ], neuromarketing [ 23 ], and service and healthcare [ 24 , 25 ].

For the second step, we used the content analysis of selected empirical articles for this study. The above processes will provide us with a profound insight into the advancement in advertising research by identifying and analysing the general and specific areas. Additionally, providing us with a better understanding of advertising research that used neuroimaging and physiological tools/methods and which can be considered when we are conducting further research into advertising research. Therefore, the findings of this study provide a guide for new scholars who are interested in advertising research within a neuromarketing field.

Relevant empirical articles have been selected by using the following query applied to the title, abstract, and keywords: (((“neuromarketing” OR “consumer neuroscience”) AND (“advertising” OR “advertisement”) AND (neuroimaging OR physiological))). This study extracted 76 empirical articles relevant to this review paper from January 2009 to December 2020. This study focused on empirical journal-articles, in comparison to conferences and book chapters, which generally undergo a much more rigorous review process and therefore improve the credibility of published research in journals [ 26 ]. Figure 1 demonstrates the selection of articles processed for this study, as follows:

• Methods: neuroimaging and physiological tools;
• Publication year: January 2009 to December 2020;
• Language: English;
• Document type: original articles (chapters of books, articles from conferences, reviews, and proceedings books were excluded).

PRISMA protocol to extract empirical articles for this systematic study.

3.1. Growth of the Publication

Seventy-six articles were extracted from the WOS which used neuromarketing tools. According to the literature, McClure, et al. [ 19 ] published the first neuromarketing study in 2004, when they investigated the neural correlates of consumer behaviour (e.g., choice, decision-making) toward two brands (Coca-Cola vs. Pepsi Cola). However, the first investigation into advertising was carried out by Morris, et al. [ 27 ]. They found the gyri regions of the brain were highly related to pleasure/displeasure and high/low arousal. From January 2009 to December 2020, there was a fluctuation in the number of published articles in advertising. In 2020, it was the highest number of annual publications with thirteen articles, as depicted in Figure 2 .

By exploring the relevant articles to develop this review article, it was possible to classify the global academic-research trends and advancement in advertising and neuromarketing, as follows: (i) neuroimaging and physiological tools used in advertising; and (ii) consumers’ brain processes to be considered in advertising, such as emotions, motivation, reward process, attentions, perception, and memory. By reviewing the selected articles, we can enrich our understanding, to achieve the objectives of this study. Table 1 shows the summary of the neuroimaging and physiological tools that were used to investigate the brain processes of consumers toward advertising research.

Classifications of neuroimaging and physiological tools used in advertising research.

3.2. Topics of Interest and Thematic Analysis

3.2.1. neuroimaging and physiological tools used in advertising.

We found that the neural-response recording-tool most used in advertising was EEG. EEG is an electrical and also a non-invasive technique to gauge the unconscious/subconscious responses of consumers toward ads by recording the voltage changes of frequencies at scalp regions [ 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 ]. According to [ 32 ], there are five frequency bands (e.g., delta, theta, alpha, beta, and gamma). The EEG tool uses a 10–20 global system, which is used to describe the electrode locations on the volunteer’s scalp, for example, (Fp), (F), (P), (O), (C), and (T) describe the prefrontal, frontal, parietal, occipital, central, and temporal, respectively. Moreover, it uses the same number of electrodes on both side of the volunteer’s head (i.e., right and left side) [ 33 , 34 ]. In addition, it has an excellent temporal accuracy (estimated in milliseconds (ms)) and a poor spatial accuracy (estimated at 1 cm 3 at the scalp regions) [ 35 , 36 , 37 ]. In addition, it is not expensive or noisy [ 38 ]. fMRI and fNIRS are non-invasive, metabolic tools. Both are used to record oxygenated and deoxygenated haemoglobin in the brain [ 39 , 40 ]. fMRI has a superior spatial accuracy (estimated at 1–10 mm 3 of the deep structure of the brain) compared with fNIRS, which has poor spatial accuracy (estimated at 4 cm of cortical-activity regions) [ 41 ]. Meanwhile, both have acceptable temporal accuracy (estimated in seconds) [ 42 , 43 ]. fMRI and fNIRS have been used in marketing research to record the subconscious/unconscious responses of consumers (e.g., preference, perceptions, purchase decisions, choices) toward marketing stimuli [ 41 , 43 , 44 ]. fNIRS is a portable, novel, promising, and silent neuroimaging technique, which is also cheaper than fMRI [ 39 , 45 , 46 ].

ET is a portable technique that is used to gauge physiological reactions such as eye movements, pupil dilation, saccade, and fixation toward the stimuli of marketing [ 18 ]. According to Hoffman [ 47 ], it is used for measuring eye movements and the attention of consumers, which is beneficial for psychology and neurological research. Eye fixations last between 200 and 350 ms while reading a text and watching video scenes, respectively, while 200 ms refers to the duration of saccadic eye-movements [ 48 ]. The set of fixations and saccades is named the scan route, and analyses visual perception and cognitive purpose [ 49 ]. Pupil dilation with a longer blink-period gives us better information about processing [ 18 ]. The GSR and ECG tools are used to gauge the emotional reactions of consumers toward ads [ 50 ]. For example, sweating level is recorded by the GSR tool and the heart rate/heartbeat is measured by the ECG tool [ 50 , 51 , 52 ]. In addition, both of them can measure the autonomic nervous system and evaluate the internal emotional status of consumers [ 53 ]. Therefore, GSR and ECG are convenient and reliable techniques for measuring the emotional status of consumers and changes in skin conductance, respectively [ 54 ]. IAT is able to identify the customers’ attitudes toward marketing stimuli such as brands or ads (e.g., like/dislike) by recording the reaction time of customers [ 18 ]. EMG is used to measure the reactions shown on individuals’ faces (e.g., pleasure/displeasure, …, etc.) toward advertising [ 55 ], because facial-expression analysis is significant for marketers and advertisers, because faces can provide beneficial information about perceptions of customers toward ads in terms of measuring visible and invisible facial-muscle reactions [ 29 ].

3.2.2. Brain Processes to Be Considered in Advertising

Emotion and feelings.

The feeling is a relatively conscious aspect of emotional status [ 56 ], which derives from individuals’ judgments such as level of pleasure or unpleasure toward advertising [ 31 ]; it is likely the best way to understand and explain the physiological responses of the consumer toward ads [ 31 , 57 ]. Many research studies have affirmed that ad-elicited feelings are strong indexes of consumers’ response toward advertising [ 58 ]. On the opposite side of the spectrum, emotion is an unconscious aspect of emotional status which correlates to an automatic somatic response such as increased heart beat in some conditions (fright, anger) [ 56 , 59 ], which is crucial for making decisions, learning, and solving problems [ 60 ]. Advertisers and marketers can use both in advertising to captivate consumers’ attention, thereby enhancing purchase intention. Emotions are accompanied with changes in the autonomic nervous system (i.e., zygomatic facial muscles, corrugator facial muscles, and heart-rate), which can provide rich information about the emotional status of consumers. Therefore, the study of emotions has attracted many researchers and advertisers [ 61 ].

Emotion is constructed from a neural network in the brain, which performs basic psychological activities/functions (e.g., memory, perception, salience detection) [ 62 ]. Therefore, emotion is defined as the set of changes in the individual’s physiological and subconscious and unconscious responses, based on the individual’s experiences [ 63 , 64 ]. In addition, emotion is a relationship between humans and the environment, including multiple subcomponents (e.g., physiological, behavioural, appraisal, and expression [ 65 ]. The cognitive and neurological frameworks of the role of emotion in decision-making has been investigated more through Damasio’s theory, which is also known as the somatic marker hypothesis [ 66 , 67 ]. Consequently, researchers have agreed on two dimensions for measuring emotional responses toward stimuli: (i) valence/balance (i.e., pleasure or displeasure, depression or excitement), (ii) arousal (e.g., high or low) ( Figure 3 ) [ 28 , 68 , 69 ]. Figure 3 shows that the valence indicates either positive or negative emotional-status which is evoked by external stimuli such as advertising. In addition, valence is measured from the positive to the negative side. On the other side of the spectrum, arousal indicates the level of excitement; whether high or low, it is measured from high to low levels [ 68 , 70 , 71 ].

Dimensions model of emotions [ 68 ].

Table 2 shows several methods to measure emotions and feelings toward marketing stimuli. Previous studies have used, for example, self-report and physiological methods to analyse the emotional responses of consumers toward advertising [ 72 ]. For example, the EMG and self-report investigation of Lajante, et al. [ 73 ] gauge the consumer’s pleasure/displeasure toward advertisements. The findings of the experiment revealed that pleasure/displeasure had positively impacted the attitudes of customers toward advertisements. The ECG, EDA, and questionnaire study of Baraybar-Fernández, et al. [ 50 ] found that audio and visual ads with sad messages have more influence on participants. Barquero-Pérez, et al. [ 53 ] used the ECG, EDA and questionnaire in their experiment. They found that each type of ad generated a different emotion, such as surprise, anger, and so forth. In addition, physiological tools have been used to investigate the effectiveness of online advertising (e.g., YouTube) [ 51 ]. For example, Guixeres, et al. [ 51 ] used brain response, ECG, and ET to investigate the relationship between ad effectiveness and the number of views on YouTube. They found that there is a solid relationship between ad effectiveness and the number of views on YouTube. Herrador, et al. [ 74 ] conducted an EDA experiment and the findings revealed that both groups of participants (male and female) indicated a strong initial activation; moreover, they noticed a reduced activation during the most significant part of video material in the male group. Venkatraman, et al. [ 28 ] used several neuromarketing tools to evaluate participant’ responses to a 30-second TV advertisement. The findings revealed that the activity in the ventral striatum could be the predictor of response to advertising. Grigaliunaite and Pileliene [ 75 ] conducted an experiment by using ET and they found that emotional and rational advertising appeals influence consumers’ responses in various ways. The IAT and ET investigation of Pileliene and Grigaliunaite [ 76 ] found that warm-colour temperature attracts more visual attention to the advertisement; thereby generating a positive implicit attitude and inducing the buying intentions toward the advertised product, compared with cool-colour temperature advertisements, whether the spokesperson is a female or male celebrity. Similarly, Grigaliunaite and Pileliene [ 77 ] found that negative smoking images reflected a negative implicit attitude/behaviour of individuals toward those images and smoking behaviour, increasing the influence on individuals’ intention to whether to quit or not to start smoking. The ERP, ET, and questionnaire investigation of Pileliene and Grigaliunaite [ 78 ] found that a well-known female spokesperson has a significant impact on the effectiveness of fast-moving consumer-goods advertising.

Neuromarketing tools to measure emotions and feelings.

There has been an interesting growth in understanding the non-verbal responses of emotional status toward advertising by using neuroscience methods such as fMRI, EEG, fNIRS [ 31 , 51 , 79 , 80 , 81 , 82 ]. For example, Plichta, et al. [ 45 ] conducted an fNIRS experiment to investigate the detection of sensory activity by measuring emotional signals in the auditory field. The findings revealed that pleasurable/unpleasurable sounds increased the activity in the auditory cortex, compared to neutral sounds. Gier, et al. [ 41 ] conducted the fNIRS experiment to explore whether the fNIRS tool had the ability to predict the success of point-of-sale elements by measuring the neural signals of brain regions such as the dlPFC. The findings revealed that the fNIRS has the ability to predict the success elements at the point of sale, relying on the cortical-activity effect.

The EEG investigations of Vecchiato, et al. [ 83 ], and Vecchiato, et al. [ 84 ] found that activity in the right frontal alpha is associated with pleasure/liking ads, while the left frontal alpha correlated to displeasure/disliking ads. Additionally, Vecchiato, et al. [ 85 ] found that there were gender (i.e., male and female) differences in interest toward commercial categories and scenes in two ads. The EEG experiment of Harris, et al. [ 86 ] found that emotional advertisements are more effective than rational advertisements, which leads to a positive change in decision-making, inducing donation, and liking. The findings of Chen, et al. [ 87 ] revealed that e-cigarette ads increased the smoking desire; additionally, e-cigarette ads increased activity in the left middle-frontal-gyrus, the right medial-frontal-gyrus, the right parahippocampus, the left insula, the left lingual gyrus/fusiform gyrus, the right inferior-parietal-lobule, the left posterior-cingulate, and the left angular-gyrus. Wang, et al. [ 88 ] and Royo González, et al. [ 89 ] found that the narrative approach of ads and exposure to branding products have a favourable influence on the consumers’ preferences and excitement. The fMRI investigations of Morris, et al. [ 27 ] and Shen and Morris [ 90 ] found that pleasure and displeasure are correlated with more activity in the inferior frontal- and middle temporal-gyrus, respectively, while low and high arousal is associated with the right superior-temporal- and right middle-frontal-gyrus, consecutively. Leanza [ 91 ] used EEG and found that some of the emotive features of the virtual reality (VR) experience significantly influenced consumers’ preferences. Ramsoy, et al. [ 92 ] found that arousal and cognitive load were highly connected to subsequently stated travel-preferences; moreover, consumers’ subconscious emotional and cognitive responses are not identical to subjective travel-preference. Shestyuk, et al. [ 93 ] found that the EEG is a convenient tool to predict the success of TV programs and determine cognitive processes. Wang, et al. [ 94 ] conducted an experiment to propose a generative-design method using EEG measurements. The findings revealed that the product image that was generated with preference EEG-signals had more preference than the product image generated without preference EEG-signals. Kim, et al. [ 95 ] conducted an experiment to identify the effect of visual art (e.g., Mondrian’s and Kandinsky’s artworks) on consumers’ preferences, by using EEG. The findings showed that the visual effects induced high emotional arousal, which might promote heuristic decision-making. Mengual-Recuerda, et al. [ 96 ] found that food served by a chef positively influences emotions, while dishes with special presentations attract more attention than traditional dishes. The EEG study of Eijlers, et al. [ 31 ] found that arousal is positively connected to prominent ads in the wider population and negatively to consumer attitudes toward these ads.

According to Lang and Bradley [ 97 ], emotions and motivation processes are highly intersected and correlated. Chiew and Braver [ 98 ] and Pessoa [ 99 ] found that cognition and consumers’ behaviours are highly affected by motivational processes. For example, positive motivational stimuli will urge individuals toward achieving goals (e.g., obtain or predict a reward by performing a task correctly) [ 100 ], while negative motivational stimuli can lead to distraction [ 101 ].

Pessoa [ 102 ] and Raymond [ 103 ] suggested that motivational processes are a compass of consumers’ attitudes toward external stimuli to engage with the environment and achieve goals. Higgins [ 104 ] suggested two dimensions for measuring motivational processes such as withdrawal and approach attitudes. Researchers and practitioners attempted to investigate the neural responses of motivational processes to better understand consumers’ behaviours toward advertisements and products [ 83 ]. For example, Cherubino, et al. [ 105 ] carried out an experiment using EEG to investigate the relationship between the PFC and motivational dimensions. The findings revealed that the PFC is related to motivational dimensions, wherein the right PFC correlated to withdrawal attitudes and the left PFC related to approach attitudes. The EEG investigations of Pozharliev, et al. [ 106 ] and Zhang, et al. [ 107 ] recorded the brain responses of subjects toward luxury products (motivations). The findings showed that social motivations have a vital role in influencing the purchase of luxury products in order to satisfy social goals (at least one goal). The EEG investigation of Bosshard, et al. [ 108 ] found that liked brands reflect more motivational aspects and activity signals in the right parietal-cortices than disliked brands.

Therefore, there is a strong relationship between the activation of the PFC and motivational dimensions toward marketing stimuli such as advertisements [ 109 ]. Therefore, marketing researchers and practitioners have to focus on the motivational processes of consumers to orient the marketing mix (e.g., target-appropriate audiences and markets, increasing the effectiveness of ads and products) [ 110 ]. According to previous studies, NM research has used the approach/withdrawal attitude to evaluate TV ads [ 111 ]. Therefore, approach/withdrawal motivational attitudes are highly significant for marketing and advertising research.

Reward Processing

According to the literature, it is highly significant for researchers and practitioners to study and know the neural responses that are responsible for reward processing, such as money, food, and social activities [ 112 , 113 , 114 , 115 ]. This is because the positive rewards such as gaining money, foods, or other types of rewards, enhance the accuracy and cognitive task [ 116 , 117 , 118 ] through modifying the early attentional process. Anderson, et al. [ 101 ] demonstrated that visual features (e.g., product design) that are correlated to reward, will make the consumer prioritize, therefore attracting the consumer’s attention automatically. For example, the design preference of a product or brand can increase the activity in the regions which are responsible for reward processing, thereby, causing more activation in regions of motivations that might impact consumers’ purchase decisions [ 29 ]. Many studies concentrated on the individual’s response toward a monetary reward by studying the approach/avoidance attitude [ 112 , 113 ]. For example, Bechara, et al. [ 119 ] carried out an experiment named the “Iowa Gambling Task” by using GSR to investigate the influence of reward on decision-making. They divided participants into two groups, the healthy group and the group with lesions in the vmPFC. The findings revealed that healthy participants sweated more, which led them to infer that participants had a negative emotional experience toward picking up cards from a monetary losing deck; meanwhile, the lesion group picked up cards regardless of whether they were cards with monetary wins or losses. Consequently, reward highly influenced decision-making [ 112 , 120 , 121 ].

Many researchers have confirmed that the importance of the striatum activity in reward processing, wherein the components of the striatum such as the caudate nucleus, nucleus accumbens (NAcc), and putamen play a central role in expectation and evaluation of reward [ 115 , 122 , 123 ]. For example, Galvan [ 124 ] and Geier, et al. [ 125 ] carried out an experiment to investigate the relationship between reward processing and the striatum. Their findings revealed that the ventral striatum (VS) has a key role in the prediction of reward. Jung, et al. [ 126 ] found that the rewards, memory, semantics, and attention regions in the brain were lit up when viewing a combination of a celebrity face and a car, compared with viewing a combination of a non-celebrity face and a car. In addition, car favourableness correlated positively with activation in the left anterior-insula, left OFC, and left higher-order visual cortex in the OL. Padmanabhan, et al. [ 127 ] investigated the influence of the reward system on attention processes. Their findings showed that incentives facilitate cognitive control. Previous neuroimaging studies demonstrated that rewards activate the ventral medial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and ventral striatum [ 128 , 129 , 130 ]. The ventral striatum has been discussed before as a part of the reward system [ 131 ]. Therefore, findings suggest that neurodevelopmental changes in the striatum systems may contribute to changes in how reward influences attentional processes [ 56 ].

Attention is defined as the way “people tend to seek, accept and consume the messages that meet their interests, beliefs, values, expectations and ideas, and overlook the messages that are incompatible with this system” [ 132 ]. It has also been defined as selective perception [ 133 ]. Selective perception is associated with filtering out information and concentrating on significant information (e.g., different aspects of stimulus or different stimuli) [ 134 ]. For instance, consumers are exposed to nearly 10 million bits of visual information (e.g., ads, images, sound, video, and colour) per second through their senses (e.g., eyes, ears, skin) daily. Most input information goes by unnoticed, with consumers able to process almost 40 bits of input information per second [ 29 , 135 ]. This lead us to infer that attention has a strong influence on consumer behaviour in how consumers represent, perceive and process information and thus select and prioritize information. Attentional and emotional processes are relatively intersected/connected, and emotion is considered a reliable and effective source for attracting consumers ’ attention [ 136 , 137 ]. For example, the activation in the amygdala (AMY) and cingulate cortex (CC) in the brain is related to emotional stimuli.

Attention is a significant brain process, which has a central role in measuring the effectiveness of advertising campaigns; thereby, it is an indicator of consumer’s behaviour and the effectiveness of advertising [ 138 ]. According to the literature, the majority of researchers have agreed on two systems to measure attention toward advertising: (i) bottom-up, and (ii) top-down, systems [ 28 , 139 , 140 ]. Bottom-up (visual saliency/exogenous/ involuntary) attention is the type of attentional system which is initiated by external stimuli such as colour, voice, promotion, faces, text, novelty, brightness, and so forth, which lead to a process in which information in external stimuli is received automatically. Top-down (goal-driven/endogenous/voluntary) attention is the other type of attentional system, which is initiated by internal and external goals and expectation; thereby, it is necessary to focus all your mental power toward the goal that you are looking to achieve, thereby filtering goals to achieve your goals ( Figure 4 ) [ 2 , 140 , 141 ].

The bottom-up and top-down attention processes [ 59 ].

For this reason, the underlying brain reactions of attention and visual processing are highly interesting for advertising. Moreover, the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is highly related to the function of top-down and bottom-up attentional systems [ 142 , 143 ]. For example, Smith and Gevins [ 144 ] found that the occipital lobe (OL) is associated with attentional processes toward TV advertisements. The EEG investigation of Kong, et al. [ 145 ] found that variation in activity in the cerebral hemisphere related to the cognitive task can help to determine the success or lack of success of the advertisement. A recent fMRI investigation by Casado-Aranda, et al. [ 146 ] found that the correspondence between advertising and gender voice (male, female) induces attention regions in the brain. Ananos [ 147 ] carried out experiment using ET to investigate the attention level and processing of information in advertising (content recognition) among elderly and young people groups. Their findings revealed that the attention level among both groups was the same, but recognition by the young-people group was higher than that of the elderly-people group for untraditional advertising. Guixeres, et al. [ 51 ] conducted an experiment to investigate the effectiveness of an ad (e.g., a recall ad) and the number of views on YouTube channels, using neural networks and neuroscience-based metrics (e.g., brain response, ECG, and ET). Their findings suggest an important relationship between neuroscience metrics and self-report of ad effectiveness (e.g., recall ad) and the number of views on YouTube. Cuesta-Cambra, et al. [ 148 ] investigated how information is processed and learned and how visual attention takes place. Their findings indicated that the visual activity of men has different patterns from women, and does not influence subsequent recall, wherein recall relies on the emotional value of ads and simplicity, while complex ads need more visual fixation and are therefore hard to remember. In addition, the importance of the playful component of memory and low-involvement processing were confirmed by EEG. Treleaven-Hassard, et al. [ 149 ] examined the engagement of the consumer with interactive TV ads with a particular brand’s logo compared with non-interactive TV ads. The findings revealed that brands linked with interactive ads attract more automatic attention. Boscolo, et al. [ 81 ] conducted an experiment using ET and questionnaires to investigate differences in the visual attention between genders (male and female), toward print ads. Their findings revealed that there is difference in visual attention in the case of male, while no differences were noticed in the case of females.

According to Simson [ 150 ], studies into the perception of value and how it is formed reflect what is known in marketing theory, wherein the marketing-mix elements can be changed to influence the perceived value of a product. However, studies on how attention systems impact consumers ’ perception and actions have been limited to consumer report and behavioural studies, which depend on a rational report; this is not enough to explain attention processes, wherein there are two attentional systems influencing consumers’ perceptions (e.g., top-down and bottom-up attention system) ( Figure 5 ) [ 59 ]. Consumer perception is the first step in engagement with marketing stimuli or any other stimuli in the environment [ 151 ]. Hogg, et al. [ 152 ] defined perception as “the process by which marketing stimuli are selected, organised, and interpreted”. Therefore, individuals add meaning and interpret it in a certain way, which leads to the perceptions of the individual’s findings for each one. As stated by Belch and Belch [ 153 ] perception processing is extremely reliant on internal processes such as prior knowledge (experiences), current goals, beliefs, expectations, needs, and moods, and also external stimuli such as colour, orientation, intensity, and movement [ 59 ]. Although this explains the process of how consumer perceptions are formed, the exact the part concerning the explanation of sensations and the internal and unique assignation of meaning to sensations is what lies concealed, and remains unexplained in detail in the current consumer-behaviour literature. However, it is widely believed that this process is driven by the unconscious.

Two attentional systems impact the consumers’ perceptions.

Cartocci, et al. [ 154 ] and Modica, et al. [ 155 ] conducted experiments to estimate the accuracy measurement of the cerebral and emotional perception of social advertising campaigns (i.e., antismoking) using several methods such as EEG, GSR, and ECG. The findings showed that the antismoking campaign which was characterized by a symbolic communication style gained the highest approach-values, as evaluated by the approach/withdrawal index. Meanwhile, an image based on “fear-arousing appeal” and with a narrative style reported the highest and lowest effort-values index, respectively. The fMRI investigation of Falk, et al. [ 156 ] predicted the out-of-sample (population) effectiveness of quit-smoking ads. The findings revealed that activity in the prior mPFC was largely predictive of the success of various advertising campaigns in the real world. Plassmann, et al. [ 157 ] carried out an experiment to study the perception of pleasantness in the taste of wines, using the fMRI tool. Their findings showed a stronger activation in the medial OFC (mOFC) regions in the brain when subjects believed they are drinking expensive wine, showing that the mOFC is responsible for experiencing pleasantness. This led to infer that the pleasantness report was correlated with perceived value and price of product more than taste itself. Neuroscientists have found that the OFC and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) are involved in decision-making, through the perceived value of products [ 158 ]. Nuñez-Gomez, et al. [ 159 ] carried out an experiment using EEG to examine how advertising material is perceived by two groups (e.g., healthy group and group with Asperger syndrome). The findings revealed that there are large difference between these groups in their perception of emotion and their attention variables. Gong, et al. [ 160 ] carried out an experiment to identify the influence of sales promotion (e.g., gift-giving, discount) on the perception of consumers and purchase decisions by using EEG/ERP. The findings revealed that discount promotions have more impact on purchase decisions than gift-giving sales promotions.

Memory is defined as an ongoing learning-process, which has input and output functions in the brain [ 161 , 162 ]. The input function encodes information, while the output function retrieves information, and this is very important for advertising research [ 137 , 163 ]. For example, recall and recognition advertising-information is a retrieving function [ 28 ]. Myers and DeWall [ 162 ] and Atkinson and Shiffrin [ 163 ] presented the multistore model of memory, which includes three steps, as follows: (i) a sensory memory, (ii) short-term memory (STM), and (iii) long-term memory (LTM) ( Figure 6 ) [ 164 ]. Brain processes related to memory have revealed certain valuable outcomes, as to the factors which influence the consumers’ behaviour ,such as recall- and recognition-advertising [ 165 ]. Input and output functions in the memory are highly important for marketers and advertisers, due to each function having an awareness and unawareness aspect in the brain [ 137 , 166 ]. Memory and emotion are highly connected to each other. For example, previous studies confirmed that the emotional events are usually remembered more than neutral events, and especially if emotions correspond to events at that moment [ 167 ].

The information phases in the memory’s stages [ 164 ].

The memory process has been widely studied, and it has concluded that the hippocampus (HC), located in the temporal lobe (TL), plays a major role in generating and processing memories [ 165 ]. Additionally, activation of the HC has a strong relationship with LTM and STM, which highly impacts consumers’ purchase decisions [ 168 , 169 ]. In addition, the AMY is located next and close to the HC, which is significant for the memory system [ 165 ]. For example, the EEG investigation by Rossiter, et al. [ 170 ] found that the left hemisphere is correlated with encoding in the LTM. Similarly, the EEG investigations by Astolfi, et al. [ 171 ] used EEG to determine the brain regions that were triggered by the successful memory-encoding of TV ads. They found stronger activity in the cortical regions. Morey [ 172 ] investigated the impact of advertising message on recognition memory. The findings revealed stronger activity in the gamma band, which directly affected memory. The fMRI investigation by Bakalash and Riemer [ 173 ] and Seelig, et al. [ 174 ] measured the brain regions of memory ads. The findings revealed that stronger activity in the amygdala (AMY) and frontotemporal regions is associated with memorable and unmemorable ads. Similarly, [ 175 ] carried out experiments to investigate the content of ads and the activity of frontal regions and memory. The findings showed that the content of ads increased the activity in the frontal regions and the input function (encoding) of memory.

The study of these mental processes such as emotion and feelings, attention, memory, reward processing, motivation, and perception are highly important considerations for advertising research.

4. Discussion

A total of 76 articles were extracted and analysed, wherein the content analysis of the relevant articles revealed that the annual and the accumulative number of publications has been growing since 2009, reaching its peak in 2020 with twelve empirical articles that used neuroimaging, physiological, and self-report techniques to study the consumers’ brain processes such as, but not limited to, emotions toward the stimuli of marketing such as advertising. We followed the PRISMA protocol to select the relevant empirical articles for this study as brain processes such as emotions, feelings, motivation, reward, attention, and memory need to be considered in advertising research. The findings of the study revealed that the neuroimaging tool that is used most in studying the brain processes of consumers is the EEG, with 38 empirical articles, followed by the fMRI with 20 articles; it was also noticed that only four articles used the fNIRS tool in neuromarketing research. In addition, for physiological tools, it was observed that five techniques were used in neuromarketing studies to investigate consumer responses toward the stimuli of marketing such as advertising. The ET was used in 14 articles alongside neuroimaging tools such as EEG, wherein ET is the most used tool, followed by GSR with 12 articles; it was also used alongside other physiological tools such as ECG and EMG. Finally, self-report (i.e., surveys, interviews, focus groups, and observation) was used in seven articles.

This study found that the brain processes to be considered most in advertising research are emotions, feelings, attention, memory, perception, approach/withdrawal motivation, and reward processing. The findings demonstrated that the strongest activity in the inferior-frontal- and middle-temporal-gyri are associated with pleasure and displeasure, while the activity in the right superior-temporal and the right middle-frontal-gyrus correlated with high or low arousal [ 90 ]. As well as this, we found the OL connected with the attention system [ 144 ], and the HC, located in the temporal lobe (TL), plays a major role in generating and processing memories [ 165 ]. In addition, the VS, which is located in the basal ganglia plays a central role in the reward system; for example, the key functions of VS (i.e., control movement and planning) have a vital role in the reward system, while the components of VS such as the putamen, caudate nucleus, and nucleus accumbens (NAcc) have a central role in the assessment of consumer expectations, compared to the actual reward received [ 123 ]. In addition, the ventral tegmental region is considered a part of the reward system, which passes the neurotransmitter dopamine to other brain areas, thereby affecting goal-seeking behaviour [ 123 ]. For motivation, it was found that the anterior cerebral hemispheres play a central role in withdrawal and approach motivation; for example, the increase in activation in the right PFC is linked to withdrawal behaviour, while the increase in activation in the left PFC is associated with approach behaviour [ 105 , 176 ]. Finally, in accordance with the literature, it was found that the OFC and vmPFC regions play vital roles in perception (i.e., perceived value) [ 158 ].

5. Conclusions and Implications

Implication of the research findings for theory and practice: Theoretically, the current findings can be divided into three areas, as follows: firstly, neuroscientific techniques and methods enable the capture/measurement of the activity signals of the brain and body relating to consumers’ responses (e.g., emotions and feelings, attention, memory, perception, reward processing, and motivation) toward advertising campaigns. For example, neuroimaging tools (e.g., fMRI, EEG/ERP, fNIRS) enable the recording of the neural signals of the mental responses (e.g., pleasure/displeasure, low/high arousal, advertising recall and recognition) toward advertising, which can be beneficial for advertisers and marketers in creating more effective advertising campaigns to attract, captivate, and impact consumers. Meanwhile, physiological tools (e.g., ET, GSR, EMG, and ECG) enable researchers to gauge the physiological reactions of the consumer, such as pupil dilation, fixation, eye movements, saccade, heart rate, blood pressure, sweating level, and reaction time toward advertising. Secondly, neuroimaging and physiological tools will help advertisers and scholars to identify the weak elements in advertising which lead to withdrawal behaviour and to address these, besides identifying the strengths which lead to approach behaviour, and to enhance them. Thirdly, many articles have concentrated on detecting the neural and physiological responses of emotions, feelings, attention, memory, reward processing, motivation and perception toward advertising such as the presenter’s features (i.e., celebrity), because these processes play a key role in the decision-making of consumers (i.e., purchasing decisions). Additionally, some advertising research concentrated on gender voice (i.e., male, female), ads appeal, faces of celebrity, social campaigns (i.e., using seat belts in the car), and public health (i.e., anti-smoking campaigns). These areas can provide a reasonable explanation of the neural and physiological correlates of emotions and feelings (e.g., pleasure/displeasure, high/low arousal), attention (e.g., top-down, bottom-up), memory (e.g., encoding, retrieving), motivation (e.g., approach/withdrawal), reward processing, and perception (e.g., perceived value of ads) to be considered in advertising research. Thus, an application of this research perhaps offers reasonable explanations of how advertising works in consumers’ minds, and the relationship between the neural correlates of consumers’ brain and physiological responses toward advertising, thereby better understanding consumers’ behaviour, which leads to the creation of more attractive advertising for political, social and business sectors.

General Conclusion : Neuromarketing is a promising field, not only to study and solve the commercial issues such as the weaknesses of advertising campaigns and to reduce the wastage of advertising budgets, but also to create more effective advertising campaigns in social, political, and public-health sectors, in order to increase human awareness. In today’s hyper-competitive environments among advertising agencies, each agency seeks to find the most beneficial methods to beat competitors and be the first priorities in the consumer’s mind. Thus, advertisers have adopted neuroscientific methods in their research to study, analyse, and predict the neural and physiological responses of consumers toward the stimuli of marketing (i.e., advertising), thereby identifying the most important mental and physiological responses to be considered in advertising research to raise advertising effectiveness. Most studies in advertising research have determined the main mental processes of interest for advertising research, such as emotions and feelings, attention, memory, reward processing, motivation, and perception.

The findings of the study suggest that neuroscientific methods and techniques are significant to gauge the brain and physiological reactions of consumers toward the stimuli of marketing, such as advertising research. For example, neuroimaging tools are able to gauge the neural-activity signals of the consumer’s brain. At the same time, physiological tools can gauge physiological reactions such as eye movements, sweating level, and fixation.

6. Limitations and Future Directions

This paper tried to minimize the limitations in methodology; however, some limitations occurred and provided several directions for further research. This research concentrated on the English articles that were published in open-access journals from 2009 to 2020 and were listed in the WOS database. Therefore, this paper overlooked non-English articles, non-open-access articles, and other documents such as books, review papers, conference proceedings, and so forth. Thus, this paper is not free of bias. For future directions, we hope to overcome the obstacles in the future, which include the cost of research and techniques, lack of labs and facilities, use of time (e.g., data interpretation, recruiting participants, and so forth), and increased investment and funding in neuromarketing research and technique [ 177 ]. We encourage researchers and marketers from emerging countries to enter this embryonic field and leave their footprint by publishing articles for future works. In addition, we suggest that researchers and scholars identify the influence of advertising on consumers persuasion, engagement, and excitement, as well as the contributions of neuromarketing research to various domains (e.g., social sciences, public health, politics, and stock exchanges). We believe that this review study provides a profound overview of the global academic-trends in neuromarketing research, using the neuroimaging and physiological studies in advertising to study the brain processes of consumers. Thus, it provides valuable and reliable insights into the appropriate brain processes to be considered in future research.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Azman Hashim International Business School (AHIBS); Taif University, Department of Economic & Finance, College of Business Administration; and Applied Science Private University (ASU), Department of Marketing for supporting this study.

Funding Statement

This research received no external funding.

Author Contributions

A.H.A., conceptualization, methodology, writing—original draft preparation, result discussion, and data curation; N.Z.M.S., supervision, review and editing; S.A.A.-Z., review, editing, and methodology; A.K., review and results discussion. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Institutional Review Board Statement

Informed consent statement, data availability statement, conflicts of interest.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

• Search UNH.edu
• Search Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics

Commonly Searched Items:

• Academic Calendar
• Undergraduate Programs
• Accelerated Master's Degree Programs
• Graduate Programs
• Faculty Departments
• Undergraduate Advising
• Graduate Advising
• Undergraduate Admissions
• Scholarships
• Graduate Program Scholarships
• Paul Scholars
• Graduate Admissions
• Internship Opportunity Fund
• Mentoring Programs
• Student Resources
• Employer Resources
• Parents and Families
• Undergraduate Research Conference
• Behavioral Research Laboratory
• Center for Venture Research
• Peter T. Paul Financial Policy Center
• Rosenberg International Franchise Center
• Accounting and Finance
• Decision Sciences
• Hospitality Management
• FIRE: First Year Experience
• Business in Practice Program
• Clubs and Organizations
• Rutman Leadership Fellows
• Study Abroad
• Paul Excellence
• Honor Societies
• Holloway Competition
• NH Social Venture Innovation Challenge
• Reserve Student Collaboration Spaces
• The Changemaker Collaborative
• Inclusive Leadership Fellows
• Partner with Us
• The CEO & Family Enterprise Center
• Executive Education
• Business Analytics Initiative
• Center for Business Analytics
• Small Business Development Center
• UNH Sales Center
• Mission, Vision, Strategic Directions
• Accreditation
• Dean's Advisory Board
• Dean's Ambassadors
• Community, Diversity and Inclusion
• Sustainability at Paul
• Information Technology
• Communications and Marketing
• Contact the Peter T. Paul College
• Paul Community Resources
• Paul Community News

Voice Z Digital Featured in Upcoming Marketing Education Review Article

Tom Gruen, Neil Niman, and Jennifer Chagnon are authors of a recently accepted article at Marketing Education Review titled: "Developing What Can't be Taught: Creating an Effective Portfolio of Student Outcomes through a Student-Run Digital Marketing Agency."

The authors present an extended case study focusing on the creation, development, and current state of Paul College's Voice Z Digital Agency. The authors build a case for the need to develop "soft skills" (e.g., working in teams, leadership, communication) along with the traditional "hard skills" to prepare "work-ready" graduates. 

The Voice Z Digital Agency offers such an environment where a complete portfolio of skills can be incubated and developed.

The article will be available in electronic format later this month and in print later this year.

Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics

• MSA Financial Leadership in Accounting Pathway
• MBA - Healthcare Industry Option
• Our Finance (M.S.) Alumni
• Our Finance (M.S.) Students
• Job Market Candidates
• Hospitality
• Academic Policies
• Academic Assistance
• Academic Advising FAQ
• Course Registration
• Course Waiting List
• Paul College Honors
• Declaring Major/Option
• Inter-College Transfer Student Information
• Transfer Credit Database
• Sophomore Resources
• Career Services
• Academic Calendars
• Paul College Scholarship Descriptions
• Scholarship Application
• Information Sessions
• Test Drive Our MBA Program Form
• Military & Veterans
• International Students
• EdAssist Members
• Corporate Partners Program
• BiP Business Partners
• Business in Practice (BiP)
• Planning your Study Abroad Experience
• Academic Information
• Paul College Study Abroad Policies
• Recommended Programs for Paul College students
• Competition Details
• Bud Albin Challenge Round
• Championship Round
• Paul Projects: Corporate Engagement Programs
• Assurance of Learning
• Executive Committee
• Community Diversity and Inclusion Contact Form
• Community, Diversity and Inclusion Resources
• Diversity and Inclusion Faculty Research
• Diversity and Inclusion Grant Program
• Diversity and Inclusion Working Group Members
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Conference
• Message to our Community Against Racism in our Society
• Sustainability Library Resources
• Submit for the Paul Community Blog
• Digital Signage Requests
• Website Requests
• Publications
• Paul College Influencer Team
• Faculty Promotion and Tenure Procedures and Documents
• Paul College & Departmental Bylaws and Policies
• Emergency Response Training

• Sustainability
• Embrace New Hampshire
• University News
• The Future of UNH
• Campus Locations
• Calendars & Events
• Directories
• Facts & Figures
• Academic Advising
• Colleges & Schools
• Degrees & Programs
• Undeclared Students
• Course Search
• How to Apply
• Visit Campus
• Costs & Financial Aid
• Net Price Calculator
• UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law
• Housing & Residential Life
• Clubs & Organizations
• New Student Programs
• Student Support
• Fitness & Recreation
• Student Union
• Health & Wellness
• Student Life Leadership
• Sport Clubs
• UNH Wildcats
• Intramural Sports
• Campus Recreation
• Centers & Institutes
• Undergraduate Research
• Research Office
• Graduate Research
• FindScholars@UNH
• Business Partnerships with UNH
• Professional Development & Continuing Education
• Research and Technology at UNH
• Current Students
• Faculty & Staff
• Alumni & Friends
• Request Information

Bad Luck or Bad Decisions? Macroeconomic Implications of Persistent Heterogeneity in Cognitive Skills and Overconfidence

Business cycle models often abstract from persistent household heterogeneity, despite its potentially significant implications for macroeconomic fluctuations and policy. We show empirically that the likelihood of being persistently financially constrained decreases with cognitive skills and increases with overconfidence thereon. Guided by this and other micro evidence, we add persistent heterogeneity in cognitive skills and overconfidence to an otherwise standard HANK model. Overconfidence proves to be the key innovation, driving households to spend instead of precautionary save and producing empirically realistic wealth distributions and hand-to-mouth shares and MPCs across the income distribution. We highlight implications for various fiscal policies.

An early draft of this paper was titled "Heterogeneity in what? Cognitive Skills, Beliefs and the Liquid Wealth Distribution". We thank Eduardo Dávila, Greg Kaplan, Ralph Luetticke (discussant), Kurt Mitman, Peter Maxted, Matthew Rognlie, Johannes Stroebel, Hannes Twieling, Gianluca Violante, Michael Weber, Nathan Zorzi, and seminar and conference participants at the Bank of Finland, the 13th ifo Conference on Macroeconomics and Survey Data, EEA/ESEM 2023, the University of Zurich, the University of Virginia, the Bonn-Berlin PhD Workshop, the Swiss Economists Abroad end-of-year conference, the HeiTueHo Workshop, EWMES 2023, and the 5th Behavioral Macroeconomics Workshop for helpful comments and suggestions. Pfäuti gratefully acknowledges financial support by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) through CRC TR 224 (Project C02) and the Stiftung Geld & Währung. Seyrich gratefully acknowledges financial support by the Leibniz Association through the project "Distributional effects of macroeconomic policies in Europe". Zinman thanks the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Public Policy at Dartmouth for funding. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

MARC RIS BibTeΧ

Download Citation Data

Working Groups

More from nber.

In addition to working papers , the NBER disseminates affiliates’ latest findings through a range of free periodicals — the NBER Reporter , the NBER Digest , the Bulletin on Retirement and Disability , the Bulletin on Health , and the Bulletin on Entrepreneurship  — as well as online conference reports , video lectures , and interviews .

The Moscow metro will remain without advertising

• Vladimir Chernikov
• Gyula Kogan
• Konstantin Gorokhov
• Government of Moscow
• State Unitary Enterprise "Moscow Metro"

Related materials

• One day in Moscow feeds for the whole year Business | 22.08.2016
• Why Moscow sinks: how reconstruction of streets clogged drains Society | 26.07.2016
• Arkady Volozh's son gets rid of real estate development business Business | 17.02.2016
• Moscow earns nothing on paid parking Officials | 25.01.2016
• RBC investigation: who earns on the construction of the Moscow metro Business | 27.10.2015
• Rucompromat review, 16-23 October: tea drinking, cups smashing Reviews | 26.10.2015
• RBC investigation: who earns on the reconstruction of Moscow Business | 20.10.2015
• RBC investigation: who earns on paid parking in Moscow Business | 31.12.2014
• Advertisement in the metro drove a wedge between the Moscow officials Officials | 26.11.2014
• State order for Artemy Lebedev Society | 26.08.2014
• Who and what makes money on provision of urban amenities in Moscow Business | 03.07.2014
• Profitable dump: billionaires and state-owned companies joined the struggle for the wastes market Business | 12.02.2014

• > BUSINESS DIRECTORY

Business Directory

Search the Dun & Bradstreet Data Cloud, covering hundreds of millions of business records to discover insights about companies of interest to you. Or, search our industry directory to view highlights from our industry reports to gain visibility into growing markets and understand trends and forecasts. Use industry insights to target companies based on size, location, competitors and more. Our industry analysis tools help sales teams research prospects’ business challenges, call preparation questions, industry forecasts, and more.

If you want to go deeper, you can access the Data Cloud in multiple ways: through our solutions, such as D&B Hoovers for sales acceleration or D&B Finance Analytics Credit Intelligence for financial risk insights; through our APIs; or through partner solutions.

With D&B Hoovers , you can uncover targeted leads and new sales opportunities, and easily perform public and private company research to speed your selling process.

With D&B Finance Analytics Credit Intelligence , or our Business Credit reports, you can make credit decisions with confidence and increase your operational efficiency, leveraging Dun & Bradstreet’s unrivaled risk insights.

Developing ash-free high-strength spherical carbon catalyst supports

• Domestic Catalysts
• Published: 28 June 2013
• Volume 5 , pages 156–163, ( 2013 )

Cite this article

• V. V. Gur’yanov 1 ,
• V. M. Mukhin 1 &
• A. A. Kurilkin 1  

49 Accesses

Explore all metrics

The possibility of using furfurol for the production of ash-free high-strength active carbons with spheroidal particles as adsorbents and catalyst supports is substantiated. A single-stage process that incorporates the resinification of furfurol, the molding of a spherical product, and its hardening while allowing the process cycle time and the cost of equipment to be reduced is developed. Derivatographic, X-ray diffraction, mercury porometric, and adsorption studies of the carbonization of the molded spherical product are performed to characterize the development of the primary and porous structures of carbon residues. Ash-free active carbons with spheroidal particles, a full volume of sorbing micro- and mesopores (up to 1.50 cm 3 /g), and a uniquely high mechanical strength (its abrasion rate is three orders of magnitude lower than that of industrial active carbons) are obtained via the vapor-gas activation of a carbonized product. The obtained active carbons are superior to all known foreign and domestic analogues and are promising for the production of catalysts that operate under severe regimes, i.e., in moving and fluidized beds.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA) Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Rent this article via DeepDyve

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Carbon adsorbents for methane storage: genesis, synthesis, porosity, adsorption

Ilya Men’shchikov, Andrey Shiryaev, … Anatoly Fomkin

Hierarchical nanostructured carbons as CO2 adsorbents

Kiara Montiel-Centeno, Deicy Barrera, … Karim Sapag

Carbon materials from the Sibunit family and methods for controlling their properties

G. V. Plaksin, O. N. Baklanova, … V. A. Likholobov

Burushkina, T.N., Zh. Ross. Khim. O-va im. D.I. Mendeleeva , 1995, vol. 39, no. 6, p. 122.

CAS   Google Scholar  

Kryazhev, Yu. G., Abstract of Papers, Materialy XII vserossiiskogo simpoziuma s uchastiem inostrannykh uchenykh “Aktual’nye problemy teorii adsorptsii, poristosti i adsorptsionnoi selektivnosti” (Proc. of XII th All-Russia Symposium with the Participation of Foreign Scientists “Urgent Problems of the Theory of Adsorption, Porosity, and Adsorption Selectivity”), Moscow, 2008, p. 69.

Google Scholar  

Kartel’, N.T., in Adsorbtsiya, adsorbenty i adsorbtsionnye protsessy v nanoporistykh materialakh (Adsorption, Adsorbents, and Adsorption Processes in Nanoporous Materials), Tsivadze, A.Yu., Ed., Moscow: Granitsa, 2011, p. 381.

RF Patent 2026813, 1993.

RF Patent 2257343, 2003.

RF Patent 2301701, 2006.

Dubinin, M.M., Zaverina, E.D., Ivanova, L.S., Kaverov, A.T., and Kasatochkin, V.I., Rus. Chem. Bull. , 1961, vol. 10, no. 1, p. 14.

Article   Google Scholar  

Usenbaev, K. and Zhumalieva, K., Rentgenograficheskoe issledovanie struktury i termicheskikh preobrazovanii amorfnykh uglerodov (X-ray Study of the Structure and Thermal Transformations of Amorphous Carbons), Frunze: Mektep, 1976.

Gur’yanova, L.N. and Gur’yanov, V.V., Zh. Fiz. Khim. , 1984, vol. 58, no. 6, p. 1459; 1989, vol. 63, no. 1, p. 161; 1989, vol. 63, no. 2, p. 426; 1989, vol. 63, no. 3, p. 683.

Guryanov, V.V., Petukhova, G.A., and Dubinina, L.A., Prot. Metal. Phys. Chem. Surf. , 2010, vol. 46, no. 2, p. 191.

Article   CAS   Google Scholar  

Guryanov, V.V., Dubinin, M.M., and Misin, M.S., Zh. Fiz. Khim. , 1975, vol. 49, no. 9, p. 2374.

Gur’yanov, V.V., Petukhova, G.A., and Polyakov, N.S., Rus. Chem. Bull. , 2001, vol. 50, no. 6, p. 974.

Dubinin, M.M., Carbon , 1989, vol. 27, no. 3, p. 457.

Belyaev, N.M., Soprotivlenie materialov (Strength of Materials), Moscow: Nauka, 1976.

Temkin, I.V., Proizvodstvo elektrougol’nykh izdelii (Production of Electrocarbon Articles), Moscow: Vysshaya shkola, 1980.

Download references

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

OAO Elektrostal’ Research and Production Association Neorganika, Elektrostal’, Moscow oblast, 144001, Russia

V. V. Gur’yanov, V. M. Mukhin & A. A. Kurilkin

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Additional information

Original Russian Text © V.V. Gur’yanov, V.M. Mukhin, A.A. Kurilkin, 2013, published in Kataliz v Promyshlennosti.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Gur’yanov, V.V., Mukhin, V.M. & Kurilkin, A.A. Developing ash-free high-strength spherical carbon catalyst supports. Catal. Ind. 5 , 156–163 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1134/S2070050413020062

Download citation

Received : 08 December 2011

Published : 28 June 2013

Issue Date : April 2013

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1134/S2070050413020062

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• carbon adsorbent
• porous structure
• polymerization
• Find a journal
• Publish with us
• Track your research