The Research Challenge

Online media are the new kids on the block in the advertising and marketing world. Their biggest research challenge is to convince advertisers that they can deliver performance equal to or better than traditional media channels - TV, radio, and print. So they are deeply interested in finding answers to our "five questions" about attention, emotion, memory, preference and behavior.

In addition, online media share some important research challenges with software and gaming industries. As the major properties and online services compete for visitors and traffic, they want to know what kind of user experience they are offering, and how that experience compares to what their competitors are offering. They want to understand hard-to-quantify aspects of experience like engagement, frustration, and concentration.

Why Neuroscience Matters

The online world is full of metrics and most of them are behavioral - click-throughs, page visits, time on site. But these measures say nothing about what is going on in people heads while they are online. Do they spend more time on a site because they are engaged and enjoying it, or because they are having trouble finding what they are looking for? Surveys and focus groups can yield some insights, but not with the accuracy and objectivity of direct neurometric measures.

Neurometrics can measure the moment-to-moment flow of attention and emotion while online. They can pinpoint when and where attention is focused, and when interest fades. Neurometrics can even measure the subtle after-effects of an online session that people may not even be aware of - how the experience affects their future attentiveness toward items encountered in the session, such as ads and products, and whether those items are perceived with  more positive or negative emotional associations.

How Lucid Can Help ...