Advertising Age published an article today which looked, with some skepticism, at using neuroscience techniques on focus groups: Hidden Persuasion or Junk Science?

One of the underlying problems with the type of neuromarketing described in the article seems to be that there is some confusion about how science works and how that relates to marketing.

Good science works by a scientist running carefully designed experiments, analyzing data, running more experiments and writing up a paper. The scientist then submits the paper to a journal which may or may not accept it. The paper is reviewed by peers before it is published and revisions are made. Once it's published, if the research is interesting or important enough, other scientists will try to reproduce it. In other words, the data is questioned all along the way.

To take a neuroscience technique, use it on a small focus group, and then conclude this indicates how consumers are going to respond is not science. It uses a scientific technique that may give interesting and useful information. The data, though, is not coming under much scrutiny or testing and so can be very misleading.

From the article:

"Indeed, in the view of some neuroscientists and marketing researchers, the notion that the human brain should be studied in isolation is deeply flawed to begin with. Measuring the brain's reaction to a TV spot simply does not provide enough data to extrapolate future behavior. Studying how a person interacts within the larger culture is far more important.

"There are many other constraints outside the brain that make us act the way we do," said John Winsor, VP-director of the cognitive and cultural radar department in Crispin Porter & Bogusky's Boulder, Colo., office. ...

"For example, Mr. Winsor said, does it make a difference if a test subject's brain lights up while viewing a Hummer ad in Boulder, where "you feel guilty if you don't drive a Prius, or where my parents live, in Cody, Wyo., where the norm is to drive a pickup truck?"

"There are other factors that control how we are going to interact, and culture is a big one," he added. "

While neuroscience techniques applied to a focus group may provide some valuable insights, this approach should be taken with a grain of salt.