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| Neuromarketing tools | What is measured? | Business application | Advantages | Limitations |
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| Metabolic activity in the brain |
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| Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) | Human memory encoding, sensory perception, craving, trust and brand engagement, loyalty, preference, and recall | It is used to test products, advertising campaigns, packaging, designs, and prices; to predict customers’ choices or identify their needs; to reposition a brand; and to test sensory characteristics and a celebrity endorsement. | High spatial resolution, ability to localize neural processing during consumer choices and consumption experience, valid measure for cognitive and affective responses, and ability to detect changes in chemical composition or changes in the flow fluids in the brain | Low temporal resolution, expensive, immobility of participants during the experiments, nonscalable, and ethical barriers |
| Positron emission tomography (PET) | Sensory perception and valence of emotions | It is used to test new products, advertisements, and packaging designs. | High spatial resolution, valid measure for cognitive and affective responses, and ability to detect changes in chemical composition or changes in the flow fluids in the brain | Poor temporal resolution, expensive, and invasiveness by the application of radioactive contrast |
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| Electrical activity in the brain |
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| Magnetoencephalography (MEG) | Perception, attention, and memory | It is used to test new products, advertisements, packaging design, and sensory studies and identify needs. | Has good temporal resolution and spatial resolution better than that of EEG | Need for a room free from the earth’s magnetic field, expensive, and ethical barriers |
| Electroencephalography (EEG) | Attention, engagement, excitement, emotional valence, cognition, memory encoding, recognition, approach withdrawal, and mental workload | It is used to test advertisements, movie trailers, website design and usability, app and social media, in-store experiences, print and image design, new product, packaging design, pricing, sensory studies, outdoor advertisements, political debate, and other marketing stimuli. | High temporal resolution, relative low equipment costs, noninvasiveness, valid measure for cognitive information processing, and portability | Low spatial resolution, nonscalable, and susceptibility of the results to the influence of the moving artifacts |
| Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) | Attention, cognition, and changes in behaviour | It is used to test new products, advertisements, packaging design, and other marketing stimuli. | Portability and possibility of studying specific brain areas | Expensive and ethical barriers manipulating brain activity |
| Steady-state topography (SST) | Memory encoding, engagement, emotional engagement, attention, and processing visual and olfactory input | It is used to test advertisements, movie trailers, prints and images, and brand communication. | High temporal resolution and tolerance for high levels of noise or interferences | Low spatial resolution |
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| No brain activity |
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| Eye tracker | Visual search, fixation position, eye movement patterns, spatial resolution, excitement, attention, and pupil dilation | It is used to test websites and usability, app and social media, in-store reactions, packaging designs, advertisements and video materials, print and image design, shelf layout, product placement, and aesthetic stimuli. It can test how a consumer filters information and determines the hierarchy of perceptions of the stimulus material. | Portability and noninvasiveness | Low flexibility since it does not work efficiently with glasses and contact lenses |
| Physiological response: HR and GSR | Emotional engagement, valence, arousal | It is used to test advertisements, movie trailers, website design, app and social media, product perception, aesthetic stimuli, and other marketing stimuli. It can measure reactions and consumer measures in both laboratory settings and the natural environment (i.e., store). | Portability and noninvasiveness | More informative if combined with other neurometric tools |
| Indirect measures: reaction time | Reaction time and underlying attitudes/evaluation | It is used to test consumer attitudes (for brands and categories), celebrity endorsement (choosing the right option), and salient packaging features/brand image. | Less biased | Responds depending on the subject collaboration |
| Facial coding | Unconscious reactions and emotions | It is used to test advertisements (e.g., dynamic and static) and movie trailers. | Real-time data and noninvasiveness | Subjectivity |
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