NEW YORK: Psychophysiology – the study of the relationship between the mind and body – could help brands establish when and how ads spur consumers to purchase, according to a paper in the latest issue of the Journal of Advertising Research(JAR).

A team of authors that included Myriam Martínez-Fiestas (ESAN, Graduate School of Business, Peru) as well as María Isabel Viedma del Jesus, Juan Sánchez-Fernández and Francisco J. Montoro-Rios (all from Spain's University of Granada) investigated this subject.

More specifically, they addressed whether (and how) a message activates a consumer's defensive motivational system (resulting in inaction) or their appetitive motivational system (inspiring positive physical action).

The findings, their research proposed, offer evidence as to what type of messages are better at provoking the emotions which increase the potential of such campaigns to elicit positive changes in behaviour.

In reaching their conclusions, the authors analysed the emotions produced in response to different advertising messages designed with a combination of differentiated elements.

And, in a marketing ecosystem where non-neurological return on investment has become a critical part of every piece of work, the study also offers means that allow for the improved measurement of campaign results.

The paper – entitled, A Psychophysiological Approach for Measuring Response to Messaging: How Consumers Emotionally Process Green Advertising – appears as part of a four-part special "How Does Neuroscience work in Advertising?" section of JAR.

Also included in this section were considerations on the reliability of new neuromarketing tools, the way visual processing can affect sponsorship programs and the use of eye tracking in determining audience attention to competing editorial and advertising content.

Data sourced from Journal of Advertising Research; additional content by Warc staff