The use of cognitive neuroscience for user friendliness

Cognitive neuroscience is the study of the cognitive functions in our brain and what neurological processes accompany that. On practical use of this study is the adjustment of the physical world to match our neurological and psychological world making it easier and more effective for humans to interact with the physical world. For instance: if the display of a computer was adjusted in such a way that all actions and processes are in accordance with the logical neurological structure of the user, all actions would be intuitive and everybody would be able to use his or her computer to the maximum. Although this seems to be a very desired progress, there is a certain downside to this story. This fine-tuning of products, objects and information could indeed enhance user friendliness, however it could also be used to influence people to make certain decisions or act in certain ways.

The influence of neuromarketing

A way in which this has been tried for many years is marketing. In marketing it is the goal to present a product in such a way that it fits the consumer (and therefore his or her brain) in such a way that this consumer chooses that specific product to buy. For a very long time until around 1995, almost all marketing research has been done in psychological or marketeering manner. This means that there has only been looked at the apparent psychological processes accompanying product purchasing behavior and the actual purchasing behavior data in a whole. With the rise of neuromarketing, which has been officially recognized in 2002 by the hand of Ale Smidts, a deeper understanding of the brain processes that accompany purchasing behavior is being realized. Now this linking of product design and function to the human brain can lead to commercials which are so fine-tuned to the brain that we, without being aware of this happening, are intrinsically pulled to buying this product. This influencing people without them knowing has already been done with all forms of marketing, however, this has always been more guessing at what would work than knowing. The effectiveness of marketing has always been relatively low, but with neuromarketing the prospect could be that marketing could influence our consumer behavior to a very large extend without us knowing it.

Loss of free will

It might seem to you that influencing consumer behavior has always been done and is not a reason of concern. However, with the help of neuromarketing the influence could be of such a magnitude that one could say the free will of the consumer is seriously being inhibited because he is neurologically “forced” to buy a certain product. This business of influencing people in such a way to force them in a way to make certain decisions could be implemented in other areas such as politics and social behavior. Only the future can tell the measure in which this hypothesis will be valid, however I believe it is an aspect to consider when applying knowledge in an attempt to guide human choice.

Sources:

Braeutigam, S. "Neuroeconomics—From Neural Systems to Economic Behaviour." Brain Research Bulletin 67.5 (2005): 355-60

Ambler, Tim, Andreas Ioannides, and Steven Rose. "Brands on the Brain: Neuro-Images of Advertising." Business Strategy Review 11.3 (2000): 17-30.

Wilson, R. Mark, Jeannie Gaines, and Ronald Paul Hill. "Neuromarketing and Consumer Free Will." Journal of Consumer Affairs 42.3 (2008): 389-410.