Attention and emotion in spots. An analisys from neuroscience

Abstract

Introduction: The context of advertising saturation is a great incentive for the commercial system to delve into new forms of research to determine what a spot is and what makes it effective. The starting hypotheses of this research were the following: H1. The type of advertisement is a significant factor in the difference in attention and emotion in the studied public. H2. The abrupt change of sound or visual register is a factor in the change in attention and emotion in the studied public. H3. The higher the level of attention, the greater the intensity of the emotional register. H4. The higher the percentage of spontaneous recall, the better the spot is valued in subjective measurement. H5. The higher the percentage of suggested recall, the better the spot is valued in subjective measurement. Methodology: this work analyzes in a dual way (objective through EDA and subjective through a survey) a total of 17 advertising spots in a sample of 30 people of both sexes in similar proportion. The EDA analysis focused on the sample's attentional and emotional activation in response to the spots, while the survey measured subjective evaluation and perceived recall in a spontaneous and suggested manner. Results: The results suggest patterns of attentional and emotional activation on spots when sudden changes occur in audio or video, but specific types of spots with greater efficiency in this regard could not be highlighted. Emotional activation also occurs to a greater extent in situations of high attention. On the other hand, better evaluations of the spots were found the more they were recalled, whether spontaneous or suggested. Discussion: The results on attentional and emotional activation patterns are consistent with previous studies carried out with EDA and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), as is the relationship found between emotional activation in high attentional sections, although they could not be linked to specific types of spots, as other works have highlighted. The relationship between evaluation and spontaneous and suggested recall could be related to Gruber's studies at the University of California (USA), which highlight that the mind tends to remember to a greater extent events and situations that generate greater reward. In other words, we remember to a greater extent what we like. Conclusions: The most notable conclusions validate the hypotheses raised, except for the one related to the greater efficiency of the comic typology, which could not be demonstrated. The implications of this research for the improvement of television advertising communication are significant, since it provides interesting objective information for the production of advertising spots.