Would you feel comfortable if market researchers could know your every thought?
A headband designed by San Francisco firm EmSense can sense your brainwaves as you have reactions to watching something and then record the data for researchers.
The process of measuring your reaction to something is known as ‘quantitative neurometrics’ and it can be carried out as you watch a computer or television screen.
Measuring reactions: The EmBand, designed by San Francisco firm EmSense, can sense your brainwaves as you have reactions to watching something
The firm is launching its ‘in-home’ research panel employing the EmBand monitoring technology in an attempt to get better feedback on emotional responses.
The EmBand can also measure how much attention you are paying, or your ‘cognitive engagement’, by measuring brainwave activity, reported technology site Venture Beat.
The firm does studies by asking respondents to voluntarily share their information.
This has been compared to the controversial 1971 film A Clockwork Orange, where authorities try to psychologically modify the behaviour of a teenage thug.
But the big difference with EmSense is that the test subjects are volunteers.
It says market research firms want to measure emotional responses more accurately to get better reactions to advertising, creative concepts, packaging and shopping. EmSense ships the user a kit with an EmBand wireless headset and a wireless receiver for use with his or her PC computer, directing them to a specific web page.
The firm, which has 80 employees, was founded by technologists from Hewlett-Packard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2004.
It has tested more than 100,000 respondents in 25 countries, reported Venture Beat.
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