Consumer neuroscience: advances in understanding consumer psychology

• Neuroimaging can simultaneously track emotional responses to preferences and risks.
• Neural data can outperform behavioral data in predicting market-level outcomes.
• Capturing visual salience and subjective value improves understanding of choice.

While the study of consumer behavior has been enriched by improved abilities to generate new insights, many of the mechanisms underlying judgments and decision-making remain difficult to investigate. In this review, we highlight some of the ways in which our understanding of consumer psychology has been, and can be, advanced through the use of neurophysiological methods. In particular, we outline some of the common neural circuitry that is involved in affective processing, subjective value, persuasion, and attention. We discuss how an understanding of these mechanisms can be used to better elucidate various elements of consumer psychology. We show how recent findings have produced a deeper understanding of decision-making, and suggest directions for future research.