AUDIENCE RESPONSE ANALYSIS USING SIMULTANEOUS ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHY (EEG) AND FUNCTIONAL MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING (FMRI)

• US 20090030303A1
• Filed: 06/06/2008
• Published: 01/29/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nielsen Consumer LLC (Nielsen Holdings plc)
• Original Assignee: NeuroFocus Inc. (Nielsen Holdings plc)
• Inventors: Pradeep, Anantha, Knight, Robert T., Gurumoorthy, Ramachandran
• Granted Patent: US 8,494,905 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/411
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/055 involving electronic [EMR] or nuclear [NMR] magnetic resonance, e.g. magnetic resonance imaging
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/16 Devices for psychotechnics using teaching or educational appliances G09B1/00 - G09B7/00; Testing reaction times ; Devices for evaluating the psychological state
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/377 using evoked responses
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0242 Determining effectiveness of advertisements

Abstract

Neuro-response data including Electroencephalography (EEG), Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) is filtered, analyzed, and combined to evaluate the effectiveness of stimulus materials such as marketing and entertainment materials. A data collection mechanism including multiple modalities such as, Electroencephalography (EEG), Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), Electrooculography (EOG), Galvanic Skin Response (GSR), etc., collects response data from subjects exposed to marketing and entertainment stimuli. A data cleanser mechanism filters the response data and removes cross-modality interference.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a data collection mechanism including a plurality of modalities operable to obtain response data from a subject exposed to stimulus material including marketing and entertainment stimulus material, the response data comprising electroencephalography (EEG) response data and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) response data;

a filter connected to the data collection mechanism operable to remove cross-modality interference from the EEG response data and the fMRI response data;

a cross-modality response synthesizer operable to analyze EEG response data and fMRI response data to evaluate effectiveness of the stimulus material, wherein EEG response data is combined with fMRI response data.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein removing cross-modality interference comprises removing EEG generated artifacts from fMRI response data and fMRI generated artifacts from EEG response data.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein EEG response data is aligned with fMRI response data, wherein aligning EEG response data with fMRI response data comprises time and phase shifting.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the response data further comprises electrooculography (EOG) data.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the response data further comprises eye tracking data.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein eye tracking saccadic measures of object entities are aligned and combined with EEG to determine attention, emotional engagement, and memory retention.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the response data further comprises Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) measures.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein GSR measures are aligned and combined with electroencephalography (EEG) to enhance estimates of effectiveness.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein combined time-frequency responses of ongoing EEG are determined to extract single trial evoked information

10. A method, comprising:

obtaining response data using a plurality of modalities, the response data obtained from a subject exposed to stimulus material including marketing and entertainment stimulus material, the response data comprising electroencephalography (EEG) response data and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) response data;

removing cross-modality interference from the EEG response data and the fMRI response data;

analyzing EEG response data and fMRI response data to evaluate effectiveness of the stimulus material, wherein EEG response data is combined with fMRI response data.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein removing cross-modality interference comprises removing EEG generated artifacts from fMRI response data and fMRI generated artifacts from EEG response data.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein EEG response data is aligned with fMRI response data, wherein aligning EEG response data with fMRI response data comprises time and phase shifting.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the response data further comprises electrooculography (EOG) data.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the response data further comprises eye tracking data.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein eye tracking saccadic measures of object entities are aligned and combined with EEG to determine attention, emotional engagement, and memory retention.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the response data further comprises Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) measures.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein GSR measures are aligned and combined with electroencephalography (EEG) to enhance estimates of effectiveness.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein combined time-frequency responses of ongoing EEG are determined to extract single trial evoked information

20. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein removing cross-modality interference comprises removing EEG generated artifacts from fMRI response data and fMRI generated artifacts from EEG response data.

19. An apparatus, comprising:

means for obtaining response data using a plurality of modalities, the response data obtained from a subject exposed to stimulus material including marketing and entertainment stimulus material, the response data comprising electroencephalography (EEG) response data and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) response data;

means for removing cross-modality interference from the EEG response data and the fMRI response data;

means for analyzing EEG response data and fMRI response data to evaluate effectiveness of the stimulus material, wherein EEG response data is combined with fMRI response data.