Stimulus placement system using subject neuro-response measurements

• US 8,386,313 B2
• Filed: 08/27/2008
• Issued: 02/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nielsen Consumer LLC (Nielsen Holdings plc)
• Original Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Inventors: Pradeep, Anantha, Knight, Robert T., Gurumoorthy, Ramachandran
• Primary Examiner(s): Colbert, Ella
• Assistant Examiner(s): Trotter, Scott S
• Application Number:
  US12/199,557
• Publication Number:
  US 20090062629A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,644 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14.41, 705/14.66
• US Class Current: 705/14.42
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/318 Heart-related electrical modalities, e.g. electrocardiography [ECG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/375 using biofeedback
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/389 Electromyography [EMG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/395 Details of stimulation, e.g. nerve stimulation to elicit EMG response
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/398 Electrooculography [EOG], e.g. detecting nystagmus; Electroretinography [ERG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4035 Evaluating the autonomic nervous system
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0242 Determining effectiveness of advertisements

Abstract

A system evaluates and selects temporal and spatial locations for introduction of stimulus material. Video streams, physical locations, print advertisements, store shelves, images, commercials, etc. are analyzed to identify locations for introducing stimulus material, such as messages, brand images, products, media, marketing and/or other sales materials. The system analyzes neuro-response measurements from subjects exposed to stimulus material in different temporal and spatial locations. Examples of neuro-response measurements include Electroencephalography (EEG), Galvanic Skin Response (GSR), Electrocardiograms (EKG), Electrooculography (EOG), eye tracking, and facial emotion encoding measurements. Neuro-response measurements are analyzed to select temporal and spatial locations for introduction of stimulus material.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a data collector to obtain first neuro-response data from a first one of a plurality of subjects exposed to source material, the data collector to obtain second neuro-response data from the first one or a second one of the plurality of subjects for a plurality of candidate advertisements or entertainment, the first neuro-response data obtained prior to inclusion of one or more of the advertisements or entertainment into the source material, the data collector to obtain third neuro-response data from the first one, the second one or a third one of the plurality of subjects exposed to a composition of the source material and one or more of the advertisements or entertainment;

a selector to identify a plurality of candidate locations in the source material for introduction of one or more of the advertisements or entertainment based on the first neuro-response data and the second neuro-response data; and

an integrator comprising a processor configured to generate the composition by including one or more of the advertisements or entertainment in the source material at one or more of the candidate locations, the selector and the integrator to change the composition based on an interaction between a first frequency band of electroencephalography data reflected in the third neuro-response data and a second frequency band of electroencephalography data reflected in the third neuro-response data, the second frequency band being different than the first frequency band, the first frequency band and the second frequency band representative of brain activity occurring at a same time, the interaction between the first frequency band and the second frequency band corresponding to a degree of phase synchrony or amplitude synchrony determined by;

detecting a first pattern of oscillation in the first frequency band;

detecting a second pattern of oscillation in the second frequency band; and

detecting a repeating sequence of phase angles or relative amplitude between the first pattern of oscillation in the first frequency band and the second pattern of oscillation in the second frequency band.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the source material is included in a first media stream.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the advertisement or entertainment is included in a second media stream.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising a data analyzer to determine the effectiveness of the composition based on the third neuro-response data.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the advertisement includes a brand image.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of candidate locations comprises a plurality of at least one of temporal location or spatial locations.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the selector is to identify the plurality of candidate locations based on one or more lulls in the source material.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the selector is to identify a lull based on the first neuro-response data indicating that a location elicits low neuro-response measurements from the subject.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the data collector is to employ a plurality of data collection modalities to collect the first, second and third neuro-response data, the plurality of modalities including at least two of electroencephalography, electrooculography, galvanic skin response, electrocardiography, pupillary dilation or eye tracking.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the data collector is to obtain first and second event related potential measurements to enable determination of differential measurements of event related potential time domain components at multiple regions of the brain.

11. The system of claim 10 further comprising a data analyzer is to subtract the first event related potential measurement from the second event related potential measurement to obtain the differential measurement, the data analyzer is to assess at least one of attention, emotion or memory retention across multiple frequency bands based on the differential measurements of event related potential.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the multiple frequency bands comprise at least two of a theta frequency band, an alpha frequency band, a beta frequency band, a gamma frequency band or a high gamma frequency band.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first neuro-response data or the second neuro-response data includes first data gathered using a first data collection modality and second data gathered using a second data collection modality.

14. The system of claim 13 further comprising a data analyzer to align the first data gathered using the first data collection modality with the second data gathered using the second data collection modality and to combine the aligned data.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the data analyzer is to at least one of time shift or phase shift at least one of the first data or the second data to align the first data with the second data.

16. A method, comprising:

obtaining first neuro-response data from a first one of a plurality of subjects exposed to source material;

obtaining second neuro-response data from the first one or a second one of the plurality of subjects for a plurality of candidate advertisements or entertainment, the first neuro-response data obtained prior to the inclusion of one or more of the advertisements or entertainment into the source material;

obtaining, with a plurality of sensors, third neuro-response data from the first one, the second one or a third one of the plurality of subjects exposed to a composition of the source material and one or more of the advertisements or entertainment;

identifying a plurality of candidate locations in the source material for introduction of one or more of the advertisements or entertainment based on the first neuro-response data and the second neuro-response data;

generating, using a processor, the composition by including one or more of the advertisements or entertainment in the source material at one or more of the candidate locations; and

initiating a change of the composition, with the processor, based on an interaction between a first frequency band of electroencephalography activity reflected in the third neuro-response data and a second frequency band of the electroencephalography activity reflected in the third neuro-response data, the second frequency band being different than the first frequency band, the first frequency band and the second frequency band being representative of brain activity occurring at a same time, the interaction between the first frequency band and the second frequency band corresponding to a degree of phase synchrony or amplitude synchrony determined by;

detecting a first pattern of oscillation in the first frequency band;

detecting a second pattern of oscillation in the second frequency band; and

detecting a repeating sequence of phase angles or relative amplitudes between the first pattern of oscillation in the first frequency band and the second pattern of oscillation in the second frequency band.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the plurality of candidate locations comprises a plurality of at least one of temporal location or spatial locations.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein identifying the plurality of candidate locations comprises identifying one or more lulls in the source material.

19. A tangible machine readable storage device or disc comprising machine readable instructions thereon which, when read, cause a machine to at least:

identify a plurality of candidate locations in source material for introduction of one or more of advertisements or entertainment based on first neuro-response data obtained from a first one of a plurality of subjects exposed to the source material and second neuro-response data obtained from the first one or a second one of the plurality of subjects for a plurality of candidate advertisements or entertainment, the first neuro-response data obtained prior to inclusion of one or more of the advertisements or entertainment into the source material;

generate the composition by including one or more of the advertisements or entertainment in the source material at one or more of the candidate locations; and

initiate a change of the composition, with the processor, based on an interaction between a first frequency band of electroencephalography activity and a second frequency band of the electroencephalography activity reflected in third neuro-response data obtained from the first one, the second one or a third one of the plurality of subjects exposed to a composition of the source material and one or more of the advertisements or entertainment, the second frequency band being different than the first frequency band, the first frequency band and the second frequency band being representative of brain activity occurring at a same time, the interaction between the first frequency band and the second frequency band corresponding to a degree of phase synchrony or amplitude synchrony determined by;

detecting a first pattern of oscillation in the first frequency band;

detecting a second pattern of oscillation in the second frequency band; and

detecting a repeating sequence of phase angles or relative amplitudes between the first pattern of oscillation in the first frequency band and the second pattern of oscillation in the second frequency band.

20. The machine readable device or disc of claim 19 wherein the plurality of candidate locations comprises a plurality of at least one of temporal location or spatial locations.