Short imagery task (SIT) research method

• US 8,684,742 B2
• Filed: 04/19/2011
• Issued: 04/01/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/19/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nielsen Consumer LLC (Nielsen Holdings plc)
• Original Assignee: Innerscope Research, Inc. (Nielsen Holdings plc)
• Inventors: Siefert, Caleb J.
• Primary Examiner(s): EGLOFF, PETER RICHARD
• Application Number:
  US13/089,752
• Publication Number:
  US 20110256520A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,078 Days
• Field of Search: 434/236, 434/323, 434/322, 434/350, 434/362, 725/10, 705/7.29, 705/7.31, 705/7.32
• US Class Current: 434/236
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 3/112 for measuring diameter of pupils
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0205 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular conditions and different types of body conditions, e.g. heart and respiratory condition
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/024 Detecting, measuring or recording pulse rate or heart rate A61B5/0205, A61B5/021 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0531 Measuring skin impedance
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0816 Measuring devices for examining respiratory frequency measuring frequency of electric signals G01R23/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/162 Testing reaction times
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/165 Evaluating the state of mind, e.g. depression, anxiety
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/013 Eye tracking input arrangements G06F3/015 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/70 Multimodal biometrics, e.g. combining information from different biometric modalities
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/065 Combinations of audio and video presentations, e.g. videotapes, videodiscs, television systems
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/10 all student stations being capable of presenting the same information simultaneously G09B5/14 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 7/073 all student stations being capable of presenting the same questions simultaneously
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/20 for electronic clinical trials or questionnaires

Abstract

The present invention relates to biologically and behaviorally based methods of measuring audience response to a short stimulus.

Claims

1. A method of determining a measure of response of an audience to a target stimulus comprising:

providing a media device operable to expose each participant of the audience to a presentation, wherein the presentation includes a first series of standardized stimuli, at least one target stimulus, and a second series of standardized stimuli;

providing a biometric sensor device operable to measure at least a first biometric parameter and a second biometric parameter;

providing a visual attention device operable to collect visual attention data from each participant;

providing a computer system operable to receive and record data representative of the at least two biometric parameters and the visual attention data;

using the media device,

exposing each participant of the audience to a presentation over a period of time, wherein each participant is exposed to a null exposure following exposure to each stimulus; and

re-exposing each participant to the at least one target stimulus;

using the computer system,

receiving and recording data representative of the first and second biometric parameters and the visual attention data for each participant of the audience over the period of time of exposure;

collecting and recording from each participant a response to at least one self-report question during the re-exposing step, wherein the at least one self-report question comprises a level of likeability of the at least one target stimulus, a valence of emotional response to the at least one target stimulus, an interest for the at least one target stimulus, or a combination thereof;

calculating a single physiological score for each participant based on the data collected on the at least two biometric parameters;

calculating an Emotional Impact Score for the audience using each participant'"'"'s single physiological score;

calculating an Explicit Emotion Score, wherein the Explicit Emotion score comprises a single score comprising a combination of the responses to each of the at least one self-report question; and

plotting the Emotional Impact Score and the Explicit Emotion Score on a biphasic graph to predict a level of engagement of a population larger than the audience.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first series of standardized stimuli comprises between 4 and 20 standardized images and wherein the second series of standardized stimuli comprises between 4 and 20 standardized images.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the biometric sensor device is operable to measure at least a third biometric parameter.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of synchronizing the biometric sensor device and visual attention device with the media device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of synchronizing further comprises linking the at least two biometric parameters and the visual attention data with incremental time slots of the presentation.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second biometric parameters each independently comprise one of skin conductance, heart rate, heart rate variability respiration, and brain wave activity.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the visual attention data comprises at least one of gaze location, fixation duration, and movement over a presentation for each member of the audience.

8. A method of determining a measure of response of an audience to a target stimulus comprising:

providing each participant a biometric sensor device capable of measuring at least two biometric parameters;

providing each participant an eye tracking device capable of collecting visual attention data;

providing a media device, wherein the biometric sensor, eye-tracking device, and media device are synchronized;

using the media device,

exposing each participant to a first series of standardized stimuli, wherein each standardized image is followed by a null exposure;

exposing each participant to a first target stimulus, wherein the target stimulus is followed by a null exposure;

exposing each participant to a second series of standardized stimuli, wherein each standardized image is followed by a null exposure; and

re-exposing each participant to each target stimulus;

using the biometric sensor device, measuring at least two biometric parameters during each exposure;

using the eye tracking device, measuring visual attention data during each exposure;

providing a computer system connected to the biometric sensor operable to receive data representative of the at least two biometric parameters and the visual attention data;

using the computer system,

recording a response from each participant a response to at least one self-report question during the re-exposure step;

calculating a single physiological score for each participant based on the at least two biometric parameters, wherein the single physiological score comprises an integration across channels of the at least two biometric parameters;

calculating an Emotional Impact Score for the audience using each participant'"'"'s single physiological score;

calculating an Explicit Emotion Score; and

plotting the Emotional Impact Score and the Explicit Emotion Score on a biphasic graph to predict a level of engagement of a population larger than the audience.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the audience comprises at least 10 participants.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the at least one self-report question comprises a level of likeability of the at least one target stimulus, a valence of emotional response to the at least one target stimulus, an interest for the at least one target stimulus, or a combination thereof.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the at least one self-report question comprises at least three self-report questions comprising a level of likeability of the at least one target stimulus, a valence of emotional response to the at least one target stimulus, and an interest for the at least one target stimulus.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the at least two parameters each independently comprise one of skin conductance, heart rate, heart rate variability respiration, and brain wave activity.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the visual attention data comprises at least one of gaze location, fixation duration, and movement within a localized area over a presentation for each member of the audience.

14. A method of determining a measure of response of an audience to a target stimulus comprising:

providing a first biometric sensor device operable to measure at least one biometric parameters;

providing a second biometric sensor device operable to measure at least two biometric parameters;

providing a media device operable to display a presentation to the audience, wherein the first and second biometric sensor devices and the media device are synchronized;

using the media device, exposing each participant of the audience to the presentation over a period of time wherein the presentation includes a first series of standardized stimuli, at least one target stimulus, and a second series of standardized stimuli, and wherein each participant is exposed to a null exposure for a period of time following exposure to each stimulus;

providing a computer system operable to receive data representative of the at least two biometric parameters, wherein the computer further comprises a memory for storing the data;

using the media device, re-exposing each participant to the at least one target stimulus;

using the computer system,

collecting from each participant a response to at least one self-report question;

calculating a single physiological score for each participant based on the data collected on the at least two biometric parameters;

calculating an Emotional Impact Score for the audience using each participant'"'"'s single physiological score; and

calculating an Explicit Emotion Score for the audience using each participant'"'"'s response to the at least one self-report question, wherein the Emotional Impact Score and Explicit Emotion Score are plotted on a biphasic graph to predict engagement of a population larger than the audience.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the at least one self-report question comprises a level of likeability of the at least one target stimulus, a valence of emotional response to the at least one target stimulus, an interest for the at least one target stimulus, or a combination thereof.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the at least one self-report question comprises at least three self-report questions.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein each participant is exposed to the standardized stimuli and the at least one target stimulus for between about 5 seconds and about 20 seconds, and wherein each participant is exposed to a null exposure for between about 5 seconds and about 15 seconds.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising providing each participant with at least three self-report questions and calculating an Explicit Emotion Score for the audience using each participant'"'"'s response to the at least three self-report questions.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the at least two parameters each independently comprise one of skin conductance, heart rate, heart rate variability respiration, and brain wave activity.

20. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of providing each participant a visual attention device operable to determine visual attention data, wherein the first and second biometric sensor devices, the visual attention device, and the media device are synchronized.