The long-standing methods of gauging consumer preference for new food products – surveys, focus groups, and sensory panels – are increasingly being called into question. For decades, food manufacturers have relied on these traditional approaches to understand how consumers truly feel about their innovations. However, Mario Ubiali, founder and CEO of the neuroscience company THIMUS, argues that these conventional techniques often yield responses that are not only misleading but can be entirely inaccurate.
“One of the most interesting discrepancies we’re seeing between declarative – what people say – and implicit – what people experience in the brain – derives from the fact that the brain is very lazy and tends to prefer experiences that are comfortable and repeated,” Ubiali explained in a recent discussion. This inherent human tendency, he suggests, can significantly skew the results of traditional consumer testing, leading to misinformed product development decisions and potentially costly market failures.
THIMUS is pioneering a new frontier in food product development by employing neuroscience to directly tap into a consumer’s subconscious responses. The company utilizes wearable EEG (electroencephalography) headbands to capture electrical activity in the frontal lobe of the brain as individuals engage with food and beverages. This sophisticated technology translates these neural signals into quantifiable data, providing objective insights into a consumer’s genuine preference, their sense of familiarity with a product, and their level of emotional engagement.
"Our brain constantly does things, and everything that the brain does translates into electrical activity," Ubiali elaborated. "Part of that electrical activity becomes an outbound signal, almost like a sound that your brain makes when it’s working." By decoding these "sounds," THIMUS aims to bypass the often-unreliable layer of verbal reporting and access a more authentic measure of consumer sentiment.
The underlying principles of THIMUS’s technology are rooted in established neuroscience methodologies. The EEG headband, equipped with advanced sensors, meticulously records the brain’s electrical output. This raw data is then transmitted to a cloud-based software platform where proprietary algorithms analyze and interpret the signals, quantifying aspects like likability, familiarity, and emotional resonance. "We objectify via digital data taken from the brain something that as a principle has always been there: understanding consumer preference," Ubiali stated.
The Unreliability of Verbal Feedback in Consumer Testing
Ubiali highlighted several key reasons why a consumer’s spoken word can diverge significantly from their brain’s actual experience. Social desirability bias is a major culprit. In situations where certain product attributes are perceived as socially beneficial or morally commendable, consumers may feel pressured to express positive opinions, even if their internal response is different.
A compelling example Ubiali provided involved the burgeoning market for plant-based meat alternatives. "If you went out to consumers and asked them how they liked a plant-based burger, there was huge social pressure," he recounted. "People would say, ‘of course, I want to save the planet.’ But when we measured in the brain, the brain really didn’t like it." This suggests that while consumers may verbally espouse the virtues of sustainable or ethical food choices, their visceral sensory experience might not align, leading to a disconnect between stated intent and actual product enjoyment. Essentially, consumers may use surveys or taste tests as an opportunity for "value signaling," aligning their responses with perceived societal expectations rather than their genuine feelings.
Beyond social pressures, the brain’s inherent preference for familiarity also plays a crucial role. Ubiali pointed out that even when a new taste is objectively pleasant, the brain often gravitates towards flavors that are already ingrained in its sensory memory. "The brain always tends to have food experiences that are comfortable and repeated," he emphasized. "There’s a big myth that has been built around novelty and exciting new experiences." This implies that a product might generate initial excitement during a controlled tasting session, but if it deviates too far from established sensory expectations, it may struggle to achieve long-term consumer adoption and repeat purchases.
THIMUS Intelligence: A New Data Frontier
Looking ahead, THIMUS is poised to revolutionize the insights landscape with the development of its AI-powered data platform, THIMUS Intelligence. This ambitious initiative aims to create a comprehensive ecosystem by integrating its proprietary neuroscience data with traditional consumer research, sensory testing results, and existing commercial datasets.
The vision for THIMUS Intelligence is to provide product development teams with an unparalleled "insights layer." This layer will offer deep, nuanced understanding of consumer brain behavior specifically related to sensory food experiences. Crucially, the platform is designed to deliver these insights even when new, direct testing is not feasible, by leveraging the predictive power of its integrated data.
"Our device samples the brain 251 times a second," Ubiali noted, underscoring the granularity of the data collected. "So we’re building correlations between individual aspects of the food experience, formulation variables and preference and emotional engagement." This high-frequency data collection allows for the identification of subtle neurological responses to specific ingredients, textures, or flavor profiles, offering manufacturers precise guidance for product optimization.
Expanding the Reach: From "Houses of Humans" to the Home
Currently, THIMUS operates "Houses of Humans," dedicated facilities where consumers participate in controlled neuroscience-based testing sessions. However, the company has ambitious plans to democratize access to this technology by bringing it directly into consumers’ homes. The development of distributed panels of consumers equipped with THIMUS technology could significantly accelerate the feedback loop for clients, enabling faster iteration and more agile product development.
Acknowledging the influence of environment on neurological responses, Ubiali stated, "You are always going to have a difference based on context because the brain is contextual. Human beings are contextual." This recognition suggests that future at-home testing methodologies will need to account for the variability of home environments to ensure the robustness of the data.
Implications for the Food Industry and Beyond
The implications of THIMUS’s advancements are far-reaching for the food industry. Companies invest billions of dollars annually in launching new products, and a significant percentage of these fail to achieve market success. Traditional consumer research, with its inherent limitations, has often been a contributing factor to these failures. By offering a more direct and objective measure of consumer preference, THIMUS has the potential to drastically reduce the risk associated with new product development.
For instance, in the highly competitive snack food market, understanding the nuanced appeal of a new flavor or texture is paramount. Instead of relying on consumers to articulate subtle preferences, companies could leverage THIMUS data to identify formulations that elicit the most positive and familiar neural responses, thereby increasing the likelihood of repeat purchases. Similarly, in the beverage industry, where taste and sensory experience are primary drivers of consumption, this technology could unlock new avenues for product differentiation.
The application of neuroscience to consumer understanding is not entirely novel, but THIMUS appears to be at the forefront of applying it specifically to the complexities of food and beverage perception. The ability to quantify implicit preferences could also have significant implications for marketing and branding. Understanding which aspects of a product’s sensory profile trigger positive emotional engagement could inform more effective advertising campaigns and packaging design.
Furthermore, the technology holds promise for addressing dietary shifts and health-related food choices. As consumers become more health-conscious and seek out specific nutritional benefits, understanding their underlying neurological responses to products designed to meet these needs will be critical. For example, in the development of functional foods or dietary supplements, THIMUS could help determine which formulations are not only perceived as beneficial but are also intrinsically appealing on a sensory level, thus improving adherence.
The potential extends beyond mere product optimization. By building a vast repository of neuroscience data linked to specific food experiences, THIMUS is creating a valuable resource for understanding broader trends in human taste perception and dietary evolution. This could inform public health initiatives, guide food policy, and even contribute to a deeper understanding of the human-brain interface with the food we consume.
While the technology is still evolving, the prospect of bypassing subjective reporting and directly measuring neurological responses represents a paradigm shift in how the food industry approaches innovation. The accuracy and depth of insight offered by THIMUS could save companies substantial resources, reduce product failure rates, and ultimately lead to a marketplace where products are more aligned with genuine consumer desires, moving beyond the often-misleading signals of traditional market research. The future of understanding what we truly want to eat may very well be written in our brainwaves.
