Metrics

Each commercial is tested on four metrics, that are scientifically validated and have a tested reliability: ATTENTION – What are customers and viewers noticing? What are they missing? This measure is subdivided into several forms, including:

. Heat map visualization (mostly for display purposes.
. Areas of Interest analyses:
.. Time to first fixation — measure of how quickly an area/stimulus is seen for the first time (in milliseconds);
.. First fixation duration — how much is an item attended the first time it is looked at (in milliseconds);
.. Fixation count — how many times an item is looked at;
.. Total fixation duration — how much time (in milliseconds) an item/area is attended in total.

EMOTIONAL ENGAGEMENT – Are they aroused by the ad? Do they display interest or indifference? This is also a metric for engagement with events outside the person (vs. introspective and mind-wandering thoughts). Low scores are indications of ignorance, high scores denote emotional relevance, but does not indicate the direction of the response (arousal can be high for fear but also love). This is displayed both as an aggregate score and for particular items/areas of interest, the score is normalized to a range between 0 and 1, and is related to our normative database.

MOTIVATION – What makes people seek out more information? What drives their choices? This score is an indication of approach vs avoidance motivation and behavior, as the brain responds immediately to items and events. The score is highly predictive of subsequent engagement, memory formation and choice. This is displayed both as an aggregate score and for particular items/areas of interest, the score is normalized to a range between 0 and 1, and is related to our normative database.

COGNITIVE LOAD – Is an ad too complex or too simple? Does it demand too much active processing? This score is related to the amount of information that a person is processing at any one time. Low scores are related to boredom and inattention, medium scores are signals of attention and cognitive processing and memory formation, while high scores are indicative of “information overload”. This is displayed both as an aggregate score and for particular items/areas of interest, the score is normalized to a range between 0 and 1, and is related to our normative database.