RHUMBO proposes using measures of subconscious brain processes through the use of mixed reality technologies (MRT) and advanced biometric signals processing as a new paradigm to improve the knowledge that implicit brain processes have in human decision-making .
Technology is changing the context and practice of businesses: companies are increasingly forced to operate in a changing world where they do not have any more the full control of the media and the message. Consumer behaviour is also changing: it is losing trust and becomes much more critical, smart, well informed and proactive than ever before. While technological advances have already reshaped most businesses, many companies are still making strategic decisions relying upon questionnaires, focus groups, card swipes, or GPS tracking.
In 2017, the Nobel Prize in economics, Prof Richard H. Thaler, incorporated psychologically realistic assumptions into the analyses of economic decision-making, showing how human traits systematically affect individual decisions as well as market outcomes. Recent breakthroughs in neuroscience are helping to understand how this decision-making process takes place and what people are thinking, paying attention to, and being motivated by.
RHUMBO will take advantage of this ground to focus on the study of the neurobiological basis of decision-making and its application to the corporate world. It will help to gain insight into the behavioural aspects which are determined by unconscious perceptions and relevant to decision-making, focusing in particular in the development of consumer behaviour applications, as only the global neuromarketing solutions market was valued at US$0.94 billion in 2016 and is forecast to reach US$2.20 billion by the end of 2025.
With this growth expectations and the technological revolution in place, new knowledge, new skills and new approaches are required not only to understand the changing environment but also for comprehending and communicating with consumers. The need for a new generation of researchers is growing and consequently also for institutions that will be able to set the future neuro-business research and educational agenda. RHUMBO takes up this challenge and targets to deliver an innovative multinational, multi-sectorial, and multidisciplinary research and training programme in cognitive neuroscience, transparently immersive experiences and artificial intelligence with a focus on neuro-business. To achieve it, RHUMBO aggregates relevant scientific staff from the academic and corporate worlds that will guarantee RHUMBO’s ESRs and future PhD students following the same tracks outstanding Career Opportunities in the consumer behaviour sector and beyond.
RHUMBO proposes using measures of subconscious brain processes through the use of mixed reality technologies (MRT) and advanced biometric signals processing as a new paradigm to improve the knowledge that implicit brain processes have in human decision-making .
Principal Investigator: Gaetano Valenza for University of Pisa