Neuromarketing and Consumer Behavior: Challenges and Trends

This special track invites high-quality theoretical, empirical, and applied research at the intersection of neuroscience, psychology, data science, and marketing, focusing on how neural, physiological, and cognitive processes shape consumer behavior. Advances in neuroimaging, wearable biosensors, affective computing, and artificial intelligence have opened new avenues for understanding attention, emotion, decision-making, trust, and persuasion in market contexts. At the same time, these advances raise critical methodological, ethical, and regulatory challenges.

The track aims to foster interdisciplinary dialogue on state-of-the-art methods, emerging applications, and critical reflections in neuromarketing and consumer neuroscience. Contributions may address traditional marketing domains—such as branding, advertising, pricing, retail, and digital platforms—as well as emerging contexts including immersive technologies, social media, sustainability, health, and public policy. Both experimental and real-world studies are welcome, along with methodological innovations, replication studies, and conceptual frameworks that advance theory and practice.

We particularly encourage submissions that critically assess the validity, reliability, interpretability, and ethical implications of neuroscientific tools in consumer research, as well as studies that integrate multimodal data and explainable AI to generate actionable and responsible insights.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

A) Neuroscience Methods in Consumer Research

· EEG, fNIRS, fMRI, eye-tracking, ECG/HRV, GSR, facial expression analysis

· Wearable and mobile neurophysiological sensing

· Multimodal data acquisition and fusion

· Experimental design and ecological validity in neuromarketing

B) Cognitive and Affective Processes

· Attention, perception, and memory in consumer contexts

· Emotion, motivation, reward, and decision-making

· Implicit vs. explicit processes in choice behavior

· Trust, risk perception, and uncertainty

C) Data Analytics and AI

· Machine learning and deep learning for neuromarketing data

· Explainable AI and model interpretability

· Predictive modeling of consumer responses

· Neuro-adaptive and real-time personalization systems

D) Marketing Applications

· Advertising effectiveness and message framing

· Branding, brand equity, and brand attachment

· Pricing, promotions, and willingness-to-pay

· Retail, e-commerce, and omnichannel experiences

· UX/UI, human–computer interaction, and digital nudging

E) Emerging and Applied Contexts

· Neuromarketing in social media and influencer marketing

· Immersive environments (AR/VR/XR) and metaverse experiences

· Sustainable, ethical, and green consumer behavior

· Health, wellbeing, and public interest communication

· Cross-cultural and international consumer neuroscience

F) Ethical, Legal, and Societal Issues

· Ethics of data collection and consumer privacy

· Bias, manipulation, and autonomy in persuasive technologies

· Regulatory frameworks and responsible innovation

· Reproducibility, transparency, and open science in neuromarketing

Submissions with interdisciplinary approaches, case studies, or novel methodologies are especially encouraged.

Important Dates

Paper Submission Deadline: January 1 – March 31, 2026

Notification of Acceptance: April 15, 2026

Submission Guidelines

When submitting your paper, please follow the steps below to ensure it is directed to the correct mini track:

· Select [D (Thematic Cluster Submissions)] as the submission category.

· Enter “Prof. Lobo” as the Chair of the Group Submission.

· Enter “Neuromarketing” as the Topic of the Group Submission.

All submissions will undergo a peer-review process. Accepted papers will be included in the conference proceedings, and at least one author is required to register and present the paper at the conference.

Chairs

Prof. Alexandre Lobo

Prof. Jia JIN

Professor JIN is a Professor, Ph.D. Advisor, and Associate Dean at the School of Business and Management, Shanghai International Studies University, and also serves as Deputy Director of the MOE Key Laboratory of Brain-Machine Collaborative Information Behavior. She was selected as a “Top Young Talent of Shanghai” and has led or participated in many national-level research projects, including key, general, and youth grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), as well as initiatives under the “Technology Innovation 2030” program. Prof. Jin has published over 80 academic papers, authored 4 books, holds 12 invention patents, and has registered 5 software copyrights. She has also contributed to 4 national standards in the field of neuro-management. Her work has earned multiple honors, including the Second Prize of the Science and Technology Progress Award of Zhejiang Province, the Third Prize of the Wu Wenjun Artificial Intelligence Science & Technology Award, and the First Prize for Outstanding Achievements in Philosophy and Social Sciences in Shanghai.

Prof. Susana Costa e Silva

Prof. Susana Costa e Silva is an Associate Professor (Habilitation in Marketing) at Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Católica Porto Business School (CPBS), where she also serves as Director of the MSc programs in Marketing and Management. She is a researcher at the CPBS Research Centre and Case Pool Coordinator at Católica’s Learn & Share Program. Her research focuses on international marketing, digital transformation, AI in marketing, consumer behavior, retail, and omnichannel strategies. She has published over 85 peer-reviewed articles and contributed to numerous books and case studies. Her work appears in International Business Review, Journal of Business Research, Psychology & Marketing, among others. Susana represents Portugal at the European Marketing Academy and has held leadership roles in EIBA. She also consults internationally in marketing and market research and frequently contributes to media and public discourse.