BE535-6-AU-CO:
Neuromarketing
2026/27
Essex Business School
Colchester Campus
Autumn
Undergraduate: Level 6
Current
Thursday 08 October 2026
Friday 18 December 2026
15
06 March 2026
Requisites for this module
(BE501 or BE400) and BE511 and BE518 and BE519
(none)
(none)
(none)
(none)
Many consumption decisions are irrational, emotional, and subconscious. The discipline of neuromarketing strives to measure and make sense of these irrational drives, and it has developed a range of biometric research tools to do so, including eye-tracking and facial emotion analysis, among others. Via interactive in-person sessions, this module aims to enable students to understand and utilise these innovative neuromarketing tools as well as experimental research methods. We will cover their relative strengths and weaknesses, and put them into practice to generate impactful consumer insights.
The aims of this module are:
- To equip students with the knowledge needed to make sense of irrational, emotional, and subconscious consumer decisions.
- To equip students with the ability to design and run experimental studies utilising innovative neuromarketing tools.
- To equip students with the ability to generate impactful and actionable consumer insights from neuromarketing research.
By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:
- Understand the theoretical foundations of irrational consumer behaviour, especially in relation to attention, emotion, and memory.
- Understand key neuromarketing research tools, especially eye-tracking and facial emotion analysis, and how to use them in neuromarketing experiments.
- Understand how to generate impactful and actionable consumer insights from neuromarketing research through the analysis of biometric and survey data.
Syllabus
- Why we make irrational consumption decisions
- How to create attention-grabbing ads
- How to create emotionally engaging ads
- How to create memorable ads
- How to design neuromarketing experiments
- How to set up neuromarketing experiments
- How to run neuromarketing experiments
- How to analyse eye-tracking data
- How to analyse facial emotion analysis data
- How to generate consumer insights from neuromarketing data
This module will be delivered via:
Students will be expected to engage in independent study outside of lectures.
The above list is indicative of the essential reading for the course.
The library makes provision for all reading list items, with digital provision where possible, and these resources are shared between students.
Further reading can be obtained from this module's
reading list.
Assessment items, weightings and deadlines
| Coursework / exam |
Description |
Deadline |
Coursework weighting |
| Coursework |
Essay 1 (1500 words) |
|
40% |
| Coursework |
Essay 2 (2000 words) |
|
60% |
Exam format definitions
- Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
- In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
- In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary,
for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.
Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.
Overall assessment
Reassessment
Module supervisor and teaching staff
Dr Erik Jacobi, email: ejacobi@essex.ac.uk.
Erik Jacobi and Jingyu Zhu
ejacobi@essex.ac.uk
No
Yes
No
No external examiner information available for this module.
Available via Moodle
No lecture recording information available for this module.
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The University will endeavour to keep such changes to a minimum, and will also keep students informed appropriately by updating our programme specifications and module directory.
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