Abstract

Neuromarketing(NM) and its predecessor, neuroeconomy, use clinical information about brain functions andmechanisms to help explain what happens in the “black box”, predominant in many explanations aboutconsumer behavior. This paper has the objective of showing the most recent discussions about the concepts andapplications of NM techniques, by means of a literature review. It was found that there is still much controversyabout the scope of what should be considered NM or even if it is a sub-area of marketing or a sub-field ofneuroscience or neuroeconomics. Furthermore, the potential ethical problems of this research have still beenlittle discussed. Although some research has addressed this issue, very little was done to control this line ofresearch to avoid abuse and invasion of privacy by companies or specialized consultancies.

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