An Introduction to Consumer Neuroscience & Neuromarketing (Coursera)

An Introduction to Consumer Neuroscience & Neuromarketing (Coursera)

How do we make decisions as consumers? What do we pay attention to, and how do our initial responses predict our final choices? To what extent are these processes unconscious and cannot be reflected in overt reports? This course will provide you with an introduction to some of the most basic methods in the emerging fields of consumer neuroscience and neuromarketing. You will learn about the methods employed and what they mean. You will learn about the basic brain mechanisms in consumer choice, and how to stay updated on these topics. The course will give an overview of the current and future uses of neuroscience in business.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see Coursera's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

Syllabus

WEEK 1
What is Neuromarketing all About?
We first need to define the field – what are the key concepts, what are the key methods and reasons for employing neuroscience to study consumers and communication effects? In this module, we will introduce the topic and how some specific studies provide key insights into what neuroscience has to offer in relationship with more traditional methods.

WEEK 2
Attention & Consciousness
In the second module of this course we are turning to the functions of the brain, and we will first focus on attention and consciousness. This module will focus on some key concepts in attention and consciousness.

WEEK 3
Sensory Neuromarketing
In this module we will have contents filled on the topic of sensory neuromarketing. How are our senses affected differently as consumers? What can you do to organise your communications to better use all the senses? How does the brain actually use the senses? What tools do we have for assessing the use of senses, and how they affect consumers?

WEEK 4
Emotions & Feelings, Wanting & Liking
In this module, everything is about emotions and feelings, and the relationship between emotions and preference.
As we will see, our minds have a dual side: a conscious and an unconscious response and motivation, which are crucial to understanding consumer preference and choice. Indeed, unconscious emotional responses may turn out to be driving consumer choice to the same - or even larger - degree than conscious feelings. Are conscious feelings a mere after-the-fact rationalization upon conscious choice?

WEEK 5
Learning & Memory
This module will focus on Learning & Memory. We will determine not only that there are multiple kinds of memory, but that they also serve multiple purposes. If anything, learning is the vehicle we need to understand the most in consumer behaviour. What causes memory, and can we be affected unconsciously by our memories? How can we measure memory effects, and what is the relationship between brand equity and the brain?
This module, we also have an interview with Prof. Richard Silberstein, who shares his view on neuromarketing and consumer neuroscience. Prof. Silberstein is the Founder and chairman of the neuromarketing company Neuro-Insight.

WEEK 6
Neuroethics and Consumer Aberrations
This module, we will focus on both the ethics of neuromarketing, as well as aberrant consumer behaviours. We see that consumer choice can sometimes become the centre focus on a person's life, be it pathological gambling, "shopaholism" or digital dependencies. This module, we will focus on some of these issues, and combine them with the ethical aspects that we face when talking neuro. This module we also end off with two interviews: one with Prof. Jan Trzaskowksi at the CBS, who is working on marketing and the law, where we discuss what the ethical and legal aspects of neuromarketing is. As you will see, Jan has a very particular take on this that I am sure you will find interesting. Our second interview is with Carl Marci, who is the Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer of Innerscope Research on his background and their take on neuromarketing and consumer neuroscience.

Go to Class
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

Two Speed IT: How Companies Can Surf the Digital Wave, a BCG Perspective (Coursera) Coursera
CentraleSupélec

Two Speed IT: How Companies Can Surf the Digital Wave, a BCG Perspective (Coursera)

Transform or disappear, the Darwinism of IT: In order to adapt to a digital world, a two-speed IT is needed. Despite the importance of IT in today’s digital world, Chief Information Officers (CIOs) often struggle to get their voices heard by executive committees. Faced with this challenge, IT departments are being forced to reinvent themselves to adapt their companies to the fast paced evolution of technology. The Boston Consulting Group has developed a business approach that allows IT to shed off its appearance of a heavy cost center and to adopt a new, more realistic persona as a quality service provider, partnering with users and the management.

Sep 21st 2026
5-12 Weeks
Deep Learning for Business (Coursera) Coursera
Yonsei University

Deep Learning for Business (Coursera)

Your smartphone, smartwatch, and automobile (if it is a newer model) have AI (Artificial Intelligence) inside serving you every day. In the near future, more advanced “self-learning” capable DL (Deep Learning) and ML (Machine Learning) technology will be used in almost every aspect of your business and industry. So now is the right time to learn what DL and ML is and how to use it in advantage of your company. This course has three parts, where the first part focuses on DL and ML technology based future business strategy including details on new state-of-the-art products/services and open source DL software, which are the future enablers.

Sep 21st 2026
5-12 Weeks
Leading Innovation in Arts and Culture (Coursera) Coursera
Vanderbilt University,National Arts Strategies - NAS

Leading Innovation in Arts and Culture (Coursera)

Developed by David Owens at Vanderbilt University and customized for the cultural sector with National Arts Strategies, this course will help arts and culture leaders create an environment where new ideas are constantly created, shared, evaluated and the best ones are successfully put to work. One of the toughest challenges for any leader is getting traction for new ideas. Winning support can be a struggle. As a result, powerful new ideas often get stuck. This is especially true in the cultural sector. People involved in arts and culture often have little time and even less money for experimentation and risks. This course will help those in the performing arts, museums, zoos, libraries and other cultural organizations build environments where new management and program ideas flourish.

Sep 21st 2026
5-12 Weeks
Introducción a la Calidad (Coursera) Coursera
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Introducción a la Calidad (Coursera)

En este curso conoceremos la importancia que tiene implementar estándares de calidad y procesos productivos eficientes, para el desarrollo y continuidad de nuestra empresa o idea de negocio y así mantener su máxima capacidad productiva y seguir ofertando productos con los más altos estándares de calidad, para mantenernos siempre en la preferencia del público.

Sep 21st 2026
5-12 Weeks
Surviving Disruptive Technologies (On Demand) (Coursera) Coursera
University of Maryland, College Park

Surviving Disruptive Technologies (On Demand) (Coursera)

The purpose of this course is to help individuals and organizations survive when confronted with disruptive technologies that threaten their current way of life. We will look at a general model of survival and use it to analyze companies and industries that have failed or are close to failing. Examples of companies that have not survived include Kodak, a firm over 100 years old, Blockbuster and Borders.

Sep 21st 2026
4 Weeks
International Leadership and Organizational Behavior (Coursera) Coursera
Università Bocconi

International Leadership and Organizational Behavior (Coursera)

Leaders in business and non-profit organizations increasingly work across national boarders and in multi-cultural environments. You may work regularly with customers or suppliers abroad, or be part of a globally dispersed cross-functional team, or an expatriate manager on an international assignment. You may be a member of a global online community, or a development aid worker collaborating with an international network of partner organizations. In all of these contexts, your effectiveness as a leader depends on how well you understand and are able to manage individual and collective behaviors in an intercultural context.

Sep 21st 2026
5-12 Weeks
Music as Biology: What We Like to Hear and Why (Coursera) Coursera
Duke University

Music as Biology: What We Like to Hear and Why (Coursera)

The course will explore the tone combinations that humans consider consonant or dissonant, the scales we use, and the emotions music elicits, all of which provide a rich set of data for exploring music and auditory aesthetics in a biological framework. Analyses of speech and musical databases are consistent with the idea that the chromatic scale (the set of tones used by humans to create music), consonance and dissonance, worldwide preferences for a few dozen scales from the billions that are possible, and the emotions elicited by music in different cultures all stem from the relative similarity of musical tonalities and the characteristics of voiced (tonal) speech.

Sep 21st 2026
5-12 Weeks
Finance for Everyone: Markets (Coursera) Coursera
McMaster University

Finance for Everyone: Markets (Coursera)

Markets begins with one of the most common and important elements of the financial system – interest rates. You will learn why interest rates have always been a key barometer in determining the value of everything. You will explore the changing influence of interest rates; the impact of interest rates on consumption, investment and economic growth; and the bizarre realities of negative interest rates. Markets explains how interest rates change the value of all financial instruments, highlighting the role of the bond and stock markets that have toppled empires

Sep 21st 2026
4 Weeks
International Business II (Coursera) Coursera
University of New Mexico

International Business II (Coursera)

This course, Introduction to the Global Business Environment II, focuses on managing organizations in the international economy. Building on Introduction to the Global Business Environment I, this second course focuses on organizational level and management issues in international settings. The course prepares students with practical as well as research-based knowledge and skills necessary to successfully operating an organizational across borders.

Sep 21st 2026
5-12 Weeks
How to finance your venture ? (Coursera) Coursera
École Polytechnique

How to finance your venture ? (Coursera)

The course aims at providing knowledge and experience to entrepreneurs and would-be entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs generally start with a mission, a new idea that they want to bring to the world. If the idea is original, it is probably not expected by the market, which has to be educated. This is a very costly experience. Entrepreneurs need to gather capital at the start of the journey.

Sep 21st 2026
5-12 Weeks
Moving to the Cloud (Coursera) Coursera
University of Melbourne

Moving to the Cloud (Coursera)

The cloud is taking business by storm. In fact, due to the extraordinary growth of the cloud, it has been described as a tornado, not a fluffy white floating object! Commercial research analysts consider cloud as one of the most significant trends with a potential to change the whole global IT industry. Governments, including those in the US, Britain, and Australia, have cloud-first policies now in place which mandate cloud over non-cloud services in ICT procurement.

Sep 28th 2026
5-12 Weeks
A Scientific Approach to Innovation Management (Coursera) Coursera
Università Bocconi

A Scientific Approach to Innovation Management (Coursera)

How can innovators understand if their idea is worth developing and pursuing? In this course, we lay out a systematic process to make strategic decisions about innovative product or services that will help entrepreneurs, managers and innovators to avoid common pitfalls. We teach students to assess the feasibility of an innovative idea through problem-framing techniques and rigorous data analysis labelled ‘a scientific approach’.

Sep 21st 2026
5-12 Weeks