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The science behind Cortyze.

Two decades of peer-reviewed fMRI and EEG research show that neural signals predict ad and product success more accurately than surveys, focus groups, or self-report. Cortyze translates that body of work into per-creative scores.

Reward · Purchase
Neural predictors of purchases
Knutson et al. · 2007 · Neuron

The foundational study. Nucleus accumbens activation predicted purchasing decisions before subjects consciously decided to buy — outperforming self-reported preferences.

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Ad effectiveness
Predicting advertising success beyond traditional measures
Venkatraman et al. · 2015 · J. Marketing Research

Across six methods (self-report, eye-tracking, biometrics, EEG, fMRI), ventral-striatum activity was the strongest predictor of real-world market-level ad performance.

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Population behavior
From neural responses to population behavior
Falk, Berkman & Lieberman · 2012 · Psych. Science

Medial prefrontal activity in a small group predicted which anti-smoking campaign would drive the most calls at the population level. Self-report failed.

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Cultural popularity
A neural predictor of cultural popularity
Berns & Moore · 2012 · J. Consumer Psychology

Teen ventral-striatum activity predicted three years of song sales. 90% of songs that drew weak neural reward went on to flop. Self-report did not predict sales at all.

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EEG · Audience
Audience preferences predicted by neural processing
Dmochowski et al. · 2014 · Nature Communications

EEG brainwave synchrony across viewers predicted 60% of Nielsen TV ratings and 40% of Twitter activity for The Walking Dead. When brains agreed, audiences followed.

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Memory · Sales
Neural similarity predicts ticket sales
Barnett et al. · 2017 · J. Consumer Research

Higher neural-similarity scores among moviegoers watching trailers predicted memory and ticket sales 20%+ more accurately than focus-group methods.

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Digital ads
Consumer-neuroscience metrics predict ad performance
Frontiers in Psychology · 2017

Neuroscience-based metrics predicted recall, liking, and viewing rates in online advertising — validating that neural measures translate to real digital outcomes.

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Video · Liking
Neural signals of video-ad liking
Chan, Boksem, Venkatraman et al. · 2024 · J. Marketing Research

Mapped the temporal dynamics of neural signals during video ads, identifying brain patterns that predict ad liking and engagement over the course of a video.

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Key findings

What the literature actually shows.

#1
Ventral striatum activity is the strongest predictor of real-world ad and product success.
Knutson 2007 · Berns 2012 · Venkatraman 2015
90%
Flop-detection rate for songs with weak neural reward response.
Berns & Moore 2012
60%
Of Nielsen TV ratings predicted by EEG brainwave synchrony alone.
Dmochowski 2014
20%+
More accurate than focus groups at predicting movie ticket sales.
Barnett 2017
33%
Of population-level ad-campaign variance explained by MPFC activity. Self-report explained none.
Falk 2012
16%
Higher purchase intent for neuromarketing-optimized campaigns vs. survey-guided.
Nielsen Consumer Neuroscience 2024
81%
Accuracy predicting consumer ad preferences using neural + biometric data with machine learning.
Random Forest model
174
Papers reviewed identifying frontal alpha asymmetry as the most reliable EEG predictor of consumer preference.
Systematic review · 2022
The 6 regions

What Cortyze measures —
and the science behind each.

RegionAnatomyWhy it matters for adsKey citation
Memory
Hippocampus
Determines brand and ad recall.
Temple fMRI 2014
Emotion
Amygdala
Emotional ads are remembered and shared.
Temple fMRI 2014
Attention
Visual cortex
Determines if the ad gets noticed at all.
Dmochowski 2014
Language
Broca’s & Wernicke’s
Hooks, CTAs, and messaging effectiveness.
Systematic Review 2024
Face recognition
Fusiform face area
Faces drive engagement and trust.
Frontiers in Psychology 2017
Reward
NAcc / Ventral Striatum
The #1 predictor of purchasing and popularity.
Knutson 2007 · Berns 2012
Further reading

Reviews, articles, and industry validation.