HPU’s New BEACON Lab

THE FUTURE OF APPLIED BIOMETRICS RESEARCH

Dr. Larry Carter

Professor of Marketing and Sales

Imagine a place where college students can go to get hands-on experience with the latest cutting-edge equipment that scientists use for neuromarketing research. Think of the possibilities for local businesses to collaborate with HPU students in order to solve their business challenges. Envision the opportunities that would become available for faculty to conduct biometric studies as well as mentor students in both undergraduate and graduate level biometric research. In 2019, High Point University turned these ideas into reality with the establishment of the new BEACON Lab in the School of Communication.

The acronym BEACON stands for Biometric Evaluation, Analytics, Cognitive Observation and Neuromarketing. The BEACON Lab was the brainchild of Larry Carter, professor of marketing and sales. Before joining HPU in 2017, Dr. Carter was an integral part of a team that created a successful neuromarketing lab at his previous university. He brought his expertise in, and enthusiasm for, neuromarketing to HPU, proposed his ideas to the HPU faculty and was awarded a Think Big grant in 2018 to establish a lab on campus. Dr. Carter was also able to acquire additional funding and

the lab became operational in 2019. It houses two rooms separated by a glass privacy wall. One area consists of a large meeting room that is well suited for focus group sessions and the other area is composed of the stations, work table and equipment cabinets for biometric experimentation.

The BEACON lab currently has one fully operational experimental station equipped with the following biometric sensors: EEG (electroencephalography), GSR (galvanic skin response), ECG (electrocardiography), eye tracking and facial expression analysis. EEG monitors electrical activity generated by the brain. This is used to measure the amount of cognitive workload incurred by the respondent when a stimulus is presented. The EEG metrics are used to investigate the amount of engagement, motivation or drowsiness experienced by the respondent. While self-reported measures are typically used to assess these variables, they are often biased due to limitations regarding the respondent’s memory or elaborative skills. In contrast, EEG allows for the direct measure of these variables in a nonintrusive testing environment.

GSR monitors skin conductivity (i.e., sweat emission) to measure the amount of emotional arousal expressed by the respondent when exposed to a stimulus. With GSR, any emotionally arousing content can be tested, including videos, images, tangible objects, odors and sounds. ECG tracks changes in a respondent’s heart rate, and facial expression analysis categorizes a respondent’s facial emotions based on landmarks, expressions or valence. The software uses algorithms developed from a depository of nearly seven million faces analyzed in 87 countries. Therefore, it is very reliable in ascertaining facial expressions with a high degree of accuracy and relates these expressions to the following emotions: anger, joy, disgust, fear, surprise, contempt and sadness.

Eye tracking is used to understand visual attention patterns and includes the path of the eye gaze as well as moments of fixation (i.e., when the respondent is staring at an object). When used with other biosensors such as GSR and facial expression analysis, eye tracking triangulates a respondent’s emotional reactions to the stimuli that is presented at the time of the response. The data analysis can be performed at the individual respondent level or aggregated across many respondents for group analyses and comparisons.

The BEACON Lab’s primary objective is to provide HPU students with a unique opportunity to learn about biometrics research and its applicability towards solving challenges within business, communications and other areas of study. Neuromarketing (i.e., the use of biometrics to solve marketing issues) is the ideal solution for a diverse set of research approaches. For example, studies in neuromarketing often assess consumer behavior and emotional reactions to various advertising stimuli, such as print campaigns and TV advertisements. It can gauge audience reactions, compare these reactions across different campaigns and track the effectiveness of small changes to improve reactions and promotional outcomes.

Biometrics are also used to gauge the overall usability of a company’s website or to evaluate a customer’s online shopping experience to determine points of frustration. Even though the BEACON Lab has only been operational for a few short months, students at HPU are already getting involved with the many opportunities that the lab has to offer them. Communication and business courses are utilizing the lab to teach cutting-edge research methods to students. For example, Dr. Carter is now offering an undergraduate course in marketing research for students to learn both theory and application of various research methods. His students spend a considerable amount of time in the BEACON lab. They are engaged in experiential learning through activities such as conducting mock focus group sessions

and participating in ongoing biometrics research studies. For mock focus group sessions, students role play as either moderators or study participants to determine the best ways to facilitate meaningful group conversations. For biometrics research, Dr. Carter utilizes a multifaceted approach to enhance student engagement. Initially, students learn about the theories of neuroscience through lecture and class discussion. In the lab, they engage in hands-on learning by participating as both subjects and lab technicians in a mock research study. These activities allow the student to experience neuromarketing research from both sides of the study — as a researcher and as a participant in the study.

With regard to scholastic research opportunities, both graduate and undergraduate students are already conducting research within the lab. For example, HPU undergraduate Corbin Elliot (’20) worked in the lab to create and implement a research study concerning the product packaging of nutritional consumables. This study provided insight about the packaging preferences of health conscious consumers. In other words, the study was able to ascertain what combination of colors, key words and imagery elicits the most favorable responses by the participants within the study, which in turn increases the marketability of the product as well as the likelihood of consumers purchasing the product. Through these research opportunities and the expansion of courses that involve biometrics research, the BEACON Lab will impact a significant number of students’ lives each semester for many years to come.

Since its inception, the BEACON lab has also experienced a growing interest from HPU faculty. Several faculty members from various disciplines have expressed interest in utilizing the lab, either for research purposes or for course work. Dr. Carter has held numerous lab workshops over the

past several months that have been well attended by faculty. In addition, several faculty and staff members have attended the week-long training academy in Boston at the iMotions facility. iMotions is the company that supplies all of the hardware, software and technical support for the biometrics equipment in the BEACON Lab. Their software synchronizes all of the data input from the biometric sensors and provides real-time visualization and data analysis tools. During the week-long training event in Boston, attendees receive hands-on training with the equipment and software with individual attention from biometric experts.

With plans to add more experimental stations fully equipped with their own sets of biometric sensors, the lab will be able to handle more research projects, an increase in student participation and more community involvement. Students will be able to work with local businesses to create real research projects that provide real solutions for these businesses. Collaborating with these businesses will foster an immense amount of goodwill between the local community and HPU as well as ignite positive relationships and networking opportunities for all.

The BEACON Lab has created the opportunity for faculty at HPU to introduce a new and unique method of pedagogy, one that provides strong advantages for students that transcends the traditional classroom experience. It adds value by giving students “hands-on” learning experiences when tackling real-world problems. It connects HPU students with local and regional businesses, providing students with networking opportunities while strengthening the bond between HPU and the local community. For faculty members, the BEACON Lab provides a unique venue for cutting-edge research that is highly revered across various disciplinary fields of study. For High Point University, the lab is yet another way to set itself apart from other universities that have not adopted biometrics research into their course offerings. And as alluded to earlier, the local and regional community benefit from having access to biometrics research methods that are both cost-effective and useful in providing meaningful solutions for their businesses. ❧