Cognitive Neuroscience Methods in Enhancing Health Literacy

Mateusz Piwowarski, Katarzyna Gadomska-Lila and Kesra Nermend
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Mateusz Piwowarski: Department of Decision Support Methods and Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Szczecin, 71-004 Szczecin, Poland
Katarzyna Gadomska-Lila: Department of Organization and Management, University of Szczecin, 71-004 Szczecin, Poland
Kesra Nermend: Department of Decision Support Methods and Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Szczecin, 71-004 Szczecin, Poland

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 10, 1-19

Abstract: The aim of the article is to identify the usefulness of cognitive neuroscience methods in assessing the effectiveness of social advertising and constructing messages referring to the generally understood health promotion, which is to contribute to the development of health awareness, and hence to health literacy. The presented research has also proven useful in the field of managing the processes that improve the communication between the organization and its environment. The researchers experimentally applied cognitive neuroscience methods, mainly EEG measurements, including a metric which is one of the most frequently used to measure the reception of advertising messages, i.e., frontal asymmetry. The purpose of the study was to test cognitive responses as expressed by neural indices (memorization, interest) to the reception of an advertisement for the construction of a hospice for adults. For comparative purposes, a questionnaire survey was also conducted. The research findings have confirmed that there are significant differences in remembering the advertisement in question by different groups of recipients (women/men). They also indicate a different level of interest in the advertisement, which may result from different preferences of the recipients concerning the nature of ads. The obtained results contribute to a better understanding of how to design advertising messages concerning health, so that they increase the awareness of the recipients’ responsibility for their own health and induce specific behavior patterns aimed at supporting health-related initiatives, e.g., donating funds for building hospices or performing preventive tests. In this respect, the study findings help improve the organizations’ communication with their environment, thus enhancing their performance. The study has also confirmed the potential and innovativeness of cognitive neuroscience methods as well as their considerable possibilities for application in this field.

Keywords: public health; health literacy; cognitive neuroscience; EEG; advertisement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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