Michelle Niedziela - Where Neuroscience Meets Behavior

Michelle Niedziela is the Scientific Director and VP of Innovation at HCD Research, a marketing and consumer sciences company that applies neuroscience tools along with traditional market research methods to help their clients create better products, packaging, and communications for consumers. She also worked as a senior scientist at Johnson & Johnson, and still regularly contributes as a columnist on consumer perspectives to various publications.

What are some things behavioral scientists should know more about neuroscience? When should they work together to enhance what they both do? Zarak, Erik, and Michelle tackle questions like these in today’s episode. As Michelle explains, there are a lot of misconceptions about neuroscience. When you conduct “fancy” neuroscience research, it doesn’t mean giving up good, old-fashioned surveys or qual and quant research methods. They must all be combined to better understand how the consumer experiences a product. “Measuring brain activity doesn’t really tell you anything unless you put it in context, and I feel like the behavioral science gives you that context,” she says.

Other topics include cognitive flow, using neuroscience to increase the effectiveness of OTC (over-the-counter) drugs, and Zarak’s beard care product of choice. Spoiler Alert: it’s called Cowboy Magic.