Using fMRI to Inform Marketing Research: Challenges and Opportunities

a previous draft. The authors also wish to thank the Editor for inviting this Comment. 3 The authors comment on several aspects of Hedgcock and Rao’s (in press) article, which aims to resolve a number of issues surrounding the interrelations of (negative) emotions, task complexity, and consumers ’ tendency to avoid cognitively demanding decisions. Specifically, they discuss issues related to the conceptualization of research questions, experimental design, and interpretation of data in studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). In so doing, the authors offer suggestions and guidelines that are intended to inform future studies and ‘best practices ’ for research in marketing employing neuroimaging technologies. 4