Subconscious Brand Recall and Purchase Intention: Evidence from a Neuromarketing Experiment

Understanding how subconscious processes influence consumer decision-making has become a critical challenge for contemporary branding research. Traditional self-report measures often fail to capture the implicit cognitive and emotional mechanisms that drive purchase behavior. This study investigates the effect of subconscious brand recall on purchase intention using a neuromarketing approach that integrates biometric and behavioral measures. An experimental research design was employed with a sample of 120 consumers aged 18–45. Participants were exposed to branded advertising stimuli while their neural, physiological, and attentional responses were recorded using electroencephalography (EEG), galvanic skin response (GSR), and eye-tracking technologies. Following stimulus exposure, self-reported brand recall and purchase intention were measured using structured questionnaires. Data were analyzed using correlation analysis, multiple regression, and mediation analysis. The results reveal that subconscious brand recall significantly and positively influences purchase intention. Neuromarketing indicators—particularly EEG-based attention and GSR-measured emotional arousal—demonstrate stronger predictive power for purchase intention than traditional self-reported recall measures. Furthermore, emotional arousal partially mediates the relationship between subconscious brand recall and purchase intention, while visual attention enhances this effect. The findings confirm the value of neuromarketing techniques in uncovering hidden drivers of consumer behavior and provide actionable insights for brand managers seeking to design more effective advertising strategies. This study contributes to consumer neuroscience literature by empirically validating the role of subconscious brand processing in shaping purchase intentions.