Neuroaesthetics and Sensory Branding

This unit explores how memory systems, multisensory cues, social identity, and neuroaesthetic principles shape brand perception, recall, and virality. Students build on foundational neuroscience and AI concepts from earlier units to design ethically informed, multimodal brand experiences that prepare them for implementing algorithmic personalization and deployment in the final unit.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze how episodic, procedural, and semantic memory systems (e.g., nostalgia, ritual, spatial memory) influence consumer recall and brand attachment using examples from lessons on ritual, memorabilia, and geocoding of experience
• Apply principles of neuroaesthetics and sensory design (visual simplicity, timbre, scent, flavor, and music) to create a multimodal prototype or storyboard that increases memorability and perceived luxury
• Evaluate strategies for social-identity driven branding, personalization, and virality (including tribal belonging, self-identity signals, and everyday-hero narratives) for effectiveness and ethical implications
• Demonstrate the ability to measure and justify design choices by mapping campaign elements to cognitive outcomes and simple metrics (e.g., recall likelihood, mu score proxies, engagement drivers) to prepare for algorithmic optimization in subsequent units