Market research has its place when it comes to understanding our visitors and their needs and levels of engagement, but using neuroscience we can take our understanding of visitor needs and responses to a whole new level
By Liz Terry | Published in Attractions Management 2019 issue 3
Our cover star this issue is Dr Tedi Asher, a neuroscientist working at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts in the US.
Asher is believed to be the first neuroscientist to be based in a gallery or museum and her appointment heralds an exciting new direction in the development and management of visitor attractions.
Her brief is to deepen engagement among visitors to the museum using Dr Carl Marci’s definition of engagement, which says: “Engagement occurs when attention is directed in a way that elicits an emotional response which leads to the formation of a memory.”
How can we truly know what engages and motivates visitors? The question lies at the heart of all we do and surprisingly, given its importance, there has generally been little science directing investment and energies.
Visitor insight has typically deployed standard market research methodology to establish responses and preferences, which can be useful. Neuroscience, however, takes our understanding to a whole new level by looking at far more fundamental, deep-rooted visceral responses.
Instead of asking people how they feel, neuroscience looks at a person’s physical response and understands how experiences light up different areas of the brain.
Asher is deploying gaze tracking glasses to understand what visitors are looking at and galvanic skin response – which measures sweat produced – to give a biometric measurement of emotional intensity, for example.
She’s already sharing her learnings for the benefit of other attractions, including those revealed by an experiment undertaken at the museum using ‘judgement prompts’.
This found that if visitors were given prompts, such as being asked if they were moved by a particular exhibit, they spent longer looking at it, had a more intense emotional experience and reported higher levels of engagement and satisfaction.
Asher’s work is impacting on all aspects of the museum’s development and operation, including exhibition design and animation, retailing, marketing and wayfinding. We expect to see many more such appointments going forward, as the industry embraces the potential of this approach.
Read more from this issue of Attractions Management magazine
View contents of Attractions Management 2019 issue 3
People profile: Tom Hennes
Tom Hennes discusses how he has transformed the Empire State Building's visitor experience
People profile: Dimitrios Pandermalis
The Acropolis Museum has just celebrated its 10-year anniversary. Its president, Dimitrios Pandermalis, talks about his plans to take the museum forward in the next decade and beyond
People profile: Gus Antorcha
SeaWorld's new CEO Gus Antorcha on the company's new direction as it starts to recover following several years of turmoil
Museums: A museum in motion
The Australian Centre for the Moving Image
is undergoing a AUS$40m renewal. CEO
Katrina Sedgwick talks about the plans
Tourism: The dark side
With locations like Chernobyl increasing
in popularity, Kath Hudson looks at the
dark side of the global tourism sector
Promotional feature: Whitewater
WhiteWater thinks outside the box to create memorable,
immersive experiences that go beyond the thrill
Rides: Monsters, myths and motorbikes
We take a look at some of the biggest ride
openings for visitor attractions worldwide,
including Universal’s new Hagrid coaster
Promotional feature: OurPeople
Home to the world-revered peppa pig world and welcoming more than one
million visitors every year, paultons park was voted Tripadvisor’s number
one UK amusement park for the fourth year running in 2019
An opportunity to reimagine one of the UK’s most recognisable towers has been formally
opened by Rivington Hark, as St Johns Beacon invites operators and partners to shape its
next phase. [more...]
Market research has its place when it comes to understanding our visitors and their needs and levels of engagement, but using neuroscience we can take our understanding of visitor needs and responses to a whole new level
By Liz Terry | Published in Attractions Management 2019 issue 3
Our cover star this issue is Dr Tedi Asher, a neuroscientist working at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts in the US.
Asher is believed to be the first neuroscientist to be based in a gallery or museum and her appointment heralds an exciting new direction in the development and management of visitor attractions.
Her brief is to deepen engagement among visitors to the museum using Dr Carl Marci’s definition of engagement, which says: “Engagement occurs when attention is directed in a way that elicits an emotional response which leads to the formation of a memory.”
How can we truly know what engages and motivates visitors? The question lies at the heart of all we do and surprisingly, given its importance, there has generally been little science directing investment and energies.
Visitor insight has typically deployed standard market research methodology to establish responses and preferences, which can be useful. Neuroscience, however, takes our understanding to a whole new level by looking at far more fundamental, deep-rooted visceral responses.
Instead of asking people how they feel, neuroscience looks at a person’s physical response and understands how experiences light up different areas of the brain.
Asher is deploying gaze tracking glasses to understand what visitors are looking at and galvanic skin response – which measures sweat produced – to give a biometric measurement of emotional intensity, for example.
She’s already sharing her learnings for the benefit of other attractions, including those revealed by an experiment undertaken at the museum using ‘judgement prompts’.
This found that if visitors were given prompts, such as being asked if they were moved by a particular exhibit, they spent longer looking at it, had a more intense emotional experience and reported higher levels of engagement and satisfaction.
Asher’s work is impacting on all aspects of the museum’s development and operation, including exhibition design and animation, retailing, marketing and wayfinding. We expect to see many more such appointments going forward, as the industry embraces the potential of this approach.
Read more from this issue of Attractions Management magazine
View contents of Attractions Management 2019 issue 3
People profile: Tom Hennes
Tom Hennes discusses how he has transformed the Empire State Building's visitor experience
People profile: Dimitrios Pandermalis
The Acropolis Museum has just celebrated its 10-year anniversary. Its president, Dimitrios Pandermalis, talks about his plans to take the museum forward in the next decade and beyond
People profile: Gus Antorcha
SeaWorld's new CEO Gus Antorcha on the company's new direction as it starts to recover following several years of turmoil
Museums: A museum in motion
The Australian Centre for the Moving Image
is undergoing a AUS$40m renewal. CEO
Katrina Sedgwick talks about the plans
Tourism: The dark side
With locations like Chernobyl increasing
in popularity, Kath Hudson looks at the
dark side of the global tourism sector
Promotional feature: Whitewater
WhiteWater thinks outside the box to create memorable,
immersive experiences that go beyond the thrill
Rides: Monsters, myths and motorbikes
We take a look at some of the biggest ride
openings for visitor attractions worldwide,
including Universal’s new Hagrid coaster
Promotional feature: OurPeople
Home to the world-revered peppa pig world and welcoming more than one
million visitors every year, paultons park was voted Tripadvisor’s number
one UK amusement park for the fourth year running in 2019
The Toverland theme park in the Netherlands has announced a €98m expansion programme
that will add a resort, new attractions and staff facilities as it pursues plans to become a multi-
day destination.
Hotel de France, located on the British Isle of Jersey, has created a wellness retreat package
that includes a hot yoga session that will take place in Jersey Zoo’s butterfly sanctuary.
A new immersive attraction designed to transport visitors into the final hours of ancient Pompeii
is preparing to open near the world-famous archaeological site in southern Italy.
Experience design company, BRC Imagination Arts, has completed a transition that sees founder
Bob Rogers pass ownership of the business to four long-serving senior executives, while
remaining actively involved with the company.
Movie Park Germany has opened a new Paramount Pictures-themed attraction as part of its 30th
anniversary celebrations, using immersive storytelling and adaptive reuse to reinforce the park’s
longstanding “Hollywood in Germany” positioning.
Therme Manchester’s 28-acre development, which will include interconnected glass pavilions
that measure 65,000sq m, will be the largest bathing and wellbeing attraction in the world once
complete, according to prof David Russell, CEO of Therme UK.
Efteling has opened Hooghmoed, a new family drop tower designed to broaden the appeal of its
recently launched Sirene Island themed area and introduce younger visitors to thrill attractions.
A proposed Puy du Fou development near Bicester and Universal Destinations and Experiences’
planned resort in Bedford are emerging as part of a wider transformation of the Oxford–
Cambridge Growth Corridor into a major centre for UK leisure and tourism inv
Shedd Aquarium has opened the Immersion Theater developed in partnership with SimEx-
Iwerks, as part of a wider strategy to enhance the guest experience and create additional
revenue opportunities.
The UK government has announced a temporary reduction in VAT on visitor attractions and
children’s meals as part of a summer cost-of-living support package designed to stimulate the
visitor economy and encourage family days out.
As designer Yinka Ilori prepares for his first solo gallery show in London, he speaks exclusively
to CLADmag about his mission to spread joy, the power of play, and his bold approach to using
colour (including the colours you won’t see in his work).
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COMPANY PROFILES
instantprint We’re a Yorkshire-based online printer, founded
in 2009 by Adam Carnell and James Kinsella. [more...]
An opportunity to reimagine one of the UK’s most recognisable towers has been formally
opened by Rivington Hark, as St Johns Beacon invites operators and partners to shape its
next phase. [more...]
