Decoding consumer responses to anthropomorphic products using electroencephalography, skin conductance, and eye-tracking

Anthropomorphic product design is often assumed to increase consumer engagement, but its neural mechanisms and boundary conditions remain underexplored. This study employed a multimodal neuroscientific approach—electroencephalography (EEG), galvanic skin response (GSR), and eye-tracking—to examine how anthropomorphized versus non-anthropomorphized products influence consumer responses. Forty-four young adults viewed AI-generated images of beverages, backpacks, and smartphones. While anthropomorphic cues did not increase overall arousal or approach motivation, striking gender- and context-specific patterns emerged. Female participants showed stronger frontal alpha asymmetry and longer visual attention toward anthropomorphized beverages and backpacks, but not smartphones. Both genders responded negatively to anthropomorphized smartphones, reflecting uncanny-valley effects in privacy-sensitive domains. These findings reveal that anthropomorphism's effectiveness hinges on product–consumer congruity, moderated by gender and category norms. The study advances affective design theory, extends uncanny-valley dynamics to marketing, and demonstrates the value of EEG–GSR–eye-tracking integration. Practically, it offers a replicable framework for identifying where anthropomorphism enhances—or harms—consumer engagement.