The opening of the Berthiaume Behavioral Research Lab at UMass Amherst’s Isenberg School of Management will elevate industry-relevant research and provide valuable career training for students.
Irem Onder Neuhofer is fascinated by human behavior and how technology can enhance everyday experiences. An associate professor in the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst and PhD program coordinator for the Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Neuhofer conducts research exploring how technology can guide people to make healthier, more sustainable choices—for example, in selecting a dish off a restaurant menu.
The recent opening of the Berthiaume Behavioral Research Lab in Isenberg expands the possibilities for her research. “The tools and technology offered by the lab are essential for the type of insights we’re looking to uncover,” Neuhofer says.
Isenberg celebrated the grand opening of the Berthiaume Behavioral Research Lab in September 2024, following a summer of training faculty and doctoral students and launching the first official study in the lab.
The largest of its kind in an academic setting in the Northeast, the lab offers advanced technology—including eye tracking software, facial expression analysis (detecting up to nine different emotions), heart rate monitoring, and galvanic skin response sensors—from iMotions, a global leader in human insights software. The lab was made possible by a historic gift from Douglas ’71 and Diana Berthiaume.
As Isenberg Dean Anne Massey remarked at the grand opening, “With this lab, Isenberg will produce better, more credible research, and our faculty will be able to collaborate with one another and teach in new and engaging ways, preparing our students to be leaders in their field.”
Raising the Bar
The Berthiaume Behavioral Research Lab’s capabilities are expected to enhance the caliber and credibility of research conducted by Isenberg faculty and students, leading to more publications in top academic journals.
“More and more these days, researchers must show behavioral outcomes—moving beyond participants’ self-reported attitudes and emotions to really understand the biology of how people respond to certain forces in the marketplace,” says George Milne, Isenberg dean of research. “When researchers rely on self-reports, potential bias can creep in. Study participants may give the answers that they think you want to hear. The advanced technology in the lab is able to detect participants’ true biological and emotional reactions. It erases all that type of bias that’s present in paper and pencil studies.”
Though this type of research can be time-intensive, the new lab contains 18 stations, allowing researchers to work more efficiently. And while today the technology can only be used within the confines of the lab, broader use may be possible in the future by applying iMotions software to analyze eye tracking data captured by participants’ own computer web cams, according to Jess Mooney, the lab's learning and research technology coordinator. This will allow the size of studies to expand from a few dozen participants to hundreds or even thousands.