The major networks are now employing testing labs, where everyday people are wired for results, to work out exactly what you will watch.

The testing lab whose proven technology the networks are using to pick a winner is the future of market research, but it's so much more than that.

It seems the success of blockbuster shows we love and swear by has nothing to do with chance, and brainwave technology helps decide what shows will be hits and misses.

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So which programs will have you coming back for more in 2012?

With the modern-day lie detector your brain is wired, and every thought process is mapped. It’s the ultimate honesty test – proof that what we say and what we think can be very different.

What the machines retrieve from brainwaves makes or breaks TV shows.

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There's nothing quite like it in the world. Australian designed, the state of the art scientific equipment is using brain imaging to measure how our mind reacts to programs.

Until now , understanding why a show is popular came down to instinct and the mercy of focus groups, market research, and question and answer forms.

They’re valuable tools, says Peter Pynter from Neuro-Insight, but they do not tell the full story.

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“We don't ask any questions. We just let the brain do all the talking, and what that allows up to do is pick on specific areas of the brain that the field of neuroscience has established over the last 90 to 100 years, to what people’s real responses are. The pure response - the emotional response to content,” Pynter said.

“There are all sorts of motives to what we end up saying. We often say things that are convenient for the group, or we are conditioned to say,” he said. “A lot of the time we would be embarrassed to say we watch a certain program, and we'd avoid saying what it’s really all about.”

The technology is an EEG headset with twenty felt sensors that are strategically placed to align with those areas that relate to the sites on the brain that have specific functions - like engagement, memory, visual attention, and emotional attention.

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A good example of the technology’s effectiveness is the Cadbury Gorilla advertisement.

Before it was released, focus groups said it was a dud. What's a gorilla got to do with chocolate? But Neuro-Insight knew they were on to a winner, seeing how the ad was committed to memory - and more importantly how it performed strongly to branding.

It's been the most success Cadbury ad of all time.

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Over 100 participants have watched the television study where twenty clips of shows that will be on the box this year, across all networks, are shown.

There are no tricks. All they had to do was sit back and watch.

So how did their pen and paper survey compare to what their brains are telling them?

“More often than not you will find at least half that will line up with what people say,” Pynter said.

So what does that tell us?

“That tells us that people can say one thing, and their brains tells us another, and it’s a real measure of emersion.”

On paper the group picked Modern Family as their favourite. Their mind said it was number two, so the result was very close.

My Kitchen Rules was ranked sixteenth on paper, but a very high third place with neuro-engagement.

Of the top ten shows only one of the paper survey matched up with what their brains responded - and that was Glee, coming in sixth.

• 1. The Block
• 2. Modern Family
• 3. My Kitchen Rules
• 4. Packed to the Rafters
• 5. Big Bang Theory.

Media Analyst Steve Allen from Fusion Strategy believes Neuro-Insight is the future of market research, and that all the commercial networks in Australia now use it. Allen's own research shows the hit shows of last year will again perform well.

“It is really like a lie detector. It’s measuring your brain impulses, so it’s not saying ‘do you like this?’ Instead it's mapping what your brain is telling you about the show,” Allen said.

“We actually think one of your shows is most likely going to be a break out hit, and that's Marry My Boy.”

• Neuro-Insight - www.neuro-insight.com
• Fusion - www.fusion.com.au