A method for assessing a pre-cognitive emotional response from a test subject, using responses obtained during the first moments of brain activity after presentation of a stimulus, includes exposing the test subject to a visual stimulus for between approximately 500 milliseconds and approximately 1 second, and receiving an input from the subject while the subject is exposed to the visual stimulus or within approximately 300 milliseconds after the subject is first exposed to the stimulus. The method further includes storing, in response to receiving the input, a user response that identifies one of a plurality of emotional reactions that is associated with the visual stimulus. Each of the exposing, receiving, and storing acts is repeated for a plurality of visual stimuli. The method further includes determining, based on each of the stored user responses, one or more dominant emotional characteristics of the subject.
