Technologies like facial coding, biofeedback and brain imaging have long been used by companies in the hope of pushing the boundaries of marketing and product development. But their use by political parties and governments is a growing phenomenon, evoking futuristic scenes from the movie “Minority Report,” in which eerily well-informed billboards scan commuters’ eyes and call out to them by name.

The practice has come under attack, especially by academics who accuse neuromarketers of selling junk science.

But the skepticism has not dissuaded political parties in many parts of the world. According to campaign records, the campaigns of presidents and prime ministers on at least three continents have hired science consultants to scan voters’ brains, bodies and faces, all with the aim of heightening their emotional resonance with the electorate.

In Mexico, President Enrique Peña Nieto’s campaign and his party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, employed tools to measure voters’ brain waves, skin arousal, heart rates and facial expressions during the 2012 presidential campaign. More recently, the party has been using facial coding to help pick its best candidates, one consultant says. Some officials even speak openly about their embrace of neuropolitical techniques, and not just for campaigning, but for governing as well.

“In my government, we have utilized a variety of research tools and opinion studies to evaluate the efficacy of our governmental programs, communications and messages,” said Francisco Olvera Ruiz, the governor of the Mexican state of Hidalgo and a governing party member. “Neuroscience research,” he added, is “especially valuable because it has allowed us to discover with more precision and objectivity what people think, perceive and feel.”