FlamingText

Pt 2: Bonus Round !

Part 1 Pachinko

 "BrightHouse Neurostrategies™ Group was founded in 2001 to develop the next important evolution in market research by harnessing the power of modern scientific approaches in ways that can deliver unprecedented consumer insights.

Our team is uniquely positioned to integrate marketing expertise with the most advanced neuroscientific research capabilities and understanding of how the brain thinks, feels and motivates behavior."*

*From their Website

 It was not Damasio’s contention that emotion played a much greater role in decisions than was generally supposed that was revolutionary (after all, philosophers and cynics have been pointing this out at least as far back as Socrates,) but rather the development of methods for observing and quantifying these responses. The idea of using MRI (or fMRI, for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) technology to correlate data gathered in psychological tests with data on brain activity allowed researchers to bypass the most unreliable aspects of psychological testing.

 MRI works by using magnetic pulses to track the flow of blood inside the brain. By noting which areas show increased blood flow researchers can infer which parts of the brain are active at a given moment. Parallel advances in computer 3D imaging have resulted in modern MRI devices being able to track these changes in real time, allowing them to be used in standard interview-type testing.

 For example, researchers at Caltech in Pasadena conducted a two-person experiment that involved playing an investment game. Both players were given $10 at the beginning of the game. Over ten rounds, one player made all decisions about investing. The other player’s only role was to decide how the money was to be divided. The investor could kill the whole deal at any time if they felt the money was being divided unfairly.

 This experiment is designed to illustrate how emotions can override reason; From a coldly logical perspective, the investor knows that walking away from the game with any money is a net gain. Yet many subjects will actually walk away with nothing to spite a greedy partner. The researchers have been able to predict with %70 accuracy what the outcome will be based on the MRI data. Lots of activity in the prefrontal cortex indicates that the subject is evaluating the situation logically and is therefore likely to accept an unfair deal that is better than nothing at all. Conversely, activity in the anterior insula, where feelings of disgust and nausea are believed to originate, usually signals that the subject is ready to walk rather than accept an unfair deal.

 "Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a safe, non-invasive technique that allows us to locate and quantify brain activity associated with thoughts, feelings and action. It can also be carried out rapidly (an experiment typically lasts only a few minutes and a whole session less than an hour). Subjects lie in an MRI scanner and are then exposed to sensory stimuli (e.g. pictures of different brand extensions, or different combinations of tastes and smells) or might be asked to carry out a task (e.g. rate how happy you feel after each trial; try and remember as many of these images as possible). When a part of the brain becomes active, the brightness of the images changes. By analysing the images using sophisticated computer programmes, we can quantify and localise brain activity in areas involved in emotion, attention, memory and decision-making. The excellent spatial and temporal resolution of fMRI also helps us to determine to what extent the pleasure centres in the brain are activated when consumers interact with particular products, ads and packaging. "*

*From the Neurosense Website

 So why would someone lose money rather than accept a raw deal? Apparently the need for fairness is primal, and very strong in primates (such as humans) with a strong evolutionary bent towards social behavior. Similar experiments performed on monkeys, in which the monkeys were offered a reward while witnessing other monkeys receiving more desirable rewards, showed the monkeys reacting in much the same way as the investors who walked away; The monkeys refused the inferior reward rather than accept an unfair exchange. Researchers relate this behavior to a deep-seated fear of a loss in social status.

 Remember the Pepsi Challenge? Researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas performed it themselves, and found that a majority of subjects preferred Pepsi in a blind taste test. When they were informed beforehand which drink they were being given, a large majority preferred Coke. In the first instance, brain activity was concentrated in the ventral putamen, believed to be one of the brain's "reward centers." In the second, when subjects were ostensibly considering the "brand identity" of the beverage, activity occurred in the hippocampus (associated with memory) and the medial prefrontal cortex, which is associated with one's sense of self. It is the medial prefrontal cortex that lights up when subjects are asked if words like "courageous" or "trustworthy" apply to them.

 "…Kilts stabbed his finger at another glowing yellow dot near the top of the brain. It was the magic spot -- the medial prefrontal cortex. If that area is firing, a consumer isn't deliberating, he said: he's itching to buy. "At that point, it's intuitive. You say: 'I'm going to do it. I want it.' "
Dr. Clinton Kilts, Brighthouse Luminary and Director of Emory University's Center for Neuroimaging Research, quoted in
this New York Times Article, reprinted on Cognitive Liberty's site.

....Cherry!

NEXT: Pt 3: The Magic Spot!

Posted by flamingbanjo at October 27, 2004 01:02 PM