The Seduction of Capitalism is a Brain Function?
Mike Dobson | 15.01.2008 10:44 | Culture | Globalisation | Other Press | World
Previous research has examined how advertising and marketing affects behaviour, but this is the first study to demonstrate the direct effect on the brain.
Hilke Plassmann, John O'Doherty, Baba Shiv, and Antonio Rangel of the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the California Institute of Technology asked 21 adult volunteers to sample identical bottles of wine presented at different prices and by using [functionalMRI] brain scans they monitored the neural activity in the medial orbitofrontal cortex - the area of the brain associated with decision-making and pleasure in terms of flavour.
They found that [for] the more "expensive" wines ......the part of the brain responsible for pleasure showed significant activity .
The authors say it has been known for some time that people's perceptions are affected by marketing, but it can now be seen that the brain itself is affected by price.
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/0706929105v1?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=rangel&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&resourcetype=HWCIT
http://www.news-medical.net/?id=34284
They found that [for] the more "expensive" wines ......the part of the brain responsible for pleasure showed significant activity .
The authors say it has been known for some time that people's perceptions are affected by marketing, but it can now be seen that the brain itself is affected by price.
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Mike Dobson
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michael.dob871@onetel.net
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