Buyology By Martin Lindstrom. From WSJ Review: Marketers, using magnetic resonance imaging scanners, record brain activity in minute detail, measuring how the products they are selling affect the brain’s pleasure centers. Daimler-Chrysler, to take one of Mr. Lindstrom’s examples, showed pictures of cars to consumers while using MRIs to study the chemical changes in their brains. Unexpectedly, when an image of a Mini Cooper passed before their eyes, a “back area of the brain that responds to faces came alive.” Turns out it wasn’t the Mini Cooper’s “ultra rigid body” or “1.6L 16-valve alloy engine” that attracted consumers; it was its irresistible face. “You just wanted to pinch its little fat metallic cheeks,” Mr. Lindstrom. The implications for patient compliance are intriguing. What neural centers do antibiotics stir? Do all patients react the same way? Do different medications and different treatments affect the brain differently?
