Science Watch: Neuroscans

A co-worker brought in the July 31 issue of New Scientist and had a series of great articles delving into the new field of fMRIs (or functional MRIs, where they watch what is going on in your brain while you react / act to understand literally the how and where of thought).

There is huge potential in this field to help understand pathological decisions (addiction, poor impulse control, liking George Bush) and just a better understanding of human decisions in general (think Economics and the markets). Natrually, one of the non-therapeutic uses of it is in marketing. Basically, marketers are taking their craft to the next level and targeting responses you didn't even know you had. My favorite example?

[Steven Quartz] is desinging a neuroimaging package that will help movie studios measure the success of their trailers. For example, he showed women a trailer starring wrestler-turned-action hero 'The Rock'. In traditional surveys women generally rate The Rock as unattractive, but their brain activity says otherwise: areas associated with facial attractiveness light up when women watch him on screen. Studios could use this information to try to tweak the movie pitch towards women, Quartz says.

Yes, science has proven that women -- despite claims otherwise -- really do find The Rock attractive. Miracles of modern science!