The Nightmare of Being a Woman??? We Just Have More of Them Than Men!

Women Have More Nightmares Than Men, Study Shows

ScienceDaily (2009-01-30) -- A researcher was inspired by her own nightmares and a chance encounter at a lecture to examine more closely the stuff that dreams are made of. Her PhD study has focused on an astounding discovery that women suffer more nightmares then men. ... > read full article

Sleep and Achievement In Sports Seem to Go Together

Snooze you win? It's true for achieving hoop dreams, says new study

ScienceDaily (2011-07-01) -- Young basketball players spend hours dribbling up and down the court aspiring to NBA stardom. Now, new research suggests another tactic to achieving their hoop dreams: sleep. ... > read full article

Sleep and the Moral Brain

Sleep Deprivation Affects Moral Judgment, Study Finds

ScienceDaily (2007-03-02) -- A study published in the March 1 issue of the journal Sleep finds that sleep deprivation impairs the ability to integrate emotion and cognition to guide moral judgments. ... > read full article

The Moral Urge

Brain co-opts the body to promote moral behavior, study finds

ScienceDaily (2011-07-08) -- The human brain may simulate physical sensations to prompt introspection, capitalizing on moments of high emotion to promote moral behavior, according to a researcher. ... > read full article

Beauty and the Brain

Beauty is in the medial orbito-frontal cortex of the beholder

ScienceDaily (2011-07-06) -- A region at the front of the brain 'lights up' when we experience beauty in a piece of art or a musical excerpt, according to new research. The study goes some way to supporting the views of David Hume and others that beauty lies in the beholder rather than in the object. ... read full article

What's Transformative Consumer Research?

Wondering what transformative consumer research is all about? This is a new subfield in consumer behavior research that focuses on issues impacting consumer well-being. A new (and in my opinion) definitive book has just been published by Routledge Press, Transformative Consumer Research: For Personal and Collective Well-Being. Chapters include topics on gambling, addictive consumption (co-authored by yours truly with two great researchers Ab Litt and Baba Shiv), childhood obesity, financial well-being and the book's authors are a range of all of the best researchers doing work on how marketing impacts consumers and how we can make consumers' lives better! Check it out!

Running Makes the Brain Run Faster

Brain rhythm associated with learning also linked to running speed, study shows

ScienceDaily (2011-06-27) -- Rhythms in the brain that are associated with learning become stronger as the body moves faster, neurophysicists report in a new study. The research team used specialized microelectrodes to monitor an electrical signal known as the gamma rhythm in the brains of mice. This signal is typically produced in a brain region called the hippocampus, which is critical for learning and memory, during periods of concentration and learning. ... > read full article

The Significant Effects of Practice on the Brain

A little practice can change the brain in a lasting way, study finds

ScienceDaily (2011-06-28) -- A little practice goes a long way, according to researchers who have found the effects of practice on the brain have remarkable staying power. The study found that when participants were shown visual patterns--faces, which are highly familiar objects, and abstract patterns, which are much less frequently encountered -- they were able to retain very specific information about those patterns one to two years later. ... > read full article

Yet Another Reason I Love Coffee...Alzheimer's Prevention!

Mystery ingredient in coffee boosts protection against Alzheimer's disease, study finds
ScienceDaily (2011-06-28) -- An unidentified coffee component combined with caffeine increases a growth factor that counters Alzheimer's pathology in mice, according to new research. ... read full article

Are Men More Risk Seeking Than Women? Maybe Not!

No gender difference in risk-taking behavior, study suggests

ScienceDaily (2011-06-10) -- New research shows that young Swedish women are more prone than men to perceive situations as risky. However, there are no gender differences in actual risk-taking behavior. ... > read full article

Smoking and Weight Gain

Discovery may pave way to quitting smoking without gaining weight

ScienceDaily (2011-06-10) -- Smokers tend to die young, but they tend to die thinner than non-smokers. A team of scientists has discovered exactly how nicotine suppresses appetite -- findings that suggest that it might be possible to develop a drug that would help smokers, and non-smokers, stay thin. ... > read full article

Red Does Wonders...For Your Reaction Time

Color red increases the speed and strength of reactions
ScienceDaily (2011-06-02) -- When humans see red, their reactions become both faster and more forceful. And people are unaware of the color's intensifying effect, according to a new study. ... > read'>http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110602122349.htm">read full article

Right Fusiform and Temporal Network Involved in IDing Faces

How the brain processes faces: Neural system responsible for face recognition discovered
ScienceDaily (2011-06-01) -- Until now, scientists believed that only a couple of brain areas mediate facial recognition. However scientists have discovered that an entire network of cortical areas work together to identify faces. These findings will change the future of neural visual perception research and allow scientists to use this discovery to develop targeted remedies for disorders such as face blindness. ... > read'>http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110531121319.htm">read full article

The amazing things that oxytocin does...in both men and women

Oxytocin: It’s a Mom and Pop Thing

ScienceDaily (2010-08-22) -- The hormone oxytocin has come under intensive study in light of emerging evidence that its release contributes to the social bonding that occurs between lovers, friends, and colleagues. Oxytocin also plays an important role in birth and maternal behavior, but until now, research had never addressed the involvement of oxytocin in the transition to fatherhood. ... > read full article

Where Imagining the Future Lives in the Brain

Imaging Pinpoints Brain Regions That 'See The Future'

ScienceDaily (2007-01-07) -- Using brain imaging, researchers from Washington University in St. Louis have identified several brain regions that are involved in the uniquely human ability to envision future events. The study, to be published in the journal PNAS, provides evidence that memory and future thought are highly interrelated and helps explain why future thought may be impossible without memories. Findings suggest that envisioning the future may be a critical prerequisite for many higher-level planning processes. ... > read full article

Growing Astrocyte Brain Cells in the Lab

Human brain's most ubiquitous cell cultivated in lab dish

ScienceDaily (2011-05-23) -- Stem cell researchers have been able to direct embryonic and induced human stem cells to become astrocytes in the lab dish. ... > read full article

Size Matters At Least In The Brain: Bigger Caudate, Putamen and Nucleus Accumbens Predicts Better Video Game Performance

Video gamers: Size of brain structures predicts success

ScienceDaily (2010-01-21) -- Researchers can predict your performance on a video game simply by measuring the volume of specific structures in your brain. ... > read full article

Basal Ganglia Activity Can Predict Skill in Video Gaming

Researchers can predict your video game aptitude by imaging your brain

ScienceDaily (2011-01-16) -- Researchers report that they can predict "with unprecedented accuracy" how well you will do on a complex task such as a strategic video game simply by analyzing activity in a specific region of your brain. ... > read full article

Are Video Games Good for Kids?

Video game effects on kids: Not all black and white, expert argues

ScienceDaily (2011-05-10) -- A new article argues that existing video game literature can't be classified in black and white terms. Instead, there's a vast gray area when considering the multiple dimensions of video game effects on kids -- with at least five dimensions on which video games can affect players simultaneously. ... > read full article

Sleep Is Good For You and Your Ability to Create

Sleep makes your memories stronger, and helps with creativity

ScienceDaily (2010-12-17) -- Scientists have found that sleep helps consolidate memories, fixing them in the brain so we can retrieve them later. Now, new research is showing that sleep also seems to reorganize memories, picking out the emotional details and reconfiguring the memories to help you produce new and creative ideas, according to new research. ... > read full article

Sleep Can Make Colors Pop Again!

Sleep colors your view of the world: Study suggests sleep may restore color perception

ScienceDaily (2010-06-10) -- Prior wakefulness caused the color gray to be classified as having a slightly but significantly greenish tint. Overnight sleep restored perception to achromatic equilibrium so that gray was perceived as gray. The study involved five people who viewed a full-field, homogenous stimulus of either slightly reddish or greenish hue. The observers had to judge whether the stimulus was greener or redder than their internal perception of neutral gray. ... > read full article

The Dark Side of Happiness

Happiness has a dark side

ScienceDaily (2011-05-17) -- It seems like everyone wants to be happier and the pursuit of happiness is one of the foundations of American life. But even happiness can have a dark side, according to a new article. ... > read full article

Are angry women more like men? That really gets my goat! ;)

Are angry women more like men?

ScienceDaily (2009-12-14) -- "Why is it that men can be bastards and women must wear pearls and smile?" wrote author Lynn Hecht Schafran. The answer, according to a new article may lie in our interpretation of facial expressions. ... > read full article

What are video games good for? Maybe quite a bit! A reluctant mom considers the benefits.

My son has been trying to convince me for years that video games and computers, which he has an innate love of since the age of 1 1/2 (yes, I let my toddler play on computers...naughty mom!!). He recently wrote an articulate and thoughtful essay for his 7th grade language arts class on how video games can change the world. It included his belief that playing games online or on consoles helps him to meet kids all around the world, learn new languages like Chinese and Japanese, read faster, think better, learn how to solve puzzles, plan and strategize, and the list went on and on...I have spent years yelling at him to turn off the computer, obsessing about how much I suck as a mom because my kid sits sometimes for hours staring at a screen and worried about what he will do as an adult if all he can do is click the mouse really fast.

But my eyes have been opened since I have started to think about what it really means to reach a level of optimized human performance. My husband, who is a big my husband, who is a big proponent of virtual worlds and MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games) including WOW (World of Warcraft for those of you non-gamers out there), told me to check out Jane McGonigal's TED video on how video games can change the world...I was impressed with her narrative (it helps that she talks in PhD-speak which I have learned to love)...and maybe I can be convinced that video games can save the world!

Treating Alzheimer's by stimulating the brain with Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Alzheimer's is a tough disease to deal with...how can any of us stand to be without the parts of the brain that make us who we are? My mom is right now dealing with early onset Alzheimer's and since my grandmother and grandfather both died from it, I wonder how long it will be before my absent minded professor habits turn into full blown dementia in my overstressed, sleep-deprived mind...An article in Technology Review from MIT looks at new technologies being developed to help Alzheimer's patients recover cognitive functionality without the use of drugs. One being developed by Neuronix uses transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), which researchers I know used in their work, in order to activate or deactivate specific regions of the brain as a way of circumventing neuronal damage. If this can become a way of treating the +5M people who are currently suffering along with all of their caregivers and those who love them, it will be a huge step forward!

Smells from childhood really are etched in our brains

ScienceDaily (2009-11-06) -- Common experience tells us that particular scents of childhood can leave quite an impression, for better or for worse. Now, researchers reporting the results of a brain imaging study show that first scents really do enjoy a "privileged" status in the brain. ... > read full article

Using light to measure brain activity

ScienceDaily  -- Radiologists have developed a new device to understand brain activity. It is a collection of fiber optic cables attached to a flexible cap placed atop the head. The cables send near-infrared light through the skull and into the brain, where it is diffused or scattered before it is collected by receiver cables. The device is able to interpret the light to measure blood circulation and the amount of oxygen in that blood, which helps explain brain activity.

How does our brain find things amidst chaos?

Brain performs near optimal visual search

ScienceDaily (2011-05-09) -- Visual search is an important task for the brain. Surprisingly, even in a complex task like detecting an object in a scene with distractions, we find that people's performance is near optimal. That means that the brain manages to do the best possible job given the available information, according to researchers. ... > read full article

Brain region involved in gambling

Brain region that influences gambling decisions pinpointed

ScienceDaily (2011-05-09) -- When a group of gamblers gather around a roulette table, individual players are likely to have different reasons for betting on certain numbers. Recently, researchers hedged their bets -- and came out winners -- when they proposed that a certain region of the brain drives these different types of decision-making behaviors. ... > read full article

Jazz musicians' brains: Where spontaneity and improvisation come from

Amygdala detects spontaneity in human behavior: Study of jazz musicians reveals how brain processes improvisations

ScienceDaily (2011-05-05) -- A pianist is playing an unknown melody freely without reading from a musical score. How does the listener's brain recognise if this melody is improvised or if it is memorized? Researchers investigated jazz musicians to discover which brain areas are especially sensitive to features of improvised behaviour. Among these are the amygdala and a network of areas known to be involved in the mental simulation of behaviour. ... > read full article

Using EEG to Fly...

EEG headset with flying harness lets users 'fly' by controlling their thoughts

ScienceDaily (2011-05-06) -- Students have created a system that pairs an EEG headset with a 3-D theatrical flying harness, allowing users to "fly" by controlling their thoughts. The "Infinity Simulator" will make its debut with an art installation in which participants rise into the air -- and trigger light, sound, and special effects -- by calming their thoughts. ... > read full article

Computers with schizophrenia?

Scientists afflict computers with 'schizophrenia' to better understand the human brain

ScienceDaily (2011-05-06) -- Computer networks that can't forget fast enough can show symptoms of a kind of virtual schizophrenia, giving researchers further clues to the inner workings of schizophrenic brains, researchers have found. ... > read full article

Cool study: Salad greens healthiest when at the front of grocer display due to flourescent light exposure

Market lighting affects nutrients in salad greens, researchers find

ScienceDaily (2011-05-04) -- Many people reach toward the back of the fresh-produce shelf to find the freshest salad greens with the latest expiration dates. But a new study by agriculture scientists may prompt consumers to instead look for packages that receive the greatest exposure to light -- usually those found closest to the front. ... > read full article

The Mystery of Altruism

Robots learn to share: Why we go out of our way to help one another

ScienceDaily (2011-05-03) -- Using simple robots to simulate genetic evolution over hundreds of generations, Swiss scientists provide quantitative proof of kin selection and shed light on one of the most enduring puzzles in biology: Why do most social animals, including humans, go out of their way to help each other? ... > read full article

Trend Hunting 2011: All You Need to Know!

One of the most important skills anyone can have is one of forecasting...being able to "predict" the future is massively useful but notoriously difficult as any academic article from the International Journal of Forecasting deftly shows. But I personally love trend tracking! I have been dabbling in it since my early days in the ad business at Young & Rubicam NY and while you don't always get it right, it is cool to see which trends hit and which ones miss. On a recent trip to Toronto, I read a magazine article on the founder of www.trendhunter.com Jeremy Gutsche and I was intrigued. This is all about crowdsourcing global trends! What a great way to track everything happening in food, clubs, fashion, design, business then to ask the mob to flash mob the latest! Here are their prediction for 2011:

Grow happy and old?

Older People Are Nation's Happiest: Baby Boomers Less Happy Than Other Generational Groups

ScienceDaily (2008-04-19) -- Americans grow happier as they grow older, according to a new study that is one of the most thorough examinations of happiness ever done in America. The study also found that baby boomers are not as content as other generations, African Americans are less happy than whites, men are less happy than women, happiness can rise and fall between eras, and that, with age the differences narrow. ... > read full article

Avoid thinking about past regrets...focus on only happy memories to amp up happiness

Seeking happiness? Remember the good times, forget the regrets

ScienceDaily (2011-05-02) -- People who look at the past through rose-tinted glasses are happier than those who focus on negative past experiences and regrets, according to a new study. The study helps explain why personality has such a strong influence on a person's happiness. The findings suggest that persons with certain personality traits are happier than others because of the way they think about their past, present and future. ... > read full article

Help for working moms...from Google COO Sheryl Sandberg

I very eloquent diatribe by Google COO Sheryl Sandberg on why we need better options for women in the workforce and why it is good for companies!!

How to glow at work? Prof. Gratton from LBS tells us how...

Prof. Linda Gratton gives us the story of Fred and Frank as a way to understand how you can learn to glow at work even if you hate it! It is an interesting excerpt from her book Glow...you can either change what you do or change how you do it!

Embarrassment in the Brain: Anterior Cingulate Cortex and Medial Frontal Cortex

Neurological basis for embarrassment described

ScienceDaily (2011-04-16) -- Recording people belting out an old Motown tune and then asking them to listen to their own singing without the accompanying music seems like an unusually cruel form of punishment. But for a team of scientists, this exact Karaoke experiment has revealed what part of the brain is essential for embarrassment. ... > read full article

Don't have power? Get more choices...It all equals control which is really what we want!

Power and choice are interchangeable: It's all about controlling your life

ScienceDaily (2011-04-28) -- Having power over others and having choices in your own life share a critical foundation: control, according to a new study. New research finds that people are willing to trade one source of control for the other. For example, if people lack power, they clamor for choice, and if they have an abundance of choice they don't strive as much for power. ... > read full article

Your brain can fall asleep while you're awake and make your life miserable

Microsleep: Brain regions can take short naps during wakefulness, leading to errors

ScienceDaily (2011-04-28) -- If you've ever lost your keys or stuck the milk in the cupboard and the cereal in the refrigerator, you may have been the victim of a tired brain region that was taking a quick nap. ... > read full article

Even babies can detect the Circadian rhythm of day and night

From the beginning, the brain knows the difference between night and day

ScienceDaily (2011-04-28) -- The brain is apparently programmed from birth to develop the ability to determine sunrise and sunset, according to new research on circadian rhythms that research sheds new light on brain plasticity and may explain some basic human behaviors. ... > read full article

Circadian clock genes in the brain disrupted in Alzheimer's patients

Disruptions of daily rhythms in Alzheimer's patients' brains

ScienceDaily (2011-04-29) -- Disruptions of circadian rhythms and sleep-wake cycles have been observed in patients with Alzheimer's disease. A new study unravels a possible basis for these perturbations. Recent findings show function in multiple areas of the human brain. ... > read full article

Being busy for busy's sake: Just doing anything is better than doing nothing

Who needs motivation? The rewards of doing 'something'

ScienceDaily (2011-04-29) -- When psychologists think about why people do what they do, they tend to look for specific goals, attitudes, and motivations. But they may be missing something more general -- people like to be doing something. These broader goals, to be active or inactive, may have a big impact on how they spend their time. ... > read full article

How our brains respond to danger may be different for women vs. men

Men and women may respond differently to danger

ScienceDaily (2009-11-30) -- Researchers using functional magnetic resonance imaging to study brain activation have found that men and women respond differently to positive and negative stimuli, according to a new study. ... > read full article

Our brains respond to social status based on our own social status...say what?

Our own status affects the way our brains respond to others

ScienceDaily (2011-04-28) -- Our own social status influences the way our brains respond to others of higher or lower rank, according to a new study. People of higher subjective socioeconomic status show greater brain activity in response to other high-ranked individuals, while those with lower status have a greater response to other low-status individuals. ... > read full article

What makes former smokers successful? Brain imaging studies may be able to tell us!

Brain imaging demonstrates that former smokers have greater willpower than smokers

ScienceDaily (2011-04-27) -- A new study compares former smokers to current smokers, and obtains insight into how to quit smoking might be discovered by studying the brains of those who have successfully managed to do so. ... > read full article

Men Respond to Stress with OFC Fight or Flight; Women Not So Much...

ScienceDaily -- Functional magnetic resonance imaging of men and women under stress showed neuroscientists how their brains differed in response to stressful situations. In men, increased blood flow to the left orbitofrontal cortex suggested activation of the "fight or flight" response. In women, stress activated the limbic system, which is associated with emotional responses.

Neural Correlates of Embarrassment

Neurological basis for embarrassment described

ScienceDaily (2011-04-16) -- Recording people belting out an old Motown tune and then asking them to listen to their own singing without the accompanying music seems like an unusually cruel form of punishment. But for a team of scientists, this exact Karaoke experiment has revealed what part of the brain is essential for embarrassment. ... > read full article

Reading Sarcasm Clue to Dementia Risk

Inability to detect sarcasm, lies may be early sign of dementia, study shows

ScienceDaily (2011-04-17) -- By asking a group of older adults to analyze videos of other people conversing -- some talking truthfully, some insincerely -- a group of scientists has determined which areas of the brain govern a person's ability to detect sarcasm and lies. ... > read full article

Judging First Impressions...With Accuracy!

People know when first impressions are accurate

ScienceDaily (2011-04-17) -- First impressions are important, and they usually contain a healthy dose both of accuracy and misperception. But do people know when their first impressions are correct? They do reasonably well, according to a new study. ... > read full article

Addicted to Media? College Students Are!

Students around the world report being addicted to media, study finds

ScienceDaily (2011-04-05) -- College students around the world report that they are 'addicted' to media, describing in vivid terms their cravings, their anxieties and their depression when they have to abstain from using cell phones, social networking sites, mp3 player. ... > read full article

Helicopter Parenting? Maybe Not Such A Bad Thing...

The new adulthood: Extended parental support as a safety net

ScienceDaily (2011-03-15) -- A new study shows that contrary to popular anxieties about slacker young adults who refuse to grow up, or indulgent parents who stifle their adult children’s development by continuing to support them, there is evidence that parental assistance in early adulthood promotes progress toward autonomy and self-reliance. ... > read full article

Text Message Interruptions Can Curb That Crave

Text messaging helps smokers break the habit: Studies demonstrate brain activity link and use a new technology to monitor smoking

ScienceDaily (2011-03-07) -- New studies have isolated the brain regions most active in controlling urges to smoke and demonstrated the effectiveness of text-messaging to measure and intervene in those urges. ... > read full article

Cross-Gender Comparisons Can Bring You Down!?

Social Comparisons In Early Childhood

ScienceDaily (2008-10-30) -- Previous research has shown that preschoolers maintain positive self-evaluations and high levels of performance even when they see that their peers have out-performed them. However, new research suggests that preschoolers are very sensitive to gender information. These findings reveal that when preschoolers see that they have performed more poorly than a peer of the other gender -- even just one time -- there are lasting negative consequences on behavior and self-concept. ... > read full article

Abstract vs. Concrete Thoughts Make the Difference in Whether We Procrastinate

Why We Procrastinate And How To Stop

ScienceDaily (2009-01-12) -- Psychologists wanted to see if there might be a link between how we think about a task and our tendency to postpone it. It turns out, the students who thought about the questions abstractly were much more likely to procrastinate. By contrast, those who were focused on the how, when and where of doing the task e-mailed their responses much sooner, suggesting that they started the assignment right away rather than procrastinating. ... > read full article

Should We Teach Honesty and Humility in B-Schools? Link to Better Performance

Higher job performance linked to people who are more honest and humble

ScienceDaily (2011-03-01) -- The more honesty and humility an employee may have, the higher their job performance, as rated by the employees' supervisor. A new study that found the honesty-humility personality trait was a unique predictor of job performance. ... > read full article

Ads Showing Mixed Emotions Work Better on People Who Think Abstractly?

How do ads depicting mixed emotions persuade abstract thinkers?

ScienceDaily (2010-04-22) -- People who think more abstractly respond better to ads that portray mixed emotions, according to a new study. ... > read full article

Emotions Get the Better of Us

Why do our emotions get in the way of rational decisions about safety products?

ScienceDaily (2011-02-03) -- A new study explores why people reject things that can make them safer. ... > read full article

You Mean Playing Wii Sports With My Kids Helps?...Video Game Play with Parents and Kids Could Be Good for Them (And Bad For Your Back!)

Video games are good for girls, if parents play along

ScienceDaily (2011-02-02) -- Researchers have conducted a study on video games and children between 11 and 16 years old. They found that girls who played video games with a parent enjoyed a number of advantages. Those girls behaved better, felt more connected to their families and had stronger mental health. ... > read full article

OMG, Teen Peer Pressure is Real and Subtle...Just Having Friends Around Makes Teens More Sensitive to Reward of Risk

Presence of peers heightens teens' sensitivity to rewards of a risk

ScienceDaily (2011-01-29) -- Teenagers take more risks when they are with their friends. A new study sheds light on why. The findings demonstrate that when teens are with their friends they are more sensitive to the rewards of a risk than when alone. ... > read full article

Transcranial Magnetic Brain Stimulation Can Do Wonders for the Brain?

Learn more quickly by transcranial magnetic brain stimulation, study in rats suggests

ScienceDaily (2011-01-29) -- What sounds like science fiction is actually possible: thanks to magnetic stimulation, the activity of certain brain nerve cells can be deliberately influenced. What happens in the brain in this context has been unclear up to now. Medical experts have now shown that various stimulus patterns changed the activity of distinct neuronal cell types. In addition, certain stimulus patterns led to rats learning more easily. ... > read full article

Soldiers Brains Vulnerable to Significant Change Under Combat Stress

Soldiers’ brains adapt to perceived threat during mission

ScienceDaily (2011-01-26) -- A study of soldiers who took part in the ISAF mission in Afghanistan between 2008 and 2010 has found that their brains adapt when they are continuously exposed to stress. The perceived threat appears to be the major predictor of brain adaptation, rather than the actual events. In other words, if a roadside bomb goes off right in front of you, the degree to which you perceive this as threatening is what counts. This is what determines how the brain and the stress system adapt. Between 2008 and 2010 the researchers studied a group of 36 soldiers. Before and after taking part in the mission, the soldiers’ brain activity was measured and compared with the brain activity of a control group of equal size who stayed at home. Unique to this study is that it is the first to use a control group. This control group, which stayed behind in the barracks in the Netherlands, had received similar combat training. ... > read full article

Meditation Can Change the Brain in Weeks

Mindfulness meditation training changes brain structure in eight weeks

ScienceDaily (2011-01-21) -- Participating in an 8-week mindfulness meditation program appears to make measurable changes in brain regions associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress. A new study is the first to document meditation-produced changes over time in the brain's gray matter. ... > read full article

Strange new drug diminshes ability to self-control...just what we don't need!

Drug 'khat' makes users more impulsive

ScienceDaily (2011-01-21) -- Researchers have investigated the effects of the drug khat on a person’s ability to inhibit undesirable behavior. Frequent use was shown to decrease self-control, with all the potentially dangerous consequences this implies. In view of the increased number of khat users, this is an alarming development. ... > read full article

Cues That Drive Violent Behaviors

An recent article at CNN.com by Prof. Saul Kassin on the psychological theories that might explain what drove the shooter in Arizona, reveals some interesting findings on what underlies violent behavior.

1) Men who show antisocial behavior as children such as truancy, setting fires, abusing animals, often are diagnosed to have psychopathy. These are the same adults who do not show empathy, aren't able to show real emotions, often are unfeeling in relationships and engage in high risk and even unethical behavior. From my observation many of them end up in business school and eventually in business which makes teaching ethics so hard to do!

2) Men are much more likely to commit violent acts than women and there is some evidence that violence is linked to testosterone levels. Kassin mentions in his article that "roid rage" - the heightened propensity men on steroids often experience - seems to be related to the increased level of testosterone.

3) Even when there are behavioral precursors that might indicate a violent episode for an individual, often an event that triggers frustration increases the likelihood for violence. This frustration can be caused by social or economic failures but interestingly can also be caused by pain, heat, insult, jealousy and rejection. Those are conditions that people who are concerned about an individual can look out for but unfortunately there's no way of shielding a vulnerable individual from these types of events.

4) These violent acts are not spontaneous. They are often well planned out a study by the U.S. Secret Service found when looking at 37 shootings. In many cases the perpetrator discusses their plans with at least one adult and/or classmates. We need a better mechanism for people to report this type of foreknowledge!

4) The most interesting part of Kassin's article was his assertion that studies have shown that just the presence of a weapon (vs. not present) makes people more likely to administer painful electric shocks to strangers. The effect of this cue could potentially be a powerful, subversive one especially when we think of the prevalence of weapons and violence in the media. And this exacerbated by individuals who are exposed to these cues who might be vulnerable in some way!

Many of us know of individuals who could potentially "pull a postal" because of their personality, behaviors, current life state, isolation, and frustration. It is unfortunate that even with this knowledge it is difficult to know how best to deal with this concern.

Beyond that, it is important that more research be done to understand how cues in environment might affect or trigger behaviors that are dangerous...with that knowledge, we might be able to decide how we might choose to articulate commercial products such as games, TV shows, ads, in order to try to foster a more safe and civil society.

Does "problematic" video gaming lead to other addictive behaviors?

When video games get problematic so do smoking, drug use and aggression

ScienceDaily (2010-11-15) -- A new study on gaming and health in adolescents found some significant gender differences linked to gaming as well as important health risks associated with problematic gaming. The study is among the first and largest to examine possible health links to gaming and problematic gaming in a community sample of adolescents. ... > read full article

If you're lazy, you don't participate in politics

New article in Psychological Science...so amazing even Huffington Post commented on it!

Participating in Politics Resembles Physical Activity: General Action Patterns in International Archives, United States Archives, and Experiments

Kenji Noguchi, Ian M. Handley, and Dolores Albarracín
Political participation may be linked to general action tendencies. Greater action-tendency index (e.g., percentage of people exercising 5 or more days per week) was shown to correlate with greater political participation (e.g., voter turnout) in the 50 states and the District of Columbia for the 2004 U.S. presidential election. In addition, volunteers who were exposed to action words (e.g., go, move) had stronger intentions to vote in an upcoming election and volunteered more time to a calling campaign on behalf of a university policy than volunteers who were exposed to inaction words (e.g., relax, stop). These findings suggest that voting campaigns reminding people to "take action" may be effective in mobilizing citizens to vote and participate in political activities.

Can Big Brands Do Good...For Biodiversity?

An Example of Something Else You Can Do With a PhD Other Than Work in Academia

Here is an excellent talk at TED from Jason Clay, WWF Vice President on how big brands can help to make biodiversity work! And he didn't go into academia with his PhD...he did something different!

When to Trust Your Instincts...When Not!

Trust your gut ... but only sometimes

ScienceDaily (2011-01-04) -- When faced with decisions, we often follow our intuition -- our self-described "gut feelings" -- without understanding why. Our ability to make hunch decisions varies considerably: Intuition can either be a useful ally or it can lead to costly and dangerous mistakes. A new study finds that the trustworthiness of our intuition is really influenced by what is happening physically in our bodies. ... > read full article

Brain Imaging Shows How Medication Fights Nicotine Cravings

Brain imaging studies examine how anti-smoking medications may curb cravings

ScienceDaily (2011-01-03) -- The smoking cessation medications bupropion and varenicline may both be associated with changes in the way the brain reacts to smoking cues, making it easier for patients to resist cravings, according to two new reports. ... > read full article

Working Moms' Sleep Deprivation More Extreme Than Dads': I Live This Nightmare!

Wake up, Mom: Gender differences in accepting sleep interruptions

ScienceDaily (2010-12-30) -- Working mothers are two-and-a-half times as likely as working fathers to interrupt their sleep to take care of others. ... > read full article

New Book: The Dragonfly Effect by Jennifer Aaker and Andy Smith

Next on my reading list is a new book by marketing professor Jennifer Aaker and Andy Smith, The Dragonfly Effect.

This book offers readers how to use social media in order to unleash unprecedented results for the benefit of society! My new year's resolution is to learn how to use blogging and tweeting as a way to practice writing more for enjoyment and self-expression, feeling that I don't feel when in my academic writing. But any form of writing must improve all forms of expression, so my thinking is that in this way social media is helping me to stretch my abilities and talents to a new level.

I'm really looking forward to reading The Dragonfly Effect! It is an important book that could offer some real practical tactics to exploiting this wonderful new medium of social media!

Noise, Distraction Makes You Naughty...You Eat More!

One of my favorite theories to study is cognitive resource depletion, which says that your ability to resist temptations and focus your attention is limited and once you run out you aren't able to stop yourself from doing all sorts of naughty things.

A recent article on NPR reports on a study by Andy Woods at U. of Manchester which found that people who were distracted were less likely to distinguish sweetness and saltiness. Suzanne Higgs at U. of Birmingham found that when people were distracted during lunch they were more likely to eat more cookies later in the afternoon!

So why does distraction during eating make us eat more? It may be that distraction distorts the brain's ability to process perceptions of foods we are eating but that remains to be uncovered by more research. And yes that is indeed on my long to do list!

Warding Off Bad Vibes with Images, Colors: An Experiment for Your Back To Work!

Today I've been contemplating going back to the office on Monday after a nice, productive holiday break. One thing I'm not looking forward to is the inevitable interrupting visit to my office of somebody with some bad news or information that I just don't want to be bothered with! We all suffer from these "Debbie Downers" at the office...they can upset, disturb, distract, and ruin a perfectly good day! But I was thinking back over the last few months since I moved into my new office and noticed that I've had significantly fewer annoying interruptions from bad personalities (the visits from people with great news and wonderful ideas has actually continued uninterrupted!) ever since I did one thing about a month after moving in...

I hung 4 two by three foot color images of flowers I photographed several years ago. They are posted throughout this blogpost!

Before I hung them, almost everyday I had some unusually sour tempered person come into my office and unload...either my research idea wasn't that great, or teaching this year will be impossibly hard, or my approval wasn't going to be granted on something. Oh, it was tough to keep going after getting sideswiped midday like that. But since those 4 images have gone up, all that has stopped...nothing but good news. People even come by just to talk about photography and almost everyone comments on the images when they walk in. Could these images and their hues of yellow, green and blue, prime people to behave differently?

While imagery in advertsing has been looked at quite extensively in the consumer behavior literature, there is a relatively new body of literature that is beginning to look at the effect of color. Mehta and Zhu from U. of British Columbia did a great paper in Science on the effect of red and blue on approach and avoidance behavior. I am collecting data next week that will hopefully build on these results trying to understand the effect of color on risk behavior.

So I have a challenge to you! Try this experiment in your office or home to see if it changes how people act when they come in. Download these images, print them out (in color of course) and place them in prominent view wherever you need a little protection from people with bad vibes. Observe whether there's any change! Let me know if you see a difference or not...I'd love to know whether this is really an effect I'm noticing or just random chance!!

Why Ballers Go Broke: Isn't $100M Enough to Be Set For Life? Apparently, Not For Some!

Browsing my old copies of Bloomberg Businessweek that had been piling up before the holiday break, I came across an interesting article by Paul Wachter entitled "Why Ballers Go Bust" (here's the online version). It centered on a question that I often wondered myself...how much is enough money to set you free...free to do what you want, work on what you want, break out of the hierarchy, tell people to kiss your butt? Well apparently, $100M+ is not enough...it seems that if you don't have what psychologists call self-regulatory capacity and if you don't have experience with the devastating curse of debt, then even hundreds of millions of dollars can't ensure that you will stay out of lawsuits, bankruptcy, and moving back in with your parents. Scottie Pippen earned and lost $120M, Evander Holyfield blew $200M..., and it wasn't just African American athletes who were susceptible. Lenny Dykstra "sold his World Series ring to pay creditors" and Mark Brunell lost millions in the real estate crash. Sports Illustrated puts the number at 60% of NBA players who are in financial problems 5 years after they retire.

It is surprising to me that millions of dollars are not enough to live independently...do you know how much 5% interest on $1M earns annually, and that doesn't even begin to add in the benefit of compounding...but I guess the adage of "it's all relative" and "money can't buy you love" may be true after all!

I dream of retirement, when my time will truly be my own and money will cease to be a concern but maybe the dream is a mirage...but I haven't given up looking for that ideal number of dollars that will buy me my dream day (e.g., wake up, write in my pajamas cup of java in hand, take my kids skiing, skating, traveling, dinner (preferably out) with my husband, sleep), everyday for the rest of my life...

Substance Abuse Treatment Admission Rates Increase Across U.S.

Substance Abuse Treatment Admission Rates Increase Across U.S.

Gene Variant Puts You At Risk for Alzheimer's

MRI scans reveal brain changes in people at genetic risk for Alzheimer's

ScienceDaily (2010-12-30) -- People with a known, high risk for Alzheimer's disease develop abnormal brain function even before the appearance of telltale, amyloid plaques that are characteristic of Alzheimer's disease, according to a new study. The findings suggest that a gene variant affects brain function long before the brain begins accumulating the amyloid that will eventually lead to dementia. ... > read full article

Sniff Test for Dementia

As hard as it is to tell if you or someone you care about is developing or at risk for developing dementia or Alzheimer's, I always worry if my own absent-minded professor habits like forgetting my train of thought means that I am at risk for eventually developing such a disabling disease. After all, my grandfather and both my grandmothers died from Alzheimer's and my mother is currently battling early onset dementia at the age of 65. Interestingly, there is a simple test that I used on my own mom to test her a year ago when she became worried that she wasn't feeling quite normal.

A sniff test.

It turns out that the beta-amyloid plaques that Will eventually end up destroying brain cells throughout the brain seem to attack the brain areas involved in smell first. So the inability to identify common kitchen smells like coffee, cinnamon, lemon, and menthol (like from chest rub...) may indicate that dementia is likely in the future. This was from a study presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. My mom didn't do spectacularly well on that test and our neuropsychologist a few months later confirmed with MRI scans what we already suspected. She had Alzheimer's - most likely a particular type called Alzheimer's with Lewy Bodies which has some similarities with Parkinson's disease in that it affects gait, posture and body control. A great paper from Johns Hopkins details more interesting insight on Alzheimer's detection!

I Can Beat That! - Putting A Human Face on Risk Changes Perception

Why do risks with human characteristics make powerful consumers feel lucky?

ScienceDaily (2010-12-23) -- People who feel powerful are more likely to believe they can beat cancer if it's described in human terms, according to new study. ... > read full article

Understanding Impulse Control...Depends on Who You Are

Unlocking the secrets of our compulsions

ScienceDaily (2010-12-20) -- Researchers have shed new light on dopamine's role in the brain's reward system, which could provide insight into impulse control problems associated with addiction and a number of psychiatric disorders. ... > read full article

Amygdala Size Key to How Social You Are

Structure deep within the brain may contribute to a rich, varied social life

ScienceDaily (2010-12-26) -- Scientists have discovered that the amygdala, a small almond shaped structure deep within the temporal lobe, is important to a rich and varied social life among humans. ... > read full article

Instinct in the Brain

Part of brain that suppresses instinct identified

ScienceDaily (2010-12-26) -- New research is revealing which regions in the brain fire up when we suppress an automatic behavior such as the urge to look at other people in an elevator. Researchers showed -- for the first time -- an increase in signal from the left inferior frontal cortex when study participants were confronted by a conflict between an image and a word superimposed on the image. ... > read full article

A Few Key Consumer Trends to Watch for 2011...

An article today in the Globe & Mail Report on Business Section listed some consumer trends to watch in 2011...A few of them I thought were especially interesting:

1. Urbanization: Every day 180,000 people move into cities around the world (I am a life long urbanite who only fantasizes about living off grid in the country)! People who live in cities tend to be more liberal (check), more likely to try out new products (check), and more tolerant (double check).

2. Owner-less society: Sorry Pres. Bush but the ownership society was a lousy, short-sighted idea that has thankfully gone by the wayside. Turns out that more and more consumers are happy to rent and/or share products, real estate, cars. Owning, especially when debt is required, is too onerous and burdensome as many of us have found! It has definitely been a trap for the baby-boomer generation - my parents dreamed of getting a credit card when they were broke and in their 20s and they are suffering under a mountain of consumer debt now that they are retired and in their 60s - me and my husband have previously felt the agony of a mortgage, 4 car leases, student loans, and business loans and have sworn ourselves to a life without debt - renting and sharing is the new way to consume that may finally work well for consumers!

3. Pursue big ideas! I like that! But how do you know your idea is big...I'm still working on that!

Ads Work Better If All Senses Are Involved

Taste Sensation: Ads Work Better If All Senses Are Involved

ScienceDaily (2009-07-22) -- Corporations spend billions of dollars each year on food advertising. For example, Kraft Foods, PepsiCo, and McDonald's each spent more than $1 billion in advertising in 2007. A new study suggests those advertisers are missing out if their ads only mention taste and ignore our other senses. ... > read full article

The Taste Gene -- Psychobiologists Find Genetic Component in Children's Food Preference

ScienceDaily () -- In the first study to link taste genes to behavior in children, researchers looked at how natural variations in a recently discovered taste gene affected sensitivity to bitter tastes and food preferences in a group of children and adults. Collecting genetic samples from 143 children and their mothers, the researchers showed moms and kids who had at least one bitter-sensitive region in the gene were generally able to detect even a hint of bitter flavor in a test drink. The same group of children, carrying one or two bitter-sensitive regions of a gene, also preferred higher concentrations of sucrose solutions and had stronger preferences for sweet-tasting food and beverages than did the bitter-insensitive kids.

Liberals and Conservatives Don't See Eyes The Same

Politics and eye movement: Liberals focus their attention on 'gaze cues' much differently than conservatives do

ScienceDaily (2010-12-09) -- It goes without saying that conservatives and liberals don't see the world in the same way. Now, research suggests that is exactly -- and quite literally -- the case. In a new study, researchers measured both liberals' and conservatives' reaction to "gaze cues" -- a person's tendency to shift attention in a direction consistent with another person's eye movements. Liberals responded strongly to the prompts, consistently moving their attention in the direction suggested to them by a face on a computer screen. Conservatives, on the other hand, did not. ... > read full article

Princess Stories: Do girls (and boys) need new tales?

Today Globe and Mail ran a story on Disney's princess franchise, which I was interviewed for. It brought up an interesting dilemma that Disney is facing: how do they continue to exploit the princess myth which my daughter and millions of girls around the world absolutely relish, while keeping up with the changing ethos of girls and women and challenging the criticism that neo-femininists lobe on whether these models should be marketed at all! Having both a son and a daughter I not only question the values promoted in princess stories but also the ones permeating boy coming of age stories too! Is it time for a completely new set of myths and archetypes for new generations of children who need better tools to help them survive in the future. Instead of "the knight in shining armor will save you from evil" how about "self-control over the impulses that can drive bad choices is the key to triumph." Instead of "kill or be killed" how about "avoid being one of the crowd; find what makes you special in what makes you so different and you will go beyond the crowd." The Grimm fairytales were written over 100 years ago...time for new tales to be written?

Aging is More Than Wrinkles...Your Jawline Actually Shifts!

Facial aging is more than skin deep

ScienceDaily (2010-04-19) -- Facelifts and other wrinkle-reducing procedures have long been sought by people wanting to ward off the signs of aging, but new research suggests that it takes more than tightening loose skin to restore a youthful look. A new study indicates that significant changes in facial bones -- particularly the jaw bone -- occur as people age and contribute to an aging appearance. ... > read full article

Torturing Shoppers with Chicken Wire: How Retailers Uses Data to Increase Impulsive Buying

Did you know that the first supermarket was the King Piggly Wiggly in Memphis, TN used chicken wire to herd shoppers through all the aisles in order to be sure that they saw every item in the store. This little tidbit fact I discovered this morning reading my Globe and Mail newspaper. The article written by Michael Kesterton went on to report that stores like Walmart use data collected on consumers via scanner registers, radio frequency tagging, etc. to manipulate the retail environment in order to maximize consumer sales especially impulse purchases. My mother who worked in sales for Estee Lauder for 35 years talked about how they would use flashing lights, blaring music, distracting displays (full of flowers, banners, people, colors, etc.)to bewilder and overstimulate consumers. All of this works in my opinion because of what cognitive resource depletion theory states is our limited ability to resist distraction and temptation and the rampant impulsivity and risky behavior that follows depletion. Ever wonder why you feel sooo exhausted and traumatized when shopping in the monster box stores (especially exacerbated when small kids are in tow)? The previously mentioned large retailer allegedly has a database of behavioral information that is 2nd only to the Pentagon...amazing! People don't need to fear government...large corporations are scarier! The retail experience needs innovation and renovation...the consumer should be helped not harangued!

Addictions 2010 Conference in DC

This weekend I am making the long road trip (I got unceremoniously bumped from Delta flight) down to Arlington, VA for the Addictions 2010 Conference. This conference is focused on bridging research and public policy in treating and diagnosing addiction. To me this is an extremely important issue. The speaker list is great: H.W. Clark, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, R. Morrison, National Association of State Alcohol & Drug Abuse Directors,H. Perl, National Institute of Drug Abuse and many academics doing work in this area! I will probably be the only consumer behavior researcher there...alas! Should be an eye opening weekend!

What Drives Hoarding Consumption? - Is It At Epidemic Levels?!

Every day I receive email alerts of news reports of extreme and dire cases of hoarding behavior. Animal hoarding is one form and maybe one of the more tragic since it impairs and debilitates both the human owner and the animals hoarded. But there are types of products hoarded and the problem is claimed to be at epidemic levels either because the public is only now being made aware of the problem lurking behind many barricaded and seemingly normal doorfronts or because there may be some underlying percipitating factor in modern society that is triggering the compulsive consumption behavior. My belief is that as a comsumer behavior researcher, this is one type of consumer behavior that demands much more research!!

The Biological Basis of Business Behavior

A recent article in the Economist discusses research that combines biology, psychology, endocrinology, and genetics to better understand business behavior such as risk perception, trust, and innovation. A colleague at Ivey, Rod White, for example published a paper with co-authors Stewart Thornhill and Elizabeth Hampson which found that men with higher levels of salival testosterone were more likely to be entrepreneurs. A really important area where this type of research could be applied is ethical behavior (see my recent blog post on the neural differences of psychopaths from the general population and possible links to management behavior), leadership and consumer innovators or trend leaders.

Looking for Experimental Stimuli: Use Images from Wikimedia Commons

I use tons (I mean thousands+) of images and ads as stimuli in my consumer behavior experiments. For the most part I spend a lot of time wading through stacks of old magazines that I collect in my office, ripping out ads and scanning them in for potential manipulation in Photoshop (by my helpful and talented technologist husband!!). This of course takes a lot of time!!

A good colleague of mine at Stanford directed me to a great resource for images that are royalty free at Wikimedia Commons. This is a great place to get an image of a brain, a camera or a smiling face...everything a researcher could want!! Thanks to those who allow their images to be used without the expectation of compensation!!

Image Source: Jal2001, Wikimedia Commons

Consumer Debt Sinking Seniors

I find it ironic that my parents' generation, the one who railed against the "establishment" and scoffed at their parents' frugality and conservatism, are now the ones suffering so terribly under the weight of extreme debt. An article today in USA Today states that older consumers have 50% more debt than younger ones and over 2/3 of older consumers who have filed for bankruptcy say that credit card debt was the major problem. It has been reported that most people file bankruptcy because of medical debt, but I don't think that is entirely true. I think the rampant, largely unregulated marketing of debt products, including credit cards, reverse mortgages (WTF is that good for????), student loans and other completely usesless manipulations of the financial industry have duped the older generation who during their young adulthood didn't spend a lot of time working on their self-control skills (just put the LSD down!). Now the pain of overconsumption is settling in on people who should be in their golden years...how do we help consumers who lack the ability (for whatever reason - e.g., does heavy partying and drug use during your younger years contribute to the inability to control compulsive behavior later in life? A research question for sure!!) to self-regulate and control compulsive behavior?

Image Credit: Lotus Head from Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa

Setting Neurostandards?

The Advertising Research Foundation recently held a conference in NYC on setting standards for testing advertising using neuroscience tools such as fMRI and EEG. Participant research firms included Innerscope, Mindlab International, MSW/LAB, Neurocompass, NeuroInsight, Neurosense, Sands Research, and Sensory Logic. These companies represent a new wave of firms moving into this still controversial field of consumer neuroscience. Hopefully a communication between neuroeconomics researchers and practitioners in this field will result!

Are Some Business Executives Really Psychopaths?

An article today in Globe and Mail discussed how new brain imaging research is revealing more details on what makes some people psychopaths. It's thought that about 1% of the population is psychopathic and that criminals may be suffering from brain disfunction stemming from the disorder. The article also stated that the behaviors that are characteristic of psychopathy - manipulation, cunning, lack of empathy, inability to feel true emotion - may, in its functional form, also be the hallmark of CEOs and business executives. The disorder seems to stem from an abnormal structure of the amygdala - the brain structure responsible for processing fear - and the corpus callosum - which transfer neural information between the brain hemispheres. Interestingly, the corpus callosum is supposed to be more developed in women and those individuals with better social and emotional intelligence. An interesting question is whether these neural abnormalities could predict unethical behavior in business, think financial meltdown, and whether we are teaching and promoting the right set of skills in business schools where young people could be trained to counteract behavioral and cognitive deficiencies.

Transformative Consumer Research Conference June, 2011

The next Transformative Consumer Research conference will be held at Baylor University by my colleagues Brennan Davis and Connie Pechmann. The sessions sounds extremely interesting: Addiction, Risk and Young People, Poverty, Materialism. The crowd at the last TCR conference held at Villanova was an amazing group and the resulting JPPM article and book chapters in a new TCR book made attending well worth it. These are critical issues that consumer behavior researchers need to devote time and energy to understanding if marketing is to change its poor reputation! Consumers are suffering in many ways and research needs to discover the why and how in order to make consumers' lives better! The application deadline for the TCR conference is January 10, 2011.

Using Mturk for Experiments

Dan Goldstein at London Business School recently posted a great piece on using Amazon's Mturk to recruit participants for online experiments! One of the biggest impediments to getting research done is finding subjects to participate in studies...UC Irvine just recently put a limit on how many subjects could be recruited per study per semester...I collected data from 1600 subjects for my dissertation. A limit of 200 subjects really puts the breaks of data collection. If Mturk can offer access to potential participants, with a broader range of demographics (they aren't necessarily college students) for a realtively low cost (pennies per question per subject), then this could be a huge boon to researchers! We will be testing out Mturk in an upcoming study to see how running an experimental design works and whether there is any significant difference from our lab subject pool participants!