Monday, May 10, 2010

Neuromarketing - Neurons That Fire Together Wire Together

Not new information, but cool. And the book (Norman Doidge's The Brain That Changes Itself) is very good for anyone interested in the neuroscience of how we learn, how we change, and how the brain can overcome damage.

This post comes from Neuromarketing, a site whose purpose seems to centered on developing ways to use neuroscience research to sell us shit we do not need.

Neurons That Fire Together Wire Together

Thu, May 6, 2010

One of the key factors in the human brain’s ability to change via neuroplasticity is that neurons form interconnections based on simultaneous firing over a period of time. According to Norman Doidge, author of The Brain That Changes Itself, this theory was first proposed by none other than Sigmund Freud, but was articulated in more detail by Canadian psychologist Donald Hebb. Doidge attributes this neat summary to neuroscientist Carla Shatz: Neurons that fire together wire together.

This phenomenon has profound implications for many areas of brain science. Researchers have found that brain maps (the locations of the brain that correspond to individual body parts) can be altered by training. One experiment attached two fingers of a monkey together for a period of months so that they acted, in essence, as a single finger; tests showed that the previously separate brain mappings for the two fingers had indeed become one.

Another, slightly less gruesome, example cited by Doidge is the association of a lover’s pockmark with arousal. What most would consider an unattractive feature became associated with the overall state of being in love, and began to be perceived as attractive. While this was a fictional account from a Stendahl novel, we know this happens in real life. One illustration of this is given by Martin Lindstrom in Buyology. Lindstrom notes that tobacco warning labels were found to stimulate craving for tobacco. The very labels intended to frighten smokers were, in fact, a cue to smoke. Certainly, this is much like Stendahl’s pockmarked mistress; by being present on every pack of cigarettes, the warning label becomes associated with the pleasurable aspect of satisfying a tobacco craving.

The neuromarketing message here is that a consistent experience with your brand or product will become part of it. Lindstrom found that embedded brand messages like Marlboro red and race cars could stimulate a desire for the product with no overt brand or product references. While few companies have the scale to market like Marlboro or Coca Cola, that doesn’t mean that the idea of a consistent branding message should be abandoned.

Beyond brand characteristics, I think customer experience will cause these same kinds of associations. If an customer is consistently pleased by a product or service, that pleasurable experience will become attached to the brand. Conversely, bad experiences will also stick.

The “fire together” maxim is no doubt a key part of olfactory marketing. If you can associate a signature scent, like that of Singapore Airllines, with an excellent experience, eventually that scent alone will evoke positive feelings. (There’s evidence that scent may be even more potent at this association process than, say, colors or slogans.)

Your customers brains are constantly forming new associations. Is your brand “wiring” itself the way you want it to?


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