An insight into the subconscious

Brain-imaging techniques have given economists and marketeers a whole new set of tools to improve understanding of human decision-making processes. Result: an emerging interdisciplinary field of scientific research called Neuro-economics; a fusion of methodology and theory from neuroscience, economics, management and psychology. Our subconscious mind is a better predictor of our future behaviour than our conscious intentions would have us believe. In Neuro-economics, high-tech brain-imaging MRI-techniques are used to solve questions of an economic and marketing nature. Neuro-marketing, the discipline's sub-field and an area of most direct interest to business, narrows in on the consumer and his or her responses to marketing stimuli. It is the first time that biologists are collaborating with economists to shed light on economic and marketing theory. The brain is the machine behind the decisions that are being made in economics. This is an opportunity to get inside that machine and see precisely how it is working. No other methodes can bring you to access to this kind of data. A study examined the effect of celebrities in advertising. The study revealed that the presence of a celebrity enhanced memory retrieval and created positive associations. But only if the celebrity had some credibility in relation to the product. It also showed that the effect was rapid and did not require repeated exposure to achieve the desired effect. The techniques employed by neuroeconomists clearly have immense potential value, when turned to commercial ends. In the past companies have relied on consumer feedback through questionnaires and focus groups for direction on products and marketing. These methods take it as a given that people know their own minds enough to reliably indicate preferences. Which is not always so. The technology and our knowledge about the brain is developing at a rapid pace.