Happy People See More

Vision is vision, right? Maybe not. New research at the University of Toronto shows that what we see is actually affected by our mood:

Participants were shown images designed to affect their mood in a good, neutral, or bad way. Then they were shown images, each with a face in the middle and surrounded by a place, such as a house. Participants were asked to identify the gender of the face. When in a bad mood, participants only took in information about the face. When in a good mood, participants also took in information about the surroundings. [From WebMD – Mood Literally Affects How We See World by Caroline Wilbert.]

The neuromarketing implications of these quirky findings aren’t clear, but I do find it interesting that the researchers were able to create the differences in perception by showing the subject images. That is, they didn’t take a group of subjects and evaluate their mood prior to the experiment. Rather, they created the mood for each subject artificially.

It seems likely to me that mood plays a big part in many things other than vision, and it’s interesting to know that, for example, you could put potential customers in a better mood even if they didn’t start that way.

Exactly what mood is best for marketers or any other activity isn’t clear. The researchers note that reduced focus (as generated by a bad mood) might be an advantage for tasks that require sharp concentration, like operating machinery or screening airline passengers. So, when they guy inspecting your carryon seems a bit grumpy, cut him some slack – he’s probably operating in a peak performance zone!