Neuroscience Research

For years neuromarketing firms have been selling their services to help advertisers optimize TV commercials, product packaging, and other media. While these companies all claim success in helping their clients boost sales, there's been…

Do you find chunks of your day consumed by less than productive activities? Updating Twitter? Checking Facebook? Clicking on those fascinating links posted by your friends? Checking sports scores or stock prices? Catching up on the…

Book Review: Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman Scientists love to divide human thinking into two parts: right brain vs. left brain, rational vs. emotional, conscious vs. subconscious, and no doubt many others. Daniel Kahneman,…

There's more evidence that playing video games can improve your brain in ways that go beyond an ability to get higher scores in those games:

In my direct mail days, we used personalization whenever possible. Starting a letter with "Dear Roger" instead of "Dear Friend" responds better every time (if the recipient's name is Roger, that is!). A sweepstakes that uses a…

Often, consumers don't buy products because even though they recognize a risk exists, they don't think they will be victims. The belief may be irrational, but they see themselves as invulnerable. So, they don't buy life or disability…

Have you always wanted to earn that degree in neuroscience, but never had the time? The University of Pennsylvania has just the thing: their 2012 Neuroscience Boot Camp. No, you won't actually get a degree. The program lasts just nine…

A few years after college, I took a position as a sales engineer. After one customer visit with no result, my boss queried, "Did you ask for the order?" In fact, just about every sales coaching book reminds new salespeople of the…

Could social media ads, or at least ads on Facebook, outperform similar ads on television? It seems the answer is "yes." That surprising outcome was reported in the same study that showed ads on the social media giant being more…

At the excellent Freakonomics blog, they have been publishing an extended Q&A series of posts. Their latest guest is Daniel Kahneman, co-recipient the 2002 Nobel Prize in Economics , whose new book is Thinking, Fast and Slow. One that…