I'm guessing marketers of products for itch relief, athlete's foot, and the like already know this... but itching can be stimulated by seeing other people scratch, and even by images of itch-causing creatures like bedbugs. Last month's Scientific American Mind had a interesting article on the neuroscience of chronic itching. Much of it was no doubt…

Just about every news pundit on TV has declared that THIS is finally the oil price change that shocks Americans out of their gas-guzzling ways. It's hard to…

Here's a scenario... You decide to venture into a cell phone store despite your reluctance to deal with a bewildering number of phones, options, plans, along…

Emory University has announced the establishment of a new Center for Neuropolicy. The focus of the entity will be on the intersection of brain science,…

A few days ago, I wrote about the power of the word "New" to get our attention - if there's a more potent attractor out there, it's almost certainly "FREE!"…

Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely does a great job of demolishing the idea that people make decisions in a rational manner. Ariely, a behavioral economist at…

Marketers know there are potent words in advertising, like "Free" and "New." Neuroscientists have now determined that the appeal of "new" is hard-wired into…

A few weeks ago, Barack Obama’s campaign announced a new website, Fight the Smears, ostensibly to provide quick facts when negative rumors or allegations about…

Scantily clad women have been used to sell products to men for decades, and likely for millennia in one form or another. There's little doubt that the typical…