CHICAGO, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- German radiologists say they've found strong brand recognition elicits strong activity in our brains, possibly determining what items we will purchase. "This is the first functional magnetic resonance imaging test examining the power of brands," said Dr. Christine Born, a radiologist at University Hospital in Munich, Germany. "We found that strong brands activate certain areas of the brain independent of product categories."

Born and colleagues used fMRI scans to study 20 adult men and women. While in the scanners, the volunteers were presented with a series of three-second visual stimuli containing the logos of strong (well-known) and weak (lesser-known) brands of car manufacturers and insurance companies.

The results showed strong brands activated a network of areas involved in positive emotional processing and associated with self-identification and rewards. urthermore, strong brands were processed with less effort on the part of the brain. Weak brands showed higher levels of activation in areas of memory and negative emotional response.

Born believes the research will serve as a benchmark to improve the understanding of the processing of brand-related information.

I wonder what the results would have been if they used credit card logos instead of automobile and insurance companies?

Labels: advertising, brain, neuroscience, research, science

Posted by Cynosarges at 8:32 AM | Permalink | Backtalk