For more than a century, social scientists have attempted to create a model that will accurately predict what images, songs, or memes will become popular. Now Gregory Berns, a neuroeconomist at Emory University, thinks that certain fMRI signatures in the brains of teenagers are reliable indicators of future popularity:
The divination is performed with the help of a functional magnetic resonance imaging machine, or fMRI, scanning the brains of juveniles while they listen to demo records. Emory University plumped the findings with the bold headline, “Teen brain data predicts pop song success.”
If true, this would be the equivalent of having tomorrow’s stock pages today. Helpful, that. Determine what tickles the pleasure points of the adolescent id and you ought to be able to plot more efficiently how to separate teens from their money.
Link -via Althouse | Photo by Flickr user jake.auzzie used under Creative Commons license