The first subject I wanted to cover was an article I read in the New York Times about neurology. Benedict Carey penned a feature back in April about some researchers who  have uncovered molecules that may be responsible for activating memories in our brains. As an account planner type, I am curious about the catalysts these scientists have revealed.

Up to this point, researchers (and philosophers) have believed that experiences are imprinted on our brain cells and the cells can collaborate later to recall the event. Carey has a great way of describing this:

…brain cells activated by an experience keep one another on biological speed-dial, like a group of people joined in common witness of some striking event. Call on one and word quickly goes out to the larger network of cells, each apparently adding some detail, sight, sound, smell. The brain appears to retain a memory by growing thicker, or more efficient, communication lines between these cells.

Apparently, Dr. Todd C. Sacktor and André A. Fenton have identified a substance, called PKMzeta, that clusters on the outskirts of our synapses and connects the memory dots for the cells in our heads. In an experiment, Sacktor and Fenton were able to block this molecule in mice which caused the animals to forget lessons learned just the day before.

Are we on the verge of being able to control our memory? How soon will you be able to stop by your local Walgreens and pick up a pill to enhance what you remember?

Before you go rent a copy of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Carey dedicates time in the article to highlighting ethical concerns already being raised by this finding. As with any scientific advancement, it can be used for good or for evil. I wouldn’t want to ever risk losing the recollection of the birth of my two children, but could I deny the possiblity of helping someone stave off dimentia?

And what impact will this field of study mean for marketing? Can we draw any parallels between the chain of connected brain cells and the way customers recall our brands? Is there a way to enhance these connections? To improve consumer engagement through understanding these chemical connections?

What do you think?

In men, images they consider to be beautiful appear to activate brain regions responsible for locating objects in absolute terms — x- and y-coordinates on a grid. Images considered beautiful by women do the same, but they also activate regions associated with relative location: above and behind, over and under. The difference could be the result of evolutionary pressures on our hunter-gatherer ancestors.

With something as ethereal as beauty being linked to specific, gender-based neurological pathways, can we begin to consider the same processes valid for other subjective judgements? Are the same neurons firing as customers interact with and adopt our brands? How should marketers and planners account for these variables of perspective and behavior?

He is a neurologist at NYU who is interested in the formation of emotion and consciousness and how music may be the key to unlocking these things. In addition, the interview introduced me to the concept of “synaptic plasticity” and how our personalities may be formed by the malleability of our gray matter through both internal and external factors.

The “money” paragraph from the article as far as I’m concerned was:

The fact is that there are many different systems in the brain — perceptual, emotional, motivational, cognitive and so on. And within each of these broad categories there are lots of divisions. All of these run in parallel. Neuroscience has learned a tremendous amount about how systems and brain areas work. But our self, our personality, is not just the sum total of our brain systems. Our self can be thought of as a particular configuration of functional activity occurring in many systems at once. These configurations are determined by our genetically based wiring and by the experiences we have as we go through life. When it comes to mental life and behavior, nature and nurture are not two different things but two ways of doing the same thing: wiring our synapses.

Go ahead. Call me a neophyte. I’m just getting into this planning role at my agency and soaking up everything I can like a sponge.

This is fascinating stuff that has a direct correlation to the notion of how a company’s brand personality is developed in the market — through a combination of internal factors and the external perceptions that consumers bring to the value transaction. In fact, I believe this is related to the notion of transmedia planning I’ve seen attributed to Faris Yakob — where different messages to different consumers through different media assemble the mosaic of a brand’s personality.

Is the development of our consciousness and personality in our brains an appropriate analogy? Am I just getting up to speed on thinking in the market?

Definitely worth a read.