The Dopamine - Impulse Buy link 85
cogno64 writes "Certain stimuli in the brain, such as the smell of freshly based cookies, lead to higher levels of dopamine that remain after the stimulus is removed, leading to altered behavior through interaction with learning, memory, and executive function. The experiencer is more likely to make a purchase decision based on their heightened dopamine levels, with significant impact for internet marketers.
According to research presented at the Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting today, the neurotransmitter dopamine continues to be released for nearly an hour after neurons are stimulated, suggesting the existence of secondary mechanisms that allow for sustained availability of dopamine in different regions of the brain including areas critical for memory consolidation, drug induced plasticity and maintaining active networks during working memory.
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter associated with learning and memory, motor control, reward perception and executive functions such as working memory, behavioral flexibility and decision making. When a novel or salient stimulus occurs, the dopamine neurons in the brain increase their firing rate, boosting the release of dopamine. The dopamine is diffused into the extracellular space of the brain until it can be transported or metabolized."
Computer cases doped in the stuff (Score:1)
Not that you would notice with your new Apple mac and 32" monitor.
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Mesoenteric effects begin as low as 2 mcg/(kg×min), while therapeutic doses generally range 5-20 mcg/(kg×min), where 'mcg' = microgram, since slashcode and medicolegal charting object to mu.
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Freshly Based Cookies (Score:2)
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Certainly I have! Easiest method is to just eat all the dough without bothering to bake it.
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Introducing "Smelzak" (Score:3, Interesting)
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Smell-o-vision (Score:1)
So when will we stop focusing so much on video resolution and get smell-o-vision?! Just as long as there's a "smell
Oh, crap! (Score:5, Funny)
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A real life Phantom lapboard? No way in hell!
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Re:Oh, crap! (Score:5, Funny)
"I couldn't help myself!" (Score:1)
"Really, sweetie, the beer store smelled like cookies!"
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Mmmmm, Beer.
Serotonin (Score:3, Insightful)
(Serotonin [wikipedia.org] is involved in depression and anxiety disorders.)
Ummmm you have lots of choices (Score:3, Insightful)
IANAD but they're all called "seratonin uptake inhibitors" and the gist is they stop your brain from reabsorbing seratonin and therefore increasing the constant level found in your brain.
If you want to get really wacky, you can take MDMA (ecstasy) and have ALL of your seratonin flood into the brain at once, getting tracers, a "bulletproof" feeling, and (to quote Ali G) the desire to dance like a prick.
Finally, a more reliable way to incre
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Finally, a more reliable way to increase your seratonin levels is through eating right and daily exercise.''
Yes, and sunlight, certain foods (nuts, live vegetables, and sweet things, I believe), therapy, and, most importantly, talking to people!
The problem with all these things besides the drugs is that, when you're depressed, it can be hard to do anything at all, including the things that improve your situation.
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In healthy, unstressed people.
Be careful how this statement is read, there is no evidence that depression is brought on by a poor diet or lack of exercise, and I don't know if an occurance of depression is considered less likely through diet and exercise (it is not 100% preventable by diet and exercise alone).
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Pharm. 2: Yes, but it's not about slavery, it's about helping kids
concentrate. This pill reduces class clownism 44%.
Pharm. 1: With 60% less sass-mouth.
Pharm. 2: The only thing more effective is regular exercise.
[Homer shudders]
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BTW Wellbutrin (bupropion) is not a SSRI, it affects, wait for it. . . dopamine.
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It is a reuptake inhibitor for both dopamine and norepinephrine. I don't remember if it is doage specific (some dual action reuptake inhibitors act differently with different dosage amounts).
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However none of these drugs, MDMA/MDA included, result in more seratonin, they only change the way your brain deals with the seratonin you have. If you want to have more seratonin, the dietary suppliment 5-HTP is your best
HEY! (Score:2)
Additionally, I don't set policy or have any influence on either policy-making/research so. . . here's to ignorance! *quaffs Serotonin Uptake Inhibitor Potion +3*
(thanks for the clarifications on my post - I'm not a doctor nor do I pretend to have more than a passing knowledge of pharmaceuticals. I do agree 100% with your post that we need to do more research on MDMA and remove the bias presented towards some drugs (i.e. untaxed drugs) partic
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I'd love to see your evident to back that claim. I don't know of any psychological addictions to any anti-depressant. Anti-anxiety drugs are a different matter (e.g. tranquilizers). Any claim to physical addiction is easily "defeated" through a simple straight forward "weaning" process.
re: Paxil (Score:2)
A cursory google search turned up a class action suit against Glaxo and a whole slew of links associated with it and Paxil. Mostly lawyers attempting to cash in, but the link above was one that wasn't lawsuit-oriented. I think. TBH I didn't read any of it but the headline.
Stating that all of them are addictive was hyperbole, spurred by cynicism towards our drug-makers.
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So plenty of claims, many involving money, but no evidence.
With a google search I think you can also find class actions suits against Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny.
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Then it is still addiction, I should know - I take SSRI's myself.
There is a difference between physical dependence (characterized by symptoms of withdrawal) and psychological dependence (or simply addiction).
SSRI's are physically dependant, they do cause withdrawal symptons. Naturally, they would though - they affect brain patterns very deeply. Though that is not to say that they are particually difficult to wean yourself off them.
This seems an interesting stud
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Most GP / family doctors are still using SSRI as a first line of choice for prescribing, psychatrists are most often prescribing SNRI, and atypical anti-depressants depending on the patient.
Wellbutrun, Effexor (sorry, US brand names) are the biggest two (market share) non-SSRI with others available as well (~8-10 in total I think).
Don't expect dopamine pills, these are still re-uptake inhibitors that appear to wo
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_serotonin_
They don't change the level in your brain, but they cause what is there to have a greater effect.
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http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/exercise/HQ01676 [mayoclinic.com] (see point 5)
Moo (Score:1)
Caused by information [slashdot.org].
Creates code monkeys that actually work [slashdot.org].
Used as a natural reward. [slashdot.org]
IOW, reading Slashdot causes people to work, who can then be rewarded with reading more Slashdot. Or, Slashdot is the Pravda of the Digital Proletarian. Hmm, the slash is the action of the sickle, the dot looks like a star, if we could just hammer away at the idea of changing the green to read, and removing all the non-Socialist comments here.
Unfortuantely, this latest find is probably ther work of evil capitalis
Be aware of subversive marketing (Score:3, Interesting)
Same for things for sale that look too clean or too well kept: I always try to picture the thing with normal everyday-use dirt on it before buying. Cars come to mind, they're never dirty when the salesman shows them to you.
So my rule of thumbs is: if it suddenly smells good in odd places where those smells shouldn't be, or if I see things that look too good, I automatically go into "beware of impulse buying mode".
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I'll try to remember that next time I'm at the strip club!
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The "new car smell" is simply a side effect of all the plastics involved in its construction airing out. It doesn't really come in a can.
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I beg [wikipedia.org] to differ [amazon.com].
While you are right that new cars have a distinctive smell when they come from the factory, time in the sun at the dealership should destroy the chemicals that cause it over a relatively short period. And it's certainly out of place in a used car. The products exist, and evidence suggests they are in common use in the auto sales industry.
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Sure, this is anecdotal evidence, but I do know that some people only subconsiously notice these smells. I wonder if these people buy after smelling freshly baked cookies.
Re:Be aware of subversive marketing (Score:5, Insightful)
"Lifestyle. If I don't own this, I'm not cool."
"Buy this and it will get me laid." (I salute the various body spray ads using this technique so nakedly, it was probably considered risky when first proposed - it's one thing to subtly add sexual imagery to commercials - it's another to just make a naked claim that a product will get you laid. And it's worked. Which says very little for the modern 18-24 year old male, frankly.)
Then I picture the imagery the agency decides on, the song choice, and how it was conceived, laboratory style, to try to manipulate me.
I apply the same mental circuits to religion, ideology, and so on.
When this mental process becomes automatic, the desire to consume drops significantly because it generally makes me feel somewhat insulted - the usually cheap, manipulative nature of advertising and so on. Even great advertising is pretty bad if you break it down to its calculated, constituent parts.
As Rosco P. Coltrane (how's Flash doing btw?) mentions, it's increasingly necessary to be aware of these things whenever you expose yourself to any kind of retail environment, for the reasons he lists.
Lastly, avoid retail environments altogether unless you specifically want to buy a certain product.
It's hard for me to get wound up about consumer culture because it really requires only a few easily-learned habits to innoculate yourself against it. Like anyone else, I buy products, but I research, especially higher-end items, to the point of analysis paralysis, before putting my money down. I take a shopping list with me to the supermarket.
Sheriff Little of Chickasaw county agrees, btw.
The smell of bread or cookies or whatever, will probably initially cause this thought: "mmmm cookies."
The immediate second thought should be, "How cheap and insulting."
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I wonder why there are absolutely no adverts which are intended to give you a good idea of why you should g
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But when I see a useless picture of Happy Sexy People on a website, I'm instantly turned off. I'm not there to be happified or masturbated, I'm there to do some task, and the Happy Sexy People cue tells me that the site wants to Sell Me Something I Don't Want.
And yes, I have very high marketing resistance
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The HSP images that bug me the most are on Godaddy and Edison's sites. Total waste of bandwidth, plus I've seen 'em in print ads and they were a waste of ink then, now a waste of some 200k of my very limited dialup straw PER PAGE. Yet the sites don't work with images turned off, so... suffer!
DAMN! (Score:2)
buzzkill (Score:1)
Lab Rat- "you're totally bumming me out with that neurotoxin, dude."
I'm imune! (Score:1)
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Don't tell Tesco (Score:1)
I wonder if it also stops people paying attention as much so they don't notice the blatant mistakes all over their dockets.
Free cookies? (Score:2)
If so, I'm all for it!
Great... (Score:2, Insightful)
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browser cookies? (Score:1)
There's a simple solution to this... (Score:2)
yep (Score:1)
Novelty releases dopamine. I think this is why apple is the way it is. They have products that look and feel so differently.
Info like this is really good to know so that you can analyze your own brain in various contexts in which someone is trying to manipulate you. It happens, and it is on
Snack bar up front (Score:1)
Mmmm, dopamine. And look, a plastic lawn chair at just $18.95!
Go ahead (Score:4, Insightful)
Yeah, it's called hunger... (Score:2)
Certain stimuli in the brain, such as the smell of freshly based cookies, lead to higher levels of dopamine that remain after the stimulus is removed
Um, yes. It's called hunger. Hunger is a feeling brought on by external stimuli (smell, sight, etc.) or internal stimuli (the thought of food, etc.). This does not necessarily generalize into whether or not someone will buy the newest Barbie upon sight.
Shopping malls have known this for long (Score:2)
Article about study: http://ur.rutgers.edu/medrel/viewArticle.html?Art