As my weekend was winding to a close, my husband and I found ourselves watching 60 Minutes this past Sunday evening. One of the stories, entitled “How Technology May Soon ‘Read’ Your Mind,” intrigued me. The news segment started by introducing a couple of doctors and a research study they’re working on at Carnegie Mellon University regarding, well… quite literally, mind reading.
Drs. Marcel Just and Tom Mitchell are studying a special use of MRI technology called “functional MRI.” Essentially, this type of MRI, coupled with the large capacity of computer databases, is now a developed technology that allows computers to know and communicate what someone is thinking, when they are thinking it. For example, during the segment, the doctors performed a MRI on a 60 Minutes producer while she was shown pictures of 10 inanimate objects. When she viewed the picture of a hammer, certain sections of her brain registered activity. Those same sections of every other person’s brain register the same activity when they are thinking about hammers. It offered an amazing look into the complexity of the human brain.
While most people would immediately begin to wonder about the repercussions that such a technology could have on the criminal justice system, the PR professional in me started reeling with thoughts about the effects this could have on consumers and marketers alike. It didn’t take long until the story turned in that very direction.
The doctors are calling it “thought identification.” Marketers are calling it “neuromarketing.” And corporate giants such as Unilever, Intel, McDonald’s, Proctor & Gamble and Viacom are starting to pay attention to this out-of-the-box method of getting inside the consumer’s head.
While I’m sure the legalities of such an ‘intrusive’ type of marketing research will soon be debated on a national scale, I can’t help but feel excited about the prospect of where this technology can take us in the very near future. What do you think?
Tags: Carnegie Mellon University, CBS Sixty Minutes, future of marketing, mind reading, MRI technology, neuromarketing, thought identification