First came direct marketing, then focus groups. Now, advertisers, with the help of neuroscientists, are closing in on the holy grail: mind reading.
At least, that's what is suggested in a paper published today in the journal Human Brain Mapping authored by a group of professors in advertising and communication and neuroscience at the University of Florida.
The seven researchers used sophisticated brain-scanning technology to record how subjects' brains responded to television advertisements, while simultaneously collecting the subjects' reported impressions of the ads. By comparing the two resulting data sets, they say, they pinned down specific locations in the brain as the seat of many familiar emotions that ripple throughout it. The feat is another step toward gauging how people feel directly through functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, and other brain-scanning technology - without relying on what they claim to be feeling, the researchers say.
Middle-aged women who suffered physical or sexual abuse as children spend up to one-third more than average in health-care costs, according to a long-term study of more than 3,000 women.
Even decades after the abuse ended, these women used health services at significantly higher rates than did non-abused women, the research found.
During her most recent six-month tour of the Central African Republic, art therapist Karen Abbs saw firsthand the effects of enforced female circumcision, ritualized burning and cutting, and ongoing fighting between government and rebel forces. The result was kids suffering from sleep disorders and nightmares, and a population beset by general anxiety.
The 36-year-old, who was on her second stint with Médecins Sans Frontières, has just returned to visit family in 100 Mile House and recharge her batteries.
"I saw people with such bad trauma issues," Abbs told the Georgia Straight by phone. "You have no idea."
Beijing - A 22-year-old Chinese man from the central province of Hunan has died of the H5N1 strain of bird flu, the second death from the disease since late last year, the Health Ministry said on Monday.
DENVER - Despite a secretly taped video showing workers at a Southern California slaughterhouse abusing sick or crippled animals, nearly all cattle bound for American dinner tables are treated humanely, a cattle industry spokesman said Monday.
The undercover video taken at the Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. of Chino, Calif., by the Humane Society of the United States shows workers shocking, kicking and shoving debilitated cattle with forklifts, and has led to the largest recall of beef in U.S. history.
TimeMon, 18 Feb 2008 21:34 UTC
The first anti-AIDS vaginal gel to make it through late-stage testing failed to stop HIV infection in a study of 6,000 South African women, disappointed researchers announced Monday.
The study was marred by low use of the gel, which could have undermined results, they said. Women used it less than half the number of times they had sex, and only 10 percent said they used it every time as directed.
Baghdad - Already a troubled system, Iraqi medical care has fallen to the brink of collapse since the U.S.-led invasion five years ago. Scores of doctors have been slain, cancer patients have to hunt down their own drugs - even IV fluid is in short supply. On Tuesday, a former deputy health minister and the head of the ministry's security force will stand trial, a year after they were accused of letting Shiite death squads use ambulances and government hospitals to carry out kidnappings and killings.
The recent fatal shooting rampage at Northern Illinois University, and similar attacks at a Missouri city hall and in a Los Angeles suburb, again raise questions about the eruption of mass violence in America in recent years. What is behind these acts and, more importantly, can anything be done to stop them?
Obesity needs to be tackled in the same way as climate change, a top nutritional scientist has said.
The chairman of the International Obesity Taskforce wants world leaders to agree a global pact to ensure that everyone is fed healthy food.
ABSTRACT: There has been a statistically significant increase of common primary malignant brain cancers since 1985, and perhaps as early as 1984, according to the National Cancer Institute SEER data. This phenomenon occurred within 1-2 years following licensing of the chemical aspartame for beverages in July 1983. Furthermore, the annual incidence rates of primary brain tumors appear to be increasing. The SEER data also reveal an increased incidence of primary brain lymphoma in 1982- 1984. Others have reported a tripling of the incidence of this condition, previously rare. Again, the licensing of aspartame for "dry" use in July 1981 is relevant. The significance of these associations is underscored by the high incidence of brain tumors in rats after the experimental administration of aspartame.
