What do consumers really want

What do consumers really want? That's a question market researchers would love to answer. But since people don't always say what they think, marketers would need direct access to consumers' thoughts to get the truth. And now, in a way, that is possible. At the \Using imaging techniques that measure blood flow to various parts of the brain, the Harvard team hopes to predict how consumers will react to particular products and to discover the most effective ways to present information. Stephen Kosslyn, a professor of psychology at Harvard, and business school professor Gerald Zaltman, oversee the lab. \products. The Harvard group use position emission tomography (PET) scans to monitor the brain activity. These PET scans, along with other imaging techniques, enable researchers to see which parts of the brain are active during specific tasks (such as remembering a word). Correlations (correlation) have been found between blood flow to specific areas and future behavior. Because of this, Harvard researchers believe the scans can also predict future purchasing patterns. According to an unpublished paper the group produced, \
The Harvard group is now moving into the next stage of experiments. They will explore how people remember advertisements as part of an effort to predict how they will react to a product after having seen an ad. The researchers believe that once key areas of the brain are identified, scans on about two dozen volunteers will be enough to draw conclusions about the reactions of specific sections of the population. Large corporations-including Coca Cola, Eastman Kodak, General Motors, and Hallmark-have already signed up to fund further investigations.