Human Interaction Exposed: Brain Scanning for Two!!!
Author: Qaalfa Dibeehi
The magazine New Scientist has reported that Ray Lee of Princeton University has developed an fMRI brain scanner simultaneous scanning of two people. In recent years, fMRI scanning is the neuroexperience method that has been receiving all the buzz because it allows one to see activity in the brain directly. An example I outlined in our book, fMRI videos “where the brain is using oxygen… So we can ask you to spell cat and see where your brain is kicking in to come up with the answer C. A. T.” In normal mono-fMRI studies, individuals are presented with stimuli such as products or screen shots. What we get back are true reflections of how that person perceives the stimulus. While an individual in a scanner could have been interacting with another in mono-fMRI scanning, obviously only one person is scanned. The benefit of dual-fMRI is that it allows us to analyze both sides of the for human interaction equation. It also allows one to do face to face setups. This is important because so much of human interaction is at the subconscious, body language level.
There is another fMRI technique for two developed by Reade Montague (author of “Why choose this book? How we make decisions”) called hyperscanning. Here, where two separate fMRI machines are linked like two computers might be in a web meeting. This I also reported in our book, “Customer Experience: Future Trends and Insights”. Hyperscanning allows the two people interacting in any two scanners anywhere in the world. They could interact and talk to one another just as you would in a video conference. We would get both people’s scans. If there is an advantage of a dual-fMRI scanner over hyperscanning , it’s that with the dual-fMRI scanner, the scanned individuals could touch one another and read lots more subtle, subconscious cues that might easily be missed in a video conference type setup. Just think how different a video conference meeting is from a face to face meeting.
The reason we are interested in hyperscanning or dual-fMRI scanning is that it allows us to explore the true experience of customers without all of the normal psychological filters. The possibilities for business are endless. For example, what is different when two people interact with a brand or service versus an individual? What are the differences in brain activation between an expert (like a financial advisor or physician) explaining some concept to a lay person? Understanding the fundamental differences in the way laypeople process complex information that seems simple to an expert will help lay foundations for better communication.
Want to know more about the intersection of neuroscience and business? Let’s talk.
By QAALFA DIBEEHI | Published: FEBRUARY 8, 2011