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The Dopamine - Impulse Buy link
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."
...from the same great folks that brought you "Muzak". Step into the elevator and the smell of fresh cinnamon rolls is chemically synthesized and fed into the vents. By the time you arrive in the department store you'll already be reaching for your wallet!
and you won't ever be a victim of impulse buying. For example, whenever I go to a mall and I smell freshly baked bread, I always remind myself that it's a synthesized flavor in a can that one of the employee periodically sprays around the entrance (go to a bread or cookie shop in a mall, I guarantee you there's no equipment there that can produce real freshly baked bread smells). Same for car dealership: it's very well known that they spray "new car scents" inside the car, even in second hand cars.
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".
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
Not that you would notice your new Apple mac and 32" monitor with 2 cc (1 cc ~= 1 mL with water at STP) of dopamine on board.
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.