Global study on working memory and influence of advertising on behaviour launched

Jul 20 2010

Is your glass half full or half empty? Are you eternally optimistic or permanently pessimistic? What could this mean for your mental health? The British Science Association today launches a global study testing your working memory in relation to your mental health and then investigating the influence of advertising on your behaviour.

The study, 'Neuromantics' (www.neuromantics.co.uk), comprises two online experiments

The initial study on working memory, the ability to remember and manually process information, called 'the Memory Game' is looking to see if there is a link between your working memory, your outlook on life and the incidence of depression.

People with superior working memory tend to have better jobs, better relationships, and lead happier lives.  People with poor working memory tend to struggle in their working and personal lives and are more likely to have trouble with the law.  A growing number of studies exist linking memory with mental health. In a recent survey conducted with 20-year-olds, Dr. Tracy Alloway from the University of Stirling in Scotland, who is leading this research showed that those whose outlook of the world is 'glass half-empty' but have good working memory are less likely to suffer from depression than those whose view is 'half empty' but have poor working memory.

The second part of Neuromantics is the 'Adlab' where we will be investigating what it is about a particular advertisement that appeals to different types of people - are some more influenced by celebrity?  Or the scientific argument?  Or the beauty of the person seen in the ad?  

The experiment aims to understand more about how humans interpret different types of information and whether or not this can lead to behaviour change - as well as how the process may work.

The working memory test has been devised by the internationally renowned psychologist Dr. Tracy Alloway from the University of Stirling and Adlab is the brainchild of the co-editor of the European Journal of Marketing, Prof. Nick Lee, and a leading cognitive neuroscientist, Dr Carl Senior, both from Aston University in Birmingham.

Tracy said; 'Are you an optimist or a pessimist? Do you see the glass as half full or half empty? With this study, we want to investigate how important working memory can be to your levels of happiness and how it could change your outlook on life.'

Speaking about his part of the study, Dr Nick Lee Said; "Adlab is an exciting attempt to understand how advertising works, but also more importantly how we react to different types of messages - in particular whether we do it rationally or not. However, in order to draw any firm conclusions, we need a huge amount of people to take part - the more opinions we have, the more confident we are about our findings. The study is really short, and might even be a little bit of fun! So please do take part, we really value it!"
The findings from Neuromantics will be presented at the British Science Festival, Birmingham on 14-19^th September.