by: Roger Dooley
Thinking about itching, seeing people scratch, looking at pictures of bedbugs or other itch inducers—all can bring on an irresistible urge to flick away that irksome feeling…
Most people need only watch others scratching to start themselves. Just seeing a picture that is connected with scratching—a photograph of fleas, for example—can do the trick as well. But until recently, there was not even any clear scientific evidence of this widely shared experience.
To close this gap, our team, under the direction of medical psychologist Jörg Kupfer, conducted a psychological experiment with students. Our unsuspecting participants were asked to evaluate the educational quality of a lecture on the topic, “Itching—What Is It?” The test subjects—60 medical and psychology students—attended one of two different lectures. One group viewed images of lice, fleas, bedbugs and allergic skin reactions; the other group saw babies and calming landscapes. Unsurprisingly, the students in the first group scratched themselves significantly more frequently during the presentation than their counterparts in the second one did. [From ScientificAmerican.com – Chronic Itching: Causes and Cures by Uwe Gieler and Bertram Walter.]
The researchers suggest that mirror neurons may be involved in the itch initiation process. These neurons mimic the activity of others in our brains, and have been associated with the “contagion” of yawning.
So, unless you really want to get your customers itchy, keep any images of people scratching and creepy-crawlies likely to suggest itching out of your marketing…
Original Post: http://www.neurosciencemarketing.com/blog/articles/feeling-itchy.htm
