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> After 40 minutes, their brains effectively shut down. They struggled to make any logical decisions. I'm dubious. I haven't read the study they take this conc

> After 40 minutes, their brains effectively shut down. They struggled to make any logical decisions. I'm dubious. I haven't read the study they take this conclusion from, but it does not accord with my experience of the world. Your brain shuts down after 40 minutes in a supermarket, really? Anyway, it's about supermarkets and not malls, and most of the other evidence in this article is about casinos. Thin soup.

sidewndr46 3y ago
The article says "Using MRIs to gauge". I've never seen a supermarket with an MRI. I have a seen a mall with an MRI, but it was more of an opportune space. It didn't face inwards into the mall concourse but was on the end. So in other words, the study probably took people from a mall or supermarket after a set amount of time and MRI'd them in exchange for $25 or something. I really doubt they measured anything relevant here.
- tzs 3y ago
  They put people in an MRI and then asked them to decide between various discounts and buy-one-get-one-free offers like they would face in a supermarket.
  - dylan604 3y ago
    Because the experience of shopping in a super market or a mall is similar to laying in an MRI making all sorts of loud and disturbing noises? How they can even attempt to draw these conclusions is just farcical to me
    - throwup238 3y ago
      Obligatory dead salmon study link: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/scicurious-brain/ignobel-prize-in-neuroscience-the-dead-salmon-study/ https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/scicurious-brain/ignobe... fMRI studies are largely bullshit in the best of times. Using it to study an abstract effect is doubly so.
      - verve_rat 3y ago
        From your link: > Some people like to use the salmon study as proof that fMRI is woo, but this isn't the case, it's actually a study to show the importance of correcting your stats.
- 15457345234 3y ago
  MRIs are highly sensitive and can detect things that you wouldn't think possible. This study, for example, is quite telling: https://www.wired.com/2009/09/fmrisalmon/ https://www.wired.com/2009/09/fmrisalmon/
  - vlovich123 3y ago
    It’s not about what the MRI can measure but whether measuring within an MRI machine lets you extrapolate to real-world behavior in a totally different environment.
b112 3y ago
It's a mall, not a supermarket. Huge difference. Just look at these shoppers, and you'll understand. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgD0DkS7l6A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgD0DkS7l6A
ryanjshaw 3y ago
You (and I) are in the minority I think. The only time I browse a shop is when looking for a unique gift. Otherwise I go into the mall with a shopping list, get what I intended to get and leave. I don't think I've ever bought an item on clothing on a whim. I also can't stand casinos, I find the manipulative atmosphere disturbing.
- jsjohnst 3y ago
  > Otherwise I go into the mall with a shopping list I guess I’m in a minority, I can’t remember the last time I went to a mall to buy anything.
- RespectYourself 3y ago
  Amen. I have also rearranged attempts at building a "maze" that deliberately waste customers' time. If I'm in a shitty enough mood, I'll move entire displays so I can walk directly where I need to go without detouring around them (when it's clear that they are only arranged to be an impediment).
- mock-possum 3y ago
  Im pretty sure hell is simply a never-ending labyrinth of casinos.
DavidWoof 3y ago
If you follow through to the study, they displayed products on a screen to people in an MRI scanner, and asked them to evaluate the offers they were seeing. Unsurprisingly, after about 40 minutes their minds start to wander. Because in some warped researchers mind, being in the dark staring at a screen for an hour is exactly like being walking through a supermarket. Sociology studies are such a joke.
dbish 3y ago
The Hustle is also notoriously click-baity and loves to exaggerate so I’d take anything they write with many grains of salt and look for sources

sidewndr46 3y ago

The article says "Using MRIs to gauge". I've never seen a supermarket with an MRI. I have a seen a mall with an MRI, but it was more of an opportune space. It didn't face inwards into the mall concourse but was on the end. So in other words, the study probably took people from a mall or supermarket after a set amount of time and MRI'd them in exchange for $25 or something. I really doubt they measured anything relevant here.

tzs 3y ago
They put people in an MRI and then asked them to decide between various discounts and buy-one-get-one-free offers like they would face in a supermarket.
- dylan604 3y ago
  Because the experience of shopping in a super market or a mall is similar to laying in an MRI making all sorts of loud and disturbing noises? How they can even attempt to draw these conclusions is just farcical to me
  - throwup238 3y ago
    Obligatory dead salmon study link: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/scicurious-brain/ignobel-prize-in-neuroscience-the-dead-salmon-study/ https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/scicurious-brain/ignobe... fMRI studies are largely bullshit in the best of times. Using it to study an abstract effect is doubly so.
    - verve_rat 3y ago
      From your link: > Some people like to use the salmon study as proof that fMRI is woo, but this isn't the case, it's actually a study to show the importance of correcting your stats.
15457345234 3y ago
MRIs are highly sensitive and can detect things that you wouldn't think possible. This study, for example, is quite telling: https://www.wired.com/2009/09/fmrisalmon/ https://www.wired.com/2009/09/fmrisalmon/
- vlovich123 3y ago
  It’s not about what the MRI can measure but whether measuring within an MRI machine lets you extrapolate to real-world behavior in a totally different environment.

b112 3y ago

It's a mall, not a supermarket. Huge difference. Just look at these shoppers, and you'll understand. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgD0DkS7l6A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgD0DkS7l6A

ryanjshaw 3y ago

You (and I) are in the minority I think. The only time I browse a shop is when looking for a unique gift. Otherwise I go into the mall with a shopping list, get what I intended to get and leave. I don't think I've ever bought an item on clothing on a whim. I also can't stand casinos, I find the manipulative atmosphere disturbing.

jsjohnst 3y ago
> Otherwise I go into the mall with a shopping list I guess I’m in a minority, I can’t remember the last time I went to a mall to buy anything.
RespectYourself 3y ago
Amen. I have also rearranged attempts at building a "maze" that deliberately waste customers' time. If I'm in a shitty enough mood, I'll move entire displays so I can walk directly where I need to go without detouring around them (when it's clear that they are only arranged to be an impediment).
mock-possum 3y ago
Im pretty sure hell is simply a never-ending labyrinth of casinos.

DavidWoof 3y ago

If you follow through to the study, they displayed products on a screen to people in an MRI scanner, and asked them to evaluate the offers they were seeing. Unsurprisingly, after about 40 minutes their minds start to wander. Because in some warped researchers mind, being in the dark staring at a screen for an hour is exactly like being walking through a supermarket. Sociology studies are such a joke.

dbish 3y ago

The Hustle is also notoriously click-baity and loves to exaggerate so I’d take anything they write with many grains of salt and look for sources