For more than a century, social scientists have attempted to create a model that will accurately predict what images, songs, or memes will become popular. Now Gregory Berns, a neuroeconomist at Emory University, thinks that certain fMRI signatures in the brains of teenagers are reliable indicators of future popularity:
Link -via Althouse | Photo by Flickr user jake.auzzie used under Creative Commons license
The divination is performed with the help of a functional magnetic resonance imaging machine, or fMRI, scanning the brains of juveniles while they listen to demo records. Emory University plumped the findings with the bold headline, "Teen brain data predicts pop song success."
If true, this would be the equivalent of having tomorrow's stock pages today. Helpful, that. Determine what tickles the pleasure points of the adolescent id and you ought to be able to plot more efficiently how to separate teens from their money.
Link -via Althouse | Photo by Flickr user jake.auzzie used under Creative Commons license
Yes, most teens and pre-teens are dumber then a bag of rocks.
Scientists study 'DNA of perfect pop song' (
CNN 2010)
"Their findings so far suggest that stickiness results from a particular balance of certain pitch intervals and particular rhythmic structures. The formula can currently predict whether a tune is likely to be an earworm with approximately 75 percent success"
Not too long until computer programs are writing the songs to top the charts, if we are not already there.