Brain Food: The Shapeable Shopping Brain?

Scientists, philosophers, theologians, physicians and everyday people have been pondering how the brain works for millennia, and, for years, it had largely remained a mystery. Thankfully, digital 3-D imaging technologies have given us the ability to “look” at the brain in action, in real time. We are now able to witness, at a cellular level, the transformation of the brain in response to a person’s environment, emotional experiences, thoughts and actions. It is now possible to better understand the functional areas of the brain and “see” how neural pathways are formed, maintained through repetitive use, and replaced by others as we learn new ways of doing things and communicating.

Perhaps one of the greatest insights that developed out of the original “Decade of the Brain” (1990 through 1999, as proclaimed by then-President George H. W. Bush) was that the brain is not the fixed structure it was once believed to be. Not so long ago, scientists thought that once development through childhood was complete, the adult brain did not change. It was assumed on the other side of puberty, the mental machinery was set and you simply had to work with what you had from that point forward. Furthermore, it was generally accepted that we would naturally experience a decline in mental capacity as we grew older.

This view of brain development drew lines in the sand between the nature and nurture schools of thought. There has been a long-standing disagreement about what degree of brain functionality is due to genetics or environment and how it plays into the development of personality and aptitudes, and whether or not one is more or less vulnerable to disease. A static view of the brain did not allow for many things that we consider obvious, like how we can, and often do, learn new ideas, skills and aptitudes well into adulthood. Today, it is generally agreed that the brain and its remarkable capacities are both given to us by evolutionary development (nature) and the experiences we have had since birth (nurture).

Scientists are continuing to find evidence that the brain is far more “plastic” and that it changes with exposure to experiences, forming new neural pathways. In discovering that the brain was actually malleable and adaptable like Plasticine, neuroscientists coined the term “neuroplasticity.”

How does it work? Well, think of your brain as a series of roads that are activated when you do, think or feel something. Every time you perform a task, behave in a certain way or feel a particular emotion, your brain resurfaces the roads; the brain’s internal road crews reinforce and build them up for faster travel.

If we keep using a certain pathway, our brains eventually begin to prefer the route it offers, and the new way of thinking, doing or feeling then becomes second nature. Signals travelling along these well-maintained paths move more easily. As the old route is used less frequently, the brain, in its search for efficiency, simply shuts down that particular road and redirects our mental traffic along the newly created path.

Psychiatrist and medical researcher Norman Doidge details the amazing powers of neuroplasticity in his book, “The Brain That Changes Itself.” Doidge explains the plastic brain can change both its function and structure, depending on what you do with it. Thoughts and other activities you do with your brain actually turn certain genes on and off inside your brain cells, which make proteins and, in turn, change the structure of the cells and the neural network. In principle, this means that we can actually think, behave and feel our way to a new future.

How does the brain’s neuroplasticity come into play within shopping places? Well, for starters, it means customers won’t always believe or feel the same about a retailer or brand. How customers feel about a brand depends on many factors, but the brain’s ability to change in response to experience is at the core of the long-term affinity between customers and the brands and retailers they shop.

As customers visit the same stores over and over again, they naturally build neural pathways that determine how the experience should unfold. Thoughts, emotional reactions and behaviors are shaped through their interactions with the environment and the people in it. There is an intricate pas de deux that the brain and the environment engage in each time a customer enters the store. In this delicate dance, the brain is literally made – connections between neurons are formed and others may pruned away.

Want to build bridges connecting to customers? Build them with neural connections through positive experiences. This is why key features to experience, like customer interactions with sales associates, are critical to success. Neural pathways built on a response to positive interactions, feelings of belonging and openness in communication are authentic and empathic extensions that transcend the stuff that lines the shelves.

Bad experiences have the capability to put potholes in the roadways that were paved for the easy flow of emotion between customers and retailers. Retailers can’t assume customers will keep coming back. They must actively engage them to get them to do so. Exposure to new experiences and having them repeated over and over again will eventually create new ways of thinking and feeling.

While you never have a second chance to make a first impression, the second, third, fourth, and fifth experiences can fundamentally change the way customers perceive the brand or retailer after the first store visit. Once learned behaviors and feelings are in place, they can’t easily be changed, but it can be done with concentrated effort.

Change what people experience, and you can change what they think. Change what they think and you can change their brains, building neural pathways for new feelings.

The beautiful upside to neuroplasticity is that we can teach old dogs new tricks. This bodes well for everyone when we understand that we can undertake practices that help foster empathic connection, potentially repair damaged areas of our brains and better integrate areas of our brains that support wellbeing.

David Kepron is the creative director of Little’s Brand Experience Studio and author of “Retail (r)Evolution: Why Creating Right-Brain Stores will Shape the Future of Shopping in a Digitally Driven World,” published by ST Media Group Intl. and available online from ST Books. His retail design work focuses on the creation of relevant shopping experiences at the intersection of architecture, sociology, neuroscience and emerging digital technologies. @davidkepron; www.retail-r-evolution.com; www.littleonline.com