Do You Really Love Your iPhone, That Way?

| Psychology Today 27/08/16 00:17

Ben Y Hayden Ph.D.

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Highly misleading neuroscience journalism in the New York Like 95

Times
Posted Oct 01, 2011

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The New York Times should begin

apologizing for its credulous neuroscience
(/basics/neuroscience) piece; it was so bad it
borders on fraud. The op-ed was “You Love
Your iPhone. Literally

Artist's rendering of cupid, with iPhone

Source: Collage by BYH

(http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/01/opinion/you-love-your-iphone-literally.html?
_r=1&ref=opinion)” was written by Martin Lindstrom, an author and branding consultant (and, it
seems, Time Magazine 100 Influential People Honoree).

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Do You Really Love Your iPhone, That Way? | Psychology Today 27/08/16 00:17

Lindstrom’s data shows that when someone sees pictures of ringing iPhones, their insula lights
up. Because the insula is associated with love (/basics/relationships), he concludes that people
truly love their iPhones in a deep and abiding way we normally associate with lovers, spouses,
and, for a few of us, Alyson Hannigan.

Lindstrom's conclusions are basically the opposite of the truth. The primary function attributed to
the insula is disgust, not love. Neuroimaging studies show that the insula is activated by disgusting
smells and disgusting tastes (such as butyric acid, which makes vomit smell (/basics/scent) like it
does). Your insula is activated when you see someone do something, like cheating, that you find
morally opprobrious. It’s activated by seeing photos that people generally consider revolting, like
freshly mutilated limbs. If seeing your iPhone reminds you of severed limbs, then your best career
(/basics/career) choice may be an anti-consumerist performance artist.

Insula is activated by pain. People with irritable bowel syndrome show enhanced activity in insula,
especially when they are feeling pain associated with their disease (or imagining it). It’s also
activated by gastric distension or full bladders, symptoms of needing to go to the bathroom. My
advice: If a ringing iPhone makes you feel the urge to run to the bathroom, consider switching over
to a Droid.

It’s weird that the New York Times didn’t fact check this op-ed. It’s not a secret. All this stuff is on
the wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insular_cortex) for the insula. You don't even have
to go to Pubmed! Perhaps the editors were blown away by Lindstrom's cool book titles like
“Buyology” and “Clicks, Bricks, and Brands,” and didn’t bother to check with anyone who has
heard of the word insula before.

In fairness, the insula is also sometimes associated with positive emotions (although much less
often than it is linked to negative ones). And that’s the real problem with his claims. Like most of
the brain, the insula is activated by many different things. Russ Poldrack, a professor who thinks
deeply about neuroimaging, points out (http://www.russpoldrack.org/2011/10/nyt-editorial-fmri-
complete-crap.html) that insula is activated in as many as one-third of neuroimaging studies. (He
also points out that some of the most well-regarded studies on love report no activation in the
insula!)

Our brain regions are switch hitters; that’s how we are wired. And that fact means you can never
infer that because a brain region is activated by emotion X, then activation there always means
that emotion is being felt. Going from activation to emotion is the wrong direction; it’s called
reverse inference.

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Do You Really Love Your iPhone, That Way? | Psychology Today 27/08/16 00:17

Practicing neuroscientists have known for years

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Issues_in_fMRI#Reverse_Inference)that reverse inference is a fallacy.
Scholarly journals no longer accept manuscripts for publication that make this fallacy, because
they are valueless. There is no reason for the popular press to be more credulous. It’s time for the
New York Times to adopt the same policy.

Neuroscientists should give them a kick in the butt. The Society for Neuroscience should publish
guidelines for ethical practice of science journalism. These guidelines would apply to newspapers
and to their op-ed columnists. Here’s a good start: “Align perception with reality. Your talents might
very well lie in brilliantly creating convincing perceptions, but how do they stack up against the
reality? If there’s a mismatch, either one must be adjusted for them to be in sync.” That’s from the
Ethics (/basics/ethics-and-morality) Section of Lindstrom’s own website.

(Thanks to Molly Crockett (http://www.mollycrockett.com/) for bringing this article to my attention).

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4 Comments
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Good Post (/comment/184897#comment-184897)
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Submitted by Steven Reiss Ph.D. (/experts/steven-reiss-phd) on October 1, 2011 - 4:11pm
hologytoday.com/blog/t hat%20Way%3F%20% tree/201110/do-you-
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Submitted decision-
by Kelly Cash on October 1, 2011 - 4:13pm
%3A//www.psychology tree/201110/do-you-
"Here’s a good start: “Align perception with reality. Your talents might very well lie in brilliantly creating convincing
today.com/blog/the- really-love-your-
perceptions, but how do they stack up against the reality? If there’s a mismatch, either one must be adjusted in order
decision- iphone-
for them to be in sync.”

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Do You Really Love Your iPhone, That Way? | Psychology Today 27/08/16 00:17

for them to be in sync.”

tree/201110/do-you- way&related=PsychTo
really-love-your- day)
iphone-way)
A Response to Your Thoughts (/comment/185254#comment-185254)
Submitted by Martin Lindstrom on October 4, 2011 - 8:03am

My first foray into neuro-marketing research was for my New York Times bestseller Buyology: Truth and Lies about
Why We Buy. For that book I teamed up with Neurosense, a leading independent neuro-marketing company that
specializes in consumer research using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) headed by Oxford University
trained Gemma Calvert, BSc DPhil CPsychol FRSA and Neuro-Insight, a market research company that uses unique
brain-imaging technology, called Steady-State Topography (SST), to measure how the brain responds to
communications which is lead by Dr. Richard Silberstein, PhD. This was the single largest neuro-marketing study ever
conducted—25x larger than any such study to date and cost more than seven million dollars to run.

In the three-year effort scientists scanned the brains of over 2,000 people from all over the world as they were
exposed to various marketing and advertising strategies including clever product placements, sneaky subliminal
messages, iconic brand logos, shocking health and safety warnings, and provocative product packages. The purpose
of all of this was to understand, quite successfully I may add, the key drivers behind why we make the purchasing
decisions that we do.

For the research that my recent Op-Ed column in the New York Times was based on I turned to Dr. David Hubbard, a
board-certified neurologist and his company MindSign Neuro Marketing, an independently owned fMRI neuro-
marketing company. I asked Dr. Hubbard and his team a simple question, “Are we addicted to our iPhones?” After
analyzing the brains of 8 men and 8 women between the ages of 18-25 using fMRI technology, MindSign answered
my question using standardized answering methods and completely reproducible results. The conclusion was that we
are not addicted to our iPhones, we are in love with them.

The thought provoking dialogue that has been generated from the article has been overwhelmingly positive and I look
forward to the continued comments from professionals in the field, readers and fans.

Respectfully,

Martin Lindstrom

A Response to Your Thoughts (/comment/185257#comment-185257)

Submitted by Martin Lindstrom on October 4, 2011 - 8:04am

My first foray into neuro-marketing research was for my New York Times bestseller Buyology: Truth and Lies about
Why We Buy. For that book I teamed up with Neurosense, a leading independent neuro-marketing company that
specializes in consumer research using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) headed by Oxford University

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-decision-tree/201110/do-you-really-love-your-iphone-way Página 4 de 7
Do You Really Love Your iPhone, That Way? | Psychology Today 27/08/16 00:17

trained Gemma Calvert, BSc DPhil CPsychol FRSA and Neuro-Insight, a market research company that uses unique
brain-imaging technology, called Steady-State Topography (SST), to measure how the brain responds to
communications which is lead by Dr. Richard Silberstein, PhD. This was the single largest neuro-marketing study ever
conducted—25x larger than any such study to date and cost more than seven million dollars to run.

In the three-year effort scientists scanned the brains of over 2,000 people from all over the world as they were
exposed to various marketing and advertising strategies including clever product placements, sneaky subliminal
messages, iconic brand logos, shocking health and safety warnings, and provocative product packages. The purpose
of all of this was to understand, quite successfully I may add, the key drivers behind why we make the purchasing
decisions that we do.

For the research that my recent Op-Ed column in the New York Times was based on I turned to Dr. David Hubbard, a
board-certified neurologist and his company MindSign Neuro Marketing, an independently owned fMRI neuro-
marketing company. I asked Dr. Hubbard and his team a simple question, “Are we addicted to our iPhones?” After
analyzing the brains of 8 men and 8 women between the ages of 18-25 using fMRI technology, MindSign answered
my question using standardized answering methods and completely reproducible results. The conclusion was that we
are not addicted to our iPhones, we are in love with them.

The thought provoking dialogue that has been generated from the article has been overwhelmingly positive and I look
forward to the continued comments from professionals in the field, readers and fans.

Respectfully,

Martin Lindstrom

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Ben Hayden, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the
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