MindSet

🗣️ In this week’s episode of HCD’s MindSet, Kathryn and Michelle chat with social scientist, Kristen Shumaker, about how brains respond to different types of messaging and the types of tools used in communication neuroscience.   

⚒️ With experience in using fMRI and fNIRS, Kristin gives us the lowdown about how to explore neurofeedback while accounting for limitations. If you are interested in learning about new neurotechnologies, this informative session is not one you will want to miss!     

#fNIRS #storytelling #audiences #fMRI   

Kristin Shumaker is a quantitative communication researcher, who uses behavioral and neuroscience methods to study how people connect to each other through stories and shared experiences.  Specifically, she uses fNIRS (functional near-infrared spectroscopy) to study how synchrony – between the brains of communicators and within audiences – predicts empathy, authenticity and audience preferences.  

She received her Ph.D. from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania in 2022.  Prior to re-entering academia, she was a professional production manager and theater maker at the Dell’Arte International School for Physical Theatre, and a freelance stage manager with the Santa Fe Opera and other companies.  She has an M.F.A. in Theatre (Virginia Tech) and a B.A. in Biology (Carleton College).    

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🛑 As the cannabis industry continues to evolve, the conversations surrounding consumer safety and regulations remain critical. On this week’s episode of MindSet, Kathryn and Michelle sat down with both Martha Bajec and Dr. David Nathan to discuss their recent work with both HCD Research and the ASTM D37 Committee regarding cannabinoid safety signs.

🧃 This episode is full of fascinating discussions around cannabis, the term “psychoactive,” and how the pharmaceutical and consumer package goods industries can strive to make better labels for consumer safety.

#consumersafety #labels #cannabis #ASTM #CPG #consumers #package #design #education #informedconsumer #cannabinoids #wellness #consumption

Meet our guests!

David L. Nathan, MD, DFAPA is a Princeton, New Jersey based psychiatrist, writer, speaker, educator, and consultant. He is best known as the founder and past president of Doctors for Cannabis Regulation. Dr. Nathan is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. He is a leader in the development of evidence-based labeling standards for the regulated cannabis industry, and he was the principal designer of the International Intoxicating Cannabis Product Symbol.    

Martha Bajec, PhD is the Principal at Bajec Senseworks consulting where she lends her unique expertise and perspective to researchers and leaders across CPG categories. Martha joined HCD Research in 2020 as a Consulting Director in Health and Wellness Research exploring the consumer space. In addition to providing full-service support for human testing and product evaluation, Martha’s experience innovating in highly regulated spaces ensures consideration of regulatory and compliance requirements, by design. In her spare time, Martha enjoys fermenting, extracting, and infusing natural products and foods.  

Extra Information: 

HCD Label Research Infographic: Linked here   

Eli Nathan, Graphic Designer: elinathan.com   

ASTM International: https://www.astm.org/ 

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🎃 Happy Halloween to all our MindSet listeners!

🦇  🧙‍♀️🧉 What's a scary part about research? Statistics! The University of Pennsylvania's Alex Shpenev talks Kathryn and Michelle through common fears or misconceptions behind statistics and why you shouldn't be so sure when playing with numbers. Even though this episode doesn't include any spells, it reminds us that many popular statistics are just pulled out of thin air.   

#statistics #correlations #halloween 

Meet the guest!  

Alex Shpenev is a Senior Data Research Scientist at the Center for Social Norms and Behavioral Dynamics of the University of Pennsylvania. He is also affiliated with the Population Studies Center, the Population Aging Research Center, the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, and the Center for Global Healthh. His work focuses on the social nature of health behavior, exploring the social patterns of latrine use in India. As part of this project, Alex develops survey materials, supervises data collection, and conducts social network analysis to better understand the flow of information about the benefits of better sanitation practices and the availability of resources for latrine construction. His other work centers on how friends and family (in particular, spouses) can contribute to better health behaviors and health outcomes.

Alex received his PhD in Demography and Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania and holds an MA in Statistics from the Wharton School.

Meet our guest!

Alex's website: https://www.shpenev.com/

Alex's MBDS bio: https://www.lps.upenn.edu/degree-programs/mbds/faculty/alex-shpenev

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👃 This week’s episode of HCD’s MindSet includes author, TEDx speaker, neuroscientist, and world leading expert on the psychological science of smell- Rachel Herz, PhD.

🕯️This fascinating conversation dives into the value of smell in terms of wellbeing, what an “unscented” product really means, and a few myth-busting moments around olfaction too.

#smell #olfaction #neuroscience #fragrance #mentalhealth #anosmia #experiences #research #wellbeing

Meet our guest!

A world-renowned expert on the psychological science of smell, Dr. Rachel Herz is a neuroscientist, TEDx speaker, and published author of both books and numerous research publications. She is also a valued consultant to international corporations, an entrepreneur, and is on the faculty at Brown University and Boston College.

Useful Links

Rachel Herz’s Website: https://rachelherz.com/popular-books/   

TEDx Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmGLsMER58g&app=desktop

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😊 Happy Friday everyone! 

🚩🚩 To keep the momentum going from #NeuroU2022, we have a BONUS episode for HCD’s MindSet! Kathryn and Michelle hopped on the mics for a journal club session to chat about a recent article that was published by IFT. Everything old is new again and the infamous “neuromarketing hype” is back in the mix with the same, old tricks. Listen to Kathryn and Michelle break down the article and discuss why EEG and food science are a complicated combo. 

#neuroscience #EEG #foodscience #misinformation 

Learn about NeuroU HERE  

Articles debunking neuro-hype: 

https://www.theguardian.com/science/head-quarters/2013/dec/05/neuromarketing-brain-eeg-hype 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0950329320303931?casa_token=zct5EPVVMroAAAAA:HlAMxC9W3ISbZzYXbTQ5cAgCkjUCHl44TsMHMPPUd3RGIYrn1-mP7kfQIo-2DrUQpsJ0IZ3Sqg 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2011/10/02/no-you-dont-love-your-iphone-in-that-way/?sh=5231a671636c 

https://www.hcdi.net/post/the-brain-what-is-it-good-for https://www.hcdi.net/post/neuromarketing-identifying-the-fact-from-the-fiction 

https://www.hcdi.net/post/on-myths-and-methods https://www.hcdi.net/post/hcd-on-the-road-debunking-neurohype 

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Kathryn and Michelle are back with another episode of HCD’s MindSet with Rex Chng, a recent graduate of the Penn Masters of Behavioral and Decision Science program. In this episode, Rex shares why he joined the program at University of Pennsylvania and the recent work he did with HCD about on-demand delivery services. Inspired by the UberEats Superbowl commercial, this research tried to determine what is important to consumers, and how brands can leverage that information to stay top-of-mind with their customers. After listening to this episode, you may never look at companies like Lyft or Instacart the same… Check it out!   

Meet our guest!

Rex is a recent graduate of the Master of Behavioral and Decision Sciences program at the University of Pennsylvania. He is fascinated by how human makes decisions, why some behaviors spread faster than others, and the underlying motivation of human behaviors. He is looking to bring his behavioral science knowledge into UX research to the tech industry to build a seamless product experience.  

Rex’s LinkedIn

Rex's blog 

MaxImplicit White Paper 

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This week’s episode of HCD’s MindSet includes a 3-time author, consultant, and speaker- Steve Yastrow. Steve literally “wrote the book” on Brand Harmony, helping companies understand and learn the importance of paying attention continuously to what customers are hearing. Chatting with Kathryn and Michelle about brand harmony, Steve provided a lot of his insight about how valuable it is to bet on your customers to make or break even the best of products.   #customerexperience #CX #brandharmony #totalexperience #customerrelationship #marketing #branding #benchmarking #strategy #alignment

Steve Yastrow is the author of three books, Ditch the Pitch, We: The Ideal Customer Relationship and Brand Harmony. Management guru Tom Peters said, “When Steve Yastrow writes, I pay close attention.” Seth Godin wrote that Ditch the Pitch “gives salespeople the courage to be human.”  Steve is the president of Yastrow & Company, where he and his team help their clients improve business results through more compelling customer experiences and stronger customer relationships.   

Steve Yastrow’s Website 

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What nudges have you noticed in your daily life? Michelle and Kathryn hopped on the mics this week to discuss an article which has recently sparked a lot of debate about the value of “nudges”. The article, and its subsequent reactions, have left our favorite hosts with a lot to say about not just nudging, but the serious issues with publishing in scientific journals as a whole. Listen to Kathryn and Michelle discuss the trials and tribulations of publish or perish, the evolution of research, and why studying human research is so messy (but intriguing).

Article 1: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2107346118

Article 2: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2200300119

Article 3: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2202928119

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60 Episodes down for MindSet - how many more to go? In this episode Kathryn and Michelle talk about NeuroUX - what is it, how it came to be, its challenges, and its future. Neuro - meaning nervous system (includes the brain) and UX - meaning user experience. NeuroUX is a tool that allows researchers to attain real-world data on consumers' cognitive processes over time. HCD Research had also completed an internal study using NeuroUX Technology focusing on RiteAid and CVS's Covid-19 Vaccination website user experience - this study will be linked in the show notes below.

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What do Pepsi, Pfizer, and VW all have in common? Each company recently decided to have a logo make-over via the concept of debranding! In this week’s MindSet episode, Kathryn is joined by Allison Gutkowski to discuss what this trend means for companies and consumers, as well as ways that brands can evolve with their consumer while remaining true to themselves. The notion of debranding sparked an interesting discussion surrounding brand harmony, consumer perception, and visual marketing that you don’t want to miss!

Meet our guest! 

As Director of Global Research for HCD Research, Allison specializes in all thing’s client related, including educational sessions on applied behavioral neuroscience and applications, building relationships and developing proposals and research programs. She is responsible for new business development as well as account and project management. Allison has been a guest lecturer at Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, The College of New Jersey and Rutgers University.

Allison is very passionate about what we do here at HCD and loves to talk about it. Allison loves hearing clients’ pain points and unique obstacles that they face with their products and brands. This allows us to explore new approaches and applications that provide a solution to a problem they have not been able to solve with past research approached. Each question brings a new challenge.

Ms. Gutkowski earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from The College of New Jersey. In 2011, Allison joined the HCD team and began by understand the research processes and the inner-workings with each unique project. This brings a holistic understanding to her current role and enjoys being involved in every aspect of the project journey.Be sure to give us 5 Star rating, leave a review, or subscribe to your preferred method of listening. Don't forget to also follow us on any of our social media platforms listed below.

Allison Gutkowski on LinkedIn | https://bit.ly/AllisonGutkowski_LinkedIn

Allison Gutkowski Email | [email protected]

Extra Links: 

Debranding Video Link | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1bjkPerpPs

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