embodied cognition model of mental functioning proposes that the environment in which the brain operates—which includes the body in which the brain resides, as well as cultural, social, and familial factors—significantly influences those mental processes.

whether or not we have eaten recently has a significant impact on the quantity and type of food we purchase.

Our research has shown that, for many consumers, the prospect of being able to buy a much-desired fashion item at a bargain price creates a mental buzz equivalent to winning a lottery prize or even snorting a line of coke.

role of the frontal regions of the brain, which are responsible for making purchasing decisions based on information arriving from many different regions, but especially from the emotionally driven limbic system.

It takes only a few bars of a tune to bring the brand to the forefront of the consumer’s mind, due to a process known as “involuntary musical imagery

When it comes to shopping, there could be no such thing as free choice or random behavior. However much we may like to believe that we are acting independently and spontaneously, we are really driven by unconscious brand priming.

Something priced at £9.99 or $9.99 will always strike a majority of shoppers as cheaper than something costing £10 or $10, and research has shown that between 30 and 65 percent of all prices end in a nine.22 And it is not just price, the left-digit bias applies to any transaction involving numbers.

Mindless shopping and the left-digit bias

Even low-level wants and needs, those found in Box 1, can be transformed into want-needs through marketing and advertising.