Who cares about losing – not the old

To quote New Scientist (the UK’s second rate version of Scientific America): “Losing at the races or bingo may not be such a problem for older people, since those over 65 are less upset by loss than twenty-somethings. But they are just as glad of a win, new brain scans suggest”.

This is an interesting conclusion but why the reference to the races and bingo – a tad ageist methinks.

Anyway, research conducted at Stanford University (US) compared the way the over 65s respond to losing and winning, compared with people aged between 19 and 27.

Participants were shown cues telling them they could either win or lose money. They had to rate their own excitement at the prospects while their brain activity was monitored using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

The researchers found in both the self-reported tests and the fMRI scans, that younger adults showed more activity their insula and caudate – areas of the brain involved in processing emotion – when anticipating losses than the elderly. However, when winning money activity in the ‘emotion’ area was the same regardless of age.

This finding has loads of interesting implications, not least when constructing advertising. If you are looking to create age neutral creative then concentrate on winning not losing. Dick Stroud