Word: superealism
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...fond of the idea of cities using pro sports franchises to validate their self-worth; there are too many Super Bowl champion towns out there whose schools, economies and infrastructures remain mired in the cellar. But in this instance, Indianapolis can probably be excused for seeking affirmation on the NFL stage - if only because the shadow to the north that it's lived under for so long has been such a, well, a bear...
...should know. I watched this particular Super Bowl drama from a unique perspective: I grew up in Indianapolis, spent some of my favorite career years in Chicago and now live in Miami, where this past week I could watch the Interstate 65 complexes of superiority and inferiority play out on South Beach. Bears fans were the in-your-face, we're-a-real-city crowd whenever they spotted the softer, royal blue clusters of Colts backers. I even heard one Chicagoan hurl the "redneck" epithet. (Miamians, meanwhile, just got a good laugh watching pale, overweight Midwesterners trying to swagger...
...Super Bowl revenge, as a result, was all that much sweeter for my fellow Hoosiers. Even when cultural arbiters like Hollywood pay tribute to Indiana, it's usually couched in quaintness. Sports movies like Hoosiers and Breaking Away tend to emphasize a parochial amateurness that keeps the state from being taken seriously as a pro player setting - although Indianapolis, in fact, bills itself as the world's amateur sports capital - while films like Brian's Song and The Natural showcase Chicago as an Elysian field of major-league legends...
...neuroscientists involved in the study, triggered nerve activity in the ventral striatum, or the reward and satisfaction areas of the brain - those areas that are known to be involved in making associations and forming connections with people or things. (By comparison, over 50% of last year 's Super Bowl ads activated these regions.) The majority of this year 's commercials, on the other hand, predominantly activated anxiety regions of the brain, centered around the amygdala, the hub of our fear and emotional responses. "To me, that means these ads are going to be unsuccessful," says Freedman. "This group...
...Imaging studies like this one, says Freedman, are constantly providing important information about how we process our environment and make decisions, and could become essential tools in shaping the products we see and buy in the future. If this year 's Super Bowl ads are any indication, however, it seems that Madison Avenue may have to rethink its playbook...