I think a little bit of light relief is in order after so much debate about reforming the NHS and all the other wonderful things the new government is going to do to improve our lives (in case that wasn’t plain enough, read that sentence again in a sarcastic tone).
So I was delighted to come across a story about one of my favourite things. Shoes. Oh come on, what woman doesn’t love them?
Anyway, back to the story. A study just published in the Journal of Economic Psychology suggests women’s brains act differently when they see shoes worn by celebrities, compared to when they same the exact same pair of shoes on a non-famous person. Apparently the sight of SJP in a pair of Manolos produces heightened activity in our medial oribofrontal cortexes – well, quite. But if we spy a lesser mortal – not a celebrity, that is – wearing an identical style, our medial oribitofrontal cortexes remain, er, unstimulated, shall we say.
Hmmm. So what does this mean? Well not what you think, probably. Advertisers will be gutted to hear that a celeb in heels doesn’t make even the feeble-minded among us rush out brandishing our credit cards to purchase our own pair. Oh no. It’s probably more to do with the fact that we feel affection for the red carpet gals. Er, okay.
The funniest aspect of the story is that the researchers claim they’re going to do a similar study to find out if the same thing happens in men. Whether that’s men looking at men’s shoes or women’s, I don’t know – but the thought of it made me chuckle. There again, it could have been a joke added by the BBC online news writers…