单选题
What do consumers really want? That's a question market researchers would love to answer. But since people don't always say what they think, marketers would need direct access to consumers' thoughts to get the truth.
Now, in a way, that is possible. At the "Mind of the Market" laboratory at Harvard Business School, researchers are looking inside shoppers' skulls to develop more effective advertisements and marketing pitches. Using imaging techniques that measure blood flow to various parts of the brain, the Harvard team hopes to predict how consumers will react to particular products and to discover the most effective ways to present information. Stephen Kosslyn, a professor of psychology at Harvard, and business school professor Gerald Zaltman, oversee the lab. "The goal is not to manipulate people's preferences," says Kosslyn, "just to speak to their actual desires. "The group's findings, though still preliminary, could radically change how firms develop and market new products.
The Harvard group use position emission topography (PET) scans to monitor the brain activity. These PET scans, along with other non-invasive imaging techniques; enable researchers to see which parts of the brain are active during specific tasks (such as remembering a word). Correlations have been found between blood flow to specific areas and future behavior. Because of this, Harvard researchers believe the scans can also predict future purchasing patterns. According to an unpublished paper the group produced, "It is possible to use these techniques to predict not only whether people will remember and have specific emotional reactions to certain materials, but also whether they will be inclined to want those materials months later. "
The Harvard group is now moving into the next stage of experiments. They will explore how people remember advertisements as part of an effort to predict how they will react to a product after having seen an ad. The researchers believe that once key areas of the brain are identified, scans on about two dozen volunteers will be enough to draw conclusions about the reactions of specific segments of the population. Large corporations — including Coca Cola, Eastman Kodak, General Motors, and Hallmark — have already signed up to fund further investigations.
For their financial support, these firms gain access to the experiments, but cannot control them. If Kosslyn and Zaltman and their team really can read the mind of the market, then consumers may find it even harder to get those advertising jingles out of their heads.

单选题 Which of the following statements can be the best title for this passage?
A. Reading the Mind of the Market B. Controlling the Consumers' Preferences
C. Improving the Styles of Advertising D. Finding Out the Way to Predict

单选题 Why do the Harvard researchers use scientific technology in the experiments?
A. Because they don't believe the surveys done by the marketers can lead to the truth.
B. Because they are asked by the marketers to find a direct way to read the consumers' thoughts.
C. Because they want to find out how the ads influence people's brain activity and emotional responses etc.
D. Because they expect that their experiments can basically alter the marketing strategies of products.

单选题 Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
A. Sometimes people will conceal what they think when being questioned by the market researchers.
B. Stephen Kosslyn and Gerald Zaltman overlook the experiments and criticize the purpose of the study.
C. Harvard researchers have found the corresponding relations between people's brain and behavior.
D. There are many large organizations endorsing and financing the Harvard group's further investigation.

单选题 What does "to speak to" in the last sentence of the second paragraph mean?
A. to talk to B. to say to C. to communicate to D. to respond to

单选题 The last sentence of this passage implies that
A. if the experiments' results can be applied to the practice, the customers will be very likely to buy things according to the ads
B. if the Harvard group can succeed in finishing the research, they will use it in attracting more and more and more and more consumers into the market
C. the financial supporting corporations such as Coca Cola, General Motors can employ the experiments in their own marketing
D. the consumers may discover that those ads will always annoy them by jingling out of their heads and cause them headaches