The Mind of the Buyer

9 8 T H E M IN D O F T H E BUY E R
m ay h ave ac t ual i ma ge s of things t ouch ed ;
a uditory image s of thi ngs h eard ; gusta t ory
ima ge s of th ings ta ste d ; ol fac to ry im age s o f
things smelled ; a n d so o n th rough th e e n tire
ran ge of sensa ti on s.
Th e l aw of asso ciatio n. If we t ry t o a cc oun t
fo r thi s p owe r o f ima ging, we must refe r
to th e nat ure of b rain ti ssue, which is so c on
s ti tut e d th a t any obj ec t imp resse d up on th e
sen se s m ake s a p e rm ane n t m odification i n th e
b rain ; to recall th e obj ec t l a ter, on e needs
only to revive thi s pa th way. One u sually
a c c ompli sh e s thi s revival by s tim ulatin g an
o th e r p athway which wa s stim ul a ted wh en th e
fi rs t o ne wa s m a de. As a rul e, several p ath
w ay s a re stimul a te d a t onc e. Th ey a re a sso
cia ted, w e say. Thi s, beca use o ur exp eri enc es
a re ne cessa rily rel a te d to each oth er ; ei th e r
th ey follow cl osely up on each oth e r’ s h eel s ;
o r el se th ey p osses s c ommon el ements. As
a re sult, wh eneve r a new obj ec t ( a c ommo di ty
for sal e ) stim ul ate s o ne pathway i t revives
an oth e r a t th e sa m e tim e.
Th u s th e selle r h a s th e powe r to c all up
wi thi n th e min d o f th e buye r a ny obj ect s ex
p erienced i n th e past ; reviving th e m in th e
form of images. Fo r exam ple, with th e word
“ Wrigl ey, ” h e may call up “ gum, ” which h a s