"First They're Sour, Then They're Sweet"

    If you were a kid sitting in-front of the TV during the early 2000's like myself, you might be familiar with The Sour Patch Kids candy commercials. Specifically, there was one that really stuck with me. To summarize it in a quick few words, it begins with a girl waking up and realizing that one side of her pig tails has been cut in her sleep. Then a sour patch kid appears coming out of the closet holding scissors in his hand. The girl is obviously upset when she sees him, but the next thing you know, the sour patch kid is hugging her leg.

    I remember the feeling of fear come over myself just seeing the girl look at her half cut hair in the mirror. It made me want to grab my hair and hold onto it tightly. What was happening in my brain was more than likely a response of mirror neurons firing, making me feel a burst of empathy for her. To be completely honest, another side of me was maybe a tad bit mad or stressed because I didn't see the motive behind the sour patch kid being so sour! My adrenal cortex may have been producing some cortisol in that moment making me feel this way, accompanied with firing of neurons in my amygdala allowing me to experience feelings of irritation and fear. As the commercial changes tones however, it starts to produce an "aww" effect, which may be easy to do because the sour patch kid is a pretty neutral looking character. He doesn't look particularly scary, or cute, but when you see how small he is compared to the girl when he is hanging onto her leg- it almost gives you a cute baby vibe. Well- here comes the little rush of oxytocin, serotonin, and dopamine. We appear to be happy now and maybe overlook the fear that our brain told us to feel when we imagined a walking candy-like man cutting off our beautiful hair in our sleep! This commercial taps into a bunch of different emotions, and neurobiology has opened my eyes to why my brain has decided to retain this 30 second commercial for so many years! 

Video from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jV_u9EDE2Z8