According to Google, YouTube searches for the phrase “how to” grew 70 percent between 2014 and 2015. In the first half of last year alone, people in North America watched more than 100 million hours of how-to videos. In a recent issue of Nautilus, writer Tom Vanderbilt explained, “We are, in effect, simulating doing the task ourselves, warming up the same neurons that will be used when we actually give it a go.”
Source: Science of US, September 12, 2016.
Specifically, watching these videos activates the action-observation network, a group of connections in the brain that work to translate visual information into know-how. ‘If you’re looking at someone performing a task,’ University of Montreal kinesiologist Luc Proteau told Vanderbilt, ‘you’re in fact activating a bunch of neurons that will be required when you perform the task. That’s why it’s so effective to do observation.’
INSIGHTS: Modern animal health pros should learn how to incorporate videos in their discussions with clients. Point-of-sale videos draw attention and questions in retail locations and veterinary hospitals.