Unlike many other topics, there was a lot of information available for Pepsi vs. Coke.  At first, I put in Pepsi vs. Coke into the Google toolbar and got results for profit earnings and old commercials from Youtube.  I added study to the query and find many good research articles about why people prefer Pepsi or Coke.  The first one I found showed a study that showed a brain scan.  The brain scans were taken of 67 people’s thoughts in their brain when they were told knowingly which one is Pepsi and which one was Coke.  The scientists concluded that cultural symbols and references influenced people’s decision making on whether they choose Coke or Pepsi.  The ultimate conclusion of the study was the discovery that two separate brain systems determine preferences.  (http://www.hnl.bcm.tmc.edu/cache/eurekalert.org.htm) 

      The next link I found led to a U.S. News article that revealed the results of the same study from Baylor University.  The researchers, lead by Dr. Read Montague, wanted to know how the brain responds to cola and what (if any) impact it has on the brain.   They carried out several taste tests where each subject first tested drinks in cups.  Then, the subjects were loaded into an MRI machine, where they were given tiny squirts of Coke or Pepsi while a machine monitored brain activity.  One drink was labeled and the other was anonymous.  The researchers found that people were equally likely to choose Coke or Pepsi as the favorite when the study was anonymous.  However, when only one drink was labeled, they always tended to choose the labeled drink for Coke but not Pepsi.  The researchers found that a part of the brain that responds to rewards lights up on the brain scan, but when one drink was labeled Coke or Pepsi, other parts of the brain lit up, including sections that dealt with memory and cognitive control.  The conclusion is that your brain does not respond just to flavor but also memories.  http://health.usnews.com/usnews/health/briefs/mentalhealth/hb041025b.htm 

      A third link I found led me to the site of a college professor, from which I also got four other links.  The first one that I clicked on was an article from brandchannel.com.  The author wanted to know why people continue to buy Coke while they think that Pepsi tastes better.  The article cites the study that I found in the second link from US News.  However, the author of the article continues to go on about how fMRI, the technique used in the second study, can show how people are influenced by a particular product.  The study shows that the prefrontal cortex of the brain, which influences our sense of self, thinks of different images when it thinks of one’s sense of self. http://www.brandchannel.com/features effect.asp?pf id=201.  The second link I found went to an article from CNN Money that talked about Coke’s other brands and their plans to launch infamous flavored versions of the products.  All of those products, which include Vanilla Coke, Pepsi Blue, and Dr. Pepper Red Fusion, epically failed.  http://money.cnn.com/2002/05/10/pf/investing/q_cola/index.htm>.  The third article that I found was an article from the New York Times that described the second study in significant detail. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/26/magazine/26BRAINS.html.  The fourth article is the official release of the second study from the Baylor College of Medicine. http://www.bcm.edu/fromthelab/vol03/is9/04nov_n2.htm.

  

      The research that I found provides a good insight into whether or not people why people tend to prefer Coke, Pepsi, or both.  Dr. Montague’s study provides harrowing insight into why people tend to choose one or the other.  My background findings on this topic are very interesting since it gives an insight into how the brain works.  I hope these particular findings will be useful because it shows what causes the brain to choose Pepsi and Coke.