Our brain is ill equipped to correctly estimate speed of large objects. This error of underestimation leads to large number of trespassing deaths on rail tracks in Mumbai. We found this error and solved it with the Yellow Lines. Interesting how Economist was able to draw the connection with our work,  in pointing out the errors that economists commit while predicting the growth of large economies. PEOPLE are bad at judging the speed of large objects, especially those coming t

Our work to minimize deaths due to trespassing on Mumbai’s railway tracks, called the Wadala Experiment, has been featured by Boston Globe in their Ideas section. The online version is out, and the paper version will be featured in this Sunday’s (May 7) Ideas Section. The article details the Wadala Experiment and what we did. It also explains how we apply scientific principles into all our assignments thereby developing a fresher perspective on observing and explaining behavi

Earlier this month, we presented the Wadala Experiment Case Study at the World Social Marketing Conference in Dublin, Ireland. The 2nd World conference brought together an audience of 600 behavioural change experts from 40 different countries. The Wadala Experiment was the only case study presented at WSMConference that drew on learnings from Cognitive Neuroscience and Behavioural Economics to tackle social problems (trespassing in Mumbai). Behaviour change in larger societal

Times of India, today, reported how sustained efforts by Central Railway and FinalMile has been successful in minimizing death rates due to trespassing. Our interventions along with the Central Railway efforts have managed to bring down death rates by as much as 70% in some sections. The success of this approach hinges on two important factors. Big behavioural problems don’t need fancy solutions with large budgets and huge resources, but a fundamentally different approach tha

Our neuroscience approach to minimize trespassing deaths has met with even more success. After the success of this experiment at Wadala, Rs. 50 Crore is being earmarked to be spent on these innovative measures across the Mumbai suburban network – erecting warning signboards, painting tracks to help people judge the speed of trains and calling for motormen to horn twice while approaching risky stretches. These interventions were designed on a strong foundation of new sciences

Our work to minimize deaths due to trespassing hinged on two key behaviour changes: – break overconfidence of trespassers as they enter the tracks. – make them alert, give them better judgement as they cross the tracks. While researching what types of stimuli help in making the brain more alert, we uncovered one research done by Stanford University on music and alertness. The research team showed that music engages the areas of the brain involved with paying attention, maki

Earlier this month, we wrote a column for Point-Of-Purchase, a Shopper Marketing Magazine. This article details what we learnt from our recent experiment to halt trespassing deaths while crossing the tracks, and how these can be translated into the retail space. ——————————————————- “Consumers claim 70% of their final purchase decisions are made at the store shelf, but we don’t know as much as we would like to about how these purchase decisions are really made. So we’re in th

Our unconventional ways of working and researching behaviour – observation based research, using principles of cognitive neurology and behavioural economics into our interventions, and behavioural design – is starting to get noticed not only by the marketing and corporate fraternity, but also world media. This video gives you a great idea into how we delve deep into the behavioural problems that exist in marketing departments, organizational cultures and public spaces, and ho

Just this morning, Mint-WSJ carried an article that details the work that FinalMile does in the area of behaviour change. Our experiment at Wadala station to minimize deaths due to trespassing — done pro bono — is probably Final Mile’s biggest project in terms of the number of people it works on every day. While the trespassing project forms a large part of the article, other initiatives we’ve undertaken for behaviour change across applications, including public behaviour and