DURHAM,, N.H., Dec. 28 (UPI) -- Attention New Hampshire shoppers: you have been watched, your cognitive skills observed, but retail staff should benefit.

Study leader Chuck Martin of the University of New Hampshire had 50 students observe shopping behavior throughout the New Hampshire Seacoast. Surveys were also conducted.

Martin found cognitive skills such as self-restraint, the ability to think before acting, and flexibility, the ability to change course in the face of set-backs, affect shopping styles. Observers found shoppers divided into four categories:

-- High flexibility are those who browse extensively and are open to suggestions such as buying a generic, less-costly version or trading up.

-- Inflexible are "on a mission" -- coming in for one item and leaving if it is not there.