Time-Evolving Dynamics in Brain Networks Forecast Responses to Health Messaging

Neuroimaging measures have been used to forecast complex behaviors, including how individuals change decisions about their health in response to persuasive communications, but have rarely incorporated metrics of brain network dynamics. How do functional dynamics within and between brain networks relate to the processes of persuasion and behavior change? To address this question, we scanned forty-five adult smokers using functional magnetic resonance imaging while they viewed antismoking images. Participants reported their smoking behavior and intentions to quit smoking before the scan and one month later. We focused on regions within four atlas-defined networks and examined whether they formed consistent network communities during this task (measured as allegiance). Smokers who showed reduced allegiance among regions within the default mode and frontoparietal networks also demonstrated larger increases in their intentions to quit smoking one month later. We further examined dynamics of the VMPFC, as activation in this region has been frequently related to behavior change. The degree to which VMPFC changed its community assignment over time (measured as flexibility) was positively associated with smoking reduction. These data highlight the value in considering brain network dynamics for understanding message effectiveness and social processes more broadly

A Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) Replication of the Sunscreen Persuasion Paradigm

Activity in medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) during persuasive messages predicts future message-consistent behavior change, but there are significant limitations to the types of persuasion processes that can be invoked inside an MRI scanner. For instance, real world persuasion often involves multiple people in conversation. Functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) allows us to move out of the scanner and into more ecologically valid contexts. As a first step, the current study used fNIRS to replicate an existing fMRI persuasion paradigm (i.e. the sunscreen paradigm) to determine if mPFC shows similar predictive value with this technology. Consistent with prior fMRI work, activity in mPFC was significantly associated with message-consistent behavior change, above and beyond self-reported intentions. There was also a difference in this association between previous users and non-users of sunscreen. Activity differences based on messages characteristics were not observed. Finally, activity in a region of right dorsolateral PFC (dlPFC), which has been observed with counterarguing against persuasive messages, correlated negatively with future behavior. The current results suggest it is reasonable to use fNIRS to examine persuasion paradigms that go beyond what is possible in the MRI scanner environment

Where there's smoke, there's fire : the brain reactivity of chronic smokers to anti-smoking stimuli

Contexte: Plusieurs études ont démontré que les indices environnementaux associés à la cigarette peuvent provoquer des envies de consommer (« cravings ») chez les fumeurs, ce qui nuit aux efforts d’abandon de la substance et favorise le maintien du tabagisme. Un bon nombre d’études en imagerie cérébrale ont examiné les bases neurophysiologiques de cette caractéristique clinique. Le tabagisme se caractérise aussi par l’incapacité des représentations négatives de la consommation (méfaits médicaux et sociaux) d’influencer la consommation des fumeurs. Étonnamment toutefois, très peu de travaux de recherche se sont intéressés à examiner les bases neurophysiologiques de cette insouciance envers les méfaits de la cigarette chez les fumeurs. En utilisant l'imagerie cérébrale fonctionnelle, l'objectif de cette étude était: d’examiner la réponse neurophysiologique des fumeurs chroniques à des images qui illustrent les effets négatifs de la cigarette (campagne anti-tabac); d’examiner le caractère affectif de cette réactivité utilisant des conditions contrôles (c.-à-d., images aversives non-liées au tabac et appétitives liées au tabac); d'examiner la connectivité fonctionnelle durant cette tâche entre les systèmes affectifs et exécutifs (une interaction qui peut favoriser ou entraver l'impact des évènements aversifs). Méthodes: 30 fumeurs chroniques ont passé une session de neuroimagerie durant laquelle ils devaient regarder des images appétitives et aversives de cigarettes, des images aversives non-reliées au tabac et des images neutres. Résultats: Les images aversives liés au tabagisme suscitent une plus grande activation dans le cortex médial préfrontal, l'amygdale, le gyrus frontal inférieur et le cortex orbitofrontal latéral en comparaison avec les images neutres, mais une moins grande activation dans des structures médiaux / sous-corticales comparé aux images aversives non-reliés et images appétitives reliées aux tabac. L’activité du système exécutif présente une connectivité fonctionnelle négative avec le système affectif lorsque les images aversives sont liées au tabac, mais pas quand elles ne le sont pas. Conclusions: Le modèle d'activation du cerveau observé suggère qu’il y a un biais dans la réactivité des fumeurs chroniques lorsqu’ils observent des représentations négatives de la consommation du tabac. L’activité du système exécutif cérébral semble promouvoir chez les fumeurs une baisse d’activité dans des régions impliquées dans la genèse d’une réponse physiologique affective; il s’agit d’un mécanisme qui permettrait de réduire l’impact persuasif de ces représentations des méfaits de la cigarette sur la consommation des fumeurs.Background: Studies have shown that appetitive smoking-related stimuli trigger important cravings in smokers which promote the maintenance of smoking behavior. Neuroimaging studies have been valuable in elucidating the mechanisms underlying this clinical feature. However, another important but under-explored feature of tobacco dependence is the inability for aversive smoking-related stimuli, such as anti-smoking campaigns, to influence this craving and smoking response. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, the goal of this study was three-fold: to examine the neurobiological response of chronic smokers when processing aversive smoking-related cues; to further characterize this response using control conditions (i.e., aversive nonsmoking-related, appetitive smoking-related cues); to examine the pattern of functional connectivity during this task between executive and affective systems that may interact in ways that promote or hinder the impact of aversive events. Methods: Thirty chronic smokers passively viewed aversive smoking-related, aversive nonsmoking-related, appetitive smoking-related and neutral images presented in a block design while being scanned. Results: Aversive smoking-related stimuli elicited significantly greater activation in the medial prefrontal cortex, amygdala, inferior frontal gyrus and lateral orbitofrontal cortex than neutral stimuli. Aversive smoking-related stimuli elicited lower activation in medial/subcortical structures compared to the processing of aversive nonsmoking-related and appetitive smoking cues. Executive and affective systems are negatively associated when aversive cues are smoking-related, but not when nonsmoking-related. Conclusion: The brain activation pattern observed suggests that chronic smokers experience an aversive response when processing aversive smoking related stimuli, however we argue that the latter triggers a weaker negative emotional and driving response than the aversive nonsmoking-related and appetitive smoking-related cues respectively. Executive systems, activated during aversive smoking-related processing, may act to down-regulate activity in regions key to an affective and persuasive response; a mechanism that may reduce the extent to which “feeling bad” affects a change in behavior

Associations between Coherent Neural Activity

Objective: Worldwide, tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death and illness. One common strategy for reducing the prevalence of cigarette smoking and other health risk behaviors is the use of graphic warning labels (GWLs). This has led to widespread interest from the perspective of health psychology in understanding the mechanisms of GWL effectiveness. Here we investigated differences in how the brain responds to negative, graphic warning label-inspired antismoking ads and neutral control ads, and we probed how this response related to future behavior. Method: A group of smokers (N = 45) viewed GWL-inspired and control antismoking ads while undergoing fMRI, and their smoking behavior was assessed before and one month after the scan. We examined neural coherence between two regions in the brain’s valuation network, the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) and ventralstriatum (VS). Results: We found that greater neural coherence in the brain’s valuation network during GWL ads (relative to control ads) preceded later smoking reduction. Conclusions: Our results suggest that the integration of information about message value may be key for message influence. Understanding how the brain responds to health messaging and relates to future behavior could ultimately contribute to the design of effective messaging campaigns, as well as more broadly to theories of message effects and persuasion across domains

Adicción a los Videojuegos: ¿Qué podemos aprender desde la perspectiva de la neurociencia de la comunicación?

In recent years, video game addiction has received considerable empirical attention. Unfortunately, this research is stymied by inconsistencies in both conceptual and operational definitions of video game addiction. Moreover, the use of several video game addiction scales makes it difficult to estimate the prevalence and potential effects of video game addiction. While game genre is often treated as a predictor of video game addiction, existing measures often downplay the structural and social characteristics of video games that may contribute to behavioral outcomes such as increased playing time and addiction. In an effort to provide the clarity necessary to overcome these issues, we review research on video game addiction with a focus on the largely ignored unique characteristics of video games that are crucial for a more complete conceptualization of video game addiction. With this review in mind, we offer a conceptual framework for the integration of video game addiction within the broader context of behavioral addictions. Finally, we consider the neurological foundation of addiction and suggest opportunities for media neuroscientists to increase understanding and prediction of video game addiction and explore how game content features interact with reward systems in the brain.En los últimos años, la adicción a los videojuegos ha recibido una atención empírica considerable. Desafortunadamente, la investigación en este campo se encuentra obstaculizada por inconsistencias en definiciones conceptuales y operacionales de la adicción a los videojuegos. Por otro lado, el uso de varias escalas de adicción a los videojuegos dificulta la estimación de la prevalencia y los efectos potenciales de la adicción a los videojuegos. Mientras el género del juego es considerado frecuentemente como un predictor de la adicción a los videojuegos, las medidas existentes restan importancia a las características sociales y estructurales de los videojuegos que pueden contribuir a resultados conductuales tales como un incremento en el tiempo de juego y adicción. En un esfuerzo por proveer de claridad necesaria para subsanar estos problemas, se realiza una revisión sobre investigaciones relacionadas a la adicción a los videojuegos con un enfoque en las características de los videojuegos extensamente ignoradas y que son cruciales para una conceptualización más completa acerca de la adicción a los videojuegos. Con esta revisión, ofrecemos un marco conceptual para la integración de la adicción a los videojuegos dentro un contexto más amplio como el de las adicciones conductuales. Finalmente, consideramos la base neurológica de la adicción y sugerimos oportunidades para los neurocientíficos de la comunicación con el objetivo de incrementar la comprensión y predicción de la adicción a los videojuegos y explorar cómo los elementos de un juego interactúan con los sistemas de recompensa en el cerebro

Brain Activity in Self- and Value-Related Regions in Response to Online Antismoking Messages Predicts Behavior Change

In this study, we combined approaches from media psychology and neuroscience to ask whether brain activity in response to online antismoking messages can predict smoking behavior change. In particular, we examined activity in subregions of the medial prefrontal cortex linked to self- and value-related processing, to test whether these neurocognitive processes play a role in message-consistent behavior change. We observed significant relationships between activity in both brain regions of interest and behavior change (such that higher activity predicted a larger reduction in smoking). Furthermore, activity in these brain regions predicted variance independent of traditional, theory-driven self-report metrics such as intention, self-efficacy, and risk perceptions. We propose that valuation is an additional cognitive process that should be investigated further as we search for a mechanistic explanation of the relationship between brain activity and media effects relevant to health behavior change

From Exposure To Effects: Examining The Cognitive Processes Underlying Effects Of the Real Cost Youth-Targeted Anti-Smoking Media Campaign

The goal of this dissertation is twofold: to assess anti-smoking campaign effects, and examine the ad-induced, cognitive processes that account for effective anti-smoking advertisements. The dissertation studies evaluate ads from “The Real Cost” anti-smoking campaign, a public education campaign aimed at reducing tobacco use among U.S. adolescents. Study 1 examines the relationship between self-reported recall of specific ads and anti-smoking belief endorsement in a nationally-representative sample of nonsmoking adolescents. To address limitations from Study 1, Study 2 evaluates the relationship between opportunities for exposure using Target Rating Points (TRPs), a measure of campaign reach and frequency, and anti-smoking belief endorsement in a nationally-representative sample of nonsmoking adolescents. Studies 3 and 4 employ functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine how anti-smoking ads are received and processed by the adolescent brain. Study 3 examines the relationships between ad-elicited neural response and subsequent ratings of perceived ad effectiveness and intention to share ads on social media in a sample of forty adolescent nonsmokers. Study 4 examines the moderating effect of ad-elicited brain response on the relationship between opportunities for campaign exposure and population-level ad recall. Analyses were conducted with a combined dataset representing: ad recall from a nationally-representative survey of adolescents; weekly, ad-specific TRPs; and ad-elicited neural response in brain regions implicated in social processing and memory encoding from a separate sample of adolescents. From the studies that comprise this dissertation, we can conclude the following: 1) opportunities for exposure and recalled exposure to campaign ads associate with endorsement of ad-targeted beliefs, suggesting the campaign has been effective through the theorized pathway of effects 2) ads that are perceived as more effective elicit greater response in brain regions implicated in social processing, and 3) ad-induced neural response in social processing and memory encoding brain regions partially explains the relationship between opportunities for ad exposure and recalled exposure. Findings suggest that neural measures of ad processing may be an important tool for forecasting which ads will be more effective in a target audience. These conclusions have important implications for the future design and implementation of mass media campaigns