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

Neurophysiological Profile of Antismoking Campaigns

Over the past few decades, antismoking public service announcements (PSAs) have been used by governments to promote healthy behaviours in citizens, for instance, against drinking before the drive and against smoke. Effectiveness of such PSAs has been suggested especially for young persons. By now, PSAs efficacy is still mainly assessed through traditional methods (questionnaires and metrics) and could be performed only after the PSAs broadcasting, leading to waste of economic resources and time in the case of Ineffective PSAs. One possible countermeasure to such ineffective use of PSAs could be promoted by the evaluation of the cerebral reaction to the PSA of particular segments of population (e.g., old, young, and heavy smokers). In addition, it is crucial to gather such cerebral activity in front of PSAs that have been assessed to be effective against smoke (Effective PSAs), comparing results to the cerebral reactions to PSAs that have been certified to be not effective (Ineffective PSAs). &e eventual differences between the cerebral responses toward the two PSA groups will provide crucial information about the possible outcome of new PSAs before to its broadcasting. &is study focused on adult population, by investigating the cerebral reaction to the vision of different PSA images, which have already been shown to be Effective and Ineffective for the promotion of an antismoking behaviour. Results showed how variables as gender and smoking habits can influence the perception of PSA images, and how different communication styles of the antismoking campaigns could facilitate the comprehension of PSA’s message and then enhance the related impac

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

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

Functional Brain Imaging Predicts Public Health Campaign Success

Mass media can powerfully affect health decision-making. Pre-testing through focus groups or surveys is a standard, though inconsistent, predictor of effectiveness. Converging evidence demonstrates that activity within brain systems associated with self-related processing can predict individual behavior in response to health messages. Preliminary evidence also suggests that neural activity in small groups can forecast population-level campaign outcomes. Less is known about the psychological processes that link neural activity and population-level outcomes, or how these predictions are affected by message content. We exposed 50 smokers to antismoking messages and used their aggregated neural activity within a ‘self-localizer’ defined region of medial prefrontal cortex to predict the success of the same campaign messages at the population level (n = 400 000 emails). Results demonstrate that: (i) independently localized neural activity during health message exposure complements existing self-report data in predicting population-level campaign responses (model combined R2 up to 0.65) and (ii) this relationship depends on message content—self-related neural processing predicts outcomes in response to strong negative arguments against smoking and not in response to compositionally similar neutral images. These data advance understanding of the psychological link between brain and large-scale behavior and may aid the construction of more effective media health campaigns

Can functional magnetic resonance imaging studies help with the optimization of health messaging for lifestyle behavior change? A systematic review

Unhealthy behaviours, including smoking, poor nutrition, excessive alcohol consumption, physical inactivity and sedentary lifestyles, are global risk factors for non-communicable diseases and premature death. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) offers a unique approach to optimize health messages by examining how the brain responds to information relating to health. Our aim was to systematically review fMRI studies that have investigated variations in brain activation in response to health messages relating to (i) smoking; (ii) alcohol consumption; (iii) physical activity; (iv) diet; and (v) sedentary behaviour. The electronic databases used were Medline/PubMed, Web of Science (Core Collection), PsychINFO, SPORTDiscuss, Cochrane Library and Open Grey. Studies were included if they investigated subjects aged ≥10 years and were published before January 2017. Of the 13,836 studies identified in the database search, 18 studies (smoking k=15; diet k=2; physical activity/sedentary behavior k=1) were included in the review. The prefrontal cortex was activated in seven (47%) of the smoking-related studies and the physical activity study. Results suggest that activation of the ventromedial, dorsolateral and medial prefrontal cortex regions were predictive of subsequent behavior change following exposure to aversive anti-smoking stimuli. Studies investigating the neurological responses to anti-smoking material were most abundant. Of note, the prefrontal cortex and amygdala were most commonly activated in response to health messages across lifestyle behaviors. The review highlights an important disparity between research focusing on different lifestyle behaviors. Insights from smoking literature suggests fMRI may help to optimize health messaging in relation to other lifestyle behaviors

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

Neural Activity During Health Messaging Predicts Reductions in Smoking Above and Beyond Self-Report

Objective: The current study tested whether neural activity in response to messages designed to help smokers quit could predict smoking reduction, above and beyond self-report. Design: Using neural activity in an a priori region of interest (a subregion of medial prefrontal cortex [MPFC]), in response to ads designed to help smokers quit smoking, we prospectively predicted reductions in smoking in a community sample of smokers (N = 28) who were attempting to quit smoking. Smoking was assessed via expired carbon monoxide (CO; a biological measure of recent smoking) at baseline and 1 month following exposure to professionally developed quitting ads. Results: A positive relationship was observed between activity in the MPFC region of interest and successful quitting (increased activity in MPFC was associated with a greater decrease in expired CO). The addition of neural activity to a model predicting changes in CO from self-reported intentions, self-efficacy, and ability to relate to the messages significantly improved model fit, doubling the variance explained (R²self-report = .15, R²self-report + neural activity = .35, R²change = .20). Conclusion: Neural activity is a useful complement to existing self-report measures. In this investigation, we extend prior work predicting behavior change based on neural activity in response to persuasive media to an important health domain and discuss potential psychological interpretations of the brain–behavior link. Our results support a novel use of neuroimaging technology for understanding the psychology of behavior change and facilitating health promotion

Social Influence and the Brain: Persuasion, Susceptibility to Influence and Retransmission

Social influence is an important topic of research, with a particularly long history in the social sciences. Recently, social influence has also become a topic of interest among neuroscientists. The aim of this review is to highlight current research that has examined neural systems associated with social influence, from the perspective of being influenced as well as influencing others, and highlight studies that link neural mechanisms with real-world behavior change beyond the laboratory. Although many of the studies reviewed focus on localizing brain regions implicated in influence within the lab, we argue that approaches that account for networks of brain regions and that integrate neural data with data beyond the laboratory are likely to be most fruitful in understanding influence

Evaluating the neural mechanisms of exposure and retrieval of hedonic and utilitarian banners: A fMRI study

This study was supported by two Excellence Project awarded by the Junta de Andalusia through FEDER [REF: B-SEJ-220-UGR18 and A-SEJ-426-UGR20] , a grant from the Fundacion Ramon Areces [CISP18A6208] and a grant from the Plan of the Vice-rectorate of Research of the UGR [Program 20, application 82] . Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Granada/CBUATraditional psychological theories of message persuasion typically conclude that messages that are able to facilitate an optimal allocation of cognitive resources in the audience will increase memory encoding, will be better retrieved and recalled, and will likely be more persuasive. The growing competition in online advertising has led to a need to evaluate which type of banners are able to allocate cognitive resources more efficiently, as this has a positive impact on the ability to remember the banner and potentially increase the purchase frequency of the advertised product. By means of functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), this study provides the first evidence of neural differences during the exposure and reimagination of two widely used banner appeals; namely, hedonic (i.e., banners that vividly emphasize the social, personal, and experiential benefits of buying the product) and utilitarian (i.e., banners focused on informative, convenient, and functional arguments). Our findings reveal that, when compared to utilitarian banners, hedonic static advertisements engage stronger neurocognitive processes, which translate into higher brain activations related to memory encoding and retrieval, ultimately correlating to higher recall. These findings advise the design of static and hedonic banners to improve the ad recall.Junta de Andalusia through FEDER B-SEJ-220-UGR18Fundacion Ramon Areces CISP18A6208Plan of the Vice-rectorate of Research of the UGR 82 Universidad de Granada/CBUA A-SEJ-426-UGR2