Health news sharing is reflected in distributed reward-related brain activity

Neuroimaging has identified individual brain regions, but not yet whole-brain patterns, that correlate with the population impact of health messaging. We used neuroimaging to measure whole-brain responses to health news articles across two studies. Beyond activity in core reward value-related regions (ventral striatum, ventromedial prefrontal cortex), our approach leveraged whole-brain responses to each article, quantifying expression of a distributed pattern meta-analytically associated with reward valuation. The results indicated that expression of this whole-brain pattern was associated with population-level sharing of these articles beyond previously identified brain regions and self-report variables. Further, the efficacy of the meta-analytic pattern was not reducible to patterns within core reward value-related regions but rather depended on larger-scale patterns. Overall, this work shows that a reward-related pattern of whole-brain activity is related to health information sharing, advancing neuroscience models of the mechanisms underlying the spread of health information through a population

Activity in the brain's valuation and mentalizing networks is associated with propagation of online recommendations

Word of mouth recommendations influence a wide range of choices and behaviors. What takes place in the mind of recommendation receivers that determines whether they will be successfully influenced? Prior work suggests that brain systems implicated in assessing the value of stimuli (i.e., subjective valuation) and understanding others' mental states (i.e., mentalizing) play key roles. The current study used neuroimaging and natural language classifiers to extend these findings in a naturalistic context and tested the extent to which the two systems work together or independently in responding to social influence. First, we show that in response to text-based social media recommendations, activity in both the brain's valuation system and mentalizing system was associated with greater likelihood of opinion change. Second, participants were more likely to update their opinions in response to negative, compared to positive, recommendations, with activity in the mentalizing system scaling with the negativity of the recommendations. Third, decreased functional connectivity between valuation and mentalizing systems was associated with opinion change. Results highlight the role of brain regions involved in mentalizing and positive valuation in recommendation propagation, and further show that mentalizing may be particularly key in processing negative recommendations, whereas the valuation system is relevant in evaluating both positive and negative recommendations

Long-range Angular Correlations On The Near And Away Side In P-pb Collisions At √snn=5.02 Tev

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Invoking self-related and social thoughts impacts online information sharing

Online sharing impacts which information is widely available and influential in society. Yet, systematically influencing sharing behavior remains difficult. Past research highlights two factors associated with sharing: the social and self-relevance of the to-be-shared content. Based on this prior neuroimaging work and theory, we developed a manipulation in the form of short prompts that are attached to media content (here health news articles). These prompts encourage readers to think about how sharing the content may help them to fulfill motivations to present themselves positively (self-relevance) or connect positively to others (social relevance). Fifty-three young adults completed this pre-registered experiment while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. Ninety-six health news articles were randomly assigned to three within-subject conditions that encouraged self-related or social thinking or a control. Invoking self-related or social thoughts about health-related news (vs control) (i) causally increased brain activity in a priori regions of interest chosen for their roles in processing social and self-relevance and (ii) causally impacted self-reported sharing intentions. This study provides evidence corroborating prior reverse inferences regarding the neural correlates of sharing. It further highlights the feasibility and utility of targeting neuropsychological processes to systematically facilitate online information spread

Decision-making about broad- and narrowcasting: A neuroscientific perspective

What differentiates sharing with few, well-defined others (narrowcasting) from sharing with loosely defined crowds (broadcasting)? One possibility involves a trade-off where broadcasting is self-focused and self-serving, and narrowcasting is based on other-oriented, altruistic motives. We present neuroimaging data consistent with a second, parallel-processes perspective. According to this account, both narrow- and broadcasting simultaneously involve self-related and social motives since these concepts are strongly intertwined both on a psychological and neural level. We recorded brain activity within regions that are meta-analytically associated with self-related and social cognition while participants made decisions to narrow- or broadcast New York Times articles on social media. Results show increased involvement of brain regions associated with both self-related and social processing in narrow- and broadcasting, compared to a control condition. However, both processes were involved with higher intensity during narrowcasting, compared to broadcasting. These data help to disambiguate a theoretical discussion in communication science and clarify the neuropsychological mechanisms that drive sharing decisions in different contexts. Specifically, we highlight that narrow- and broadcasting afford differing intensities of two psychological processes that are crucial to persuasion and population-level content virality

Media content sharing as a value-based decision

Exposure to media content (e.g. persuasive campaigns) affects daily behaviors, but these effects are partially determined by whether and how people who are exposed to the content share it with their peers. To decide whether to share, potential sharers need to compare and integrate diverse sources of information including characteristics of the media content and various social influences. What are the mechanisms that enable sharers to make such complex decisions quickly and effortlessly? We review evidence that sharing is preceded by a value-based decision-making process supported by three key characteristics of the so-called neural valuation system (domain-generality, value integration, and context-dependence). Finally, we describe theoretical and methodological advances that can be gained from conceptualizing sharing as a value-based decision-making process

The neuroscience of persuasion and information propagation: The key role of the mentalizing system

What are the psychological and neural processes that support successful information propagation between communicators and receivers? This chapter draws upon recent contributions from neuroscience to focus on the role of mentalizing, or considering other people’s mental states, as one factor that leads to successful social influence and information propagation. Across different contexts, messages that lead to information propagation are distinguished by higher levels of mentalizing in both communicators and receivers of influence. The chapter also highlights developmental, cultural, and social network factors that moderate the relationship between mentalizing and influence

Genomic Clustering Facilitates Nuclear Processing of Suboptimal Pri-miRNA Loci

© 2020 Elsevier Inc.Nuclear processing of most miRNAs is mediated by Microprocessor, comprised of RNase III enzyme Drosha and its cofactor DGCR8. Here, we uncover a hidden layer of Microprocessor regulation via studies of Dicer-independent mir-451, which is clustered with canonical mir-144. Although mir-451 is fully dependent on Drosha/DGCR8, its short stem and small terminal loop render it an intrinsically weak Microprocessor substrate. Thus, it must reside within a cluster for normal biogenesis, although the identity and orientation of its neighbor are flexible. We use DGCR8 tethering assays and operon structure-function assays to demonstrate that local recruitment and transfer of Microprocessor enhances suboptimal substrate processing. This principle applies more broadly since genomic analysis indicates suboptimal canonical miRNAs are enriched in operons, and we validate several of these experimentally. Proximity-based enhancement of suboptimal hairpin processing provides a rationale for genomic retention of certain miRNA operons and may explain preferential evolutionary emergence of miRNA operons. Shang et al. investigate the biogenesis of clustered miRNAs, which were largely considered to be processed independently. They document multiple mammalian miRNA operons bearing suboptimal substrates of the Drosha/DGCR8 (Microprocessor) complex, which require close proximity to canonical miRNA neighbors to recruit and locally transfer Microprocessor for their optimal nuclear biogenesis11Nsciescopu