Departmental Papers (ASC)
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of this Version
5-2012
Publication Source
Psychological Science
Volume
23
Issue
5
Start Page
439
Last Page
445
DOI
10.1177/0956797611434964
Abstract
Can neural responses of a small group of individuals predict the behavior of large-scale populations? In this investigation, brain activations were recorded while smokers viewed three different television campaigns promoting the National Cancer Institute’s telephone hotline to help smokers quit (1-800-QUIT-NOW). The smokers also provided self-report predictions of the campaigns’ relative effectiveness. Population measures of the success of each campaign were computed by comparing call volume to 1-800-QUIT-NOW in the month before and the month after the launch of each campaign. This approach allowed us to directly compare the predictive value of self-reports with neural predictors of message effectiveness. Neural activity in a medial prefrontal region of interest, previously associated with individual behavior change, predicted the population response, whereas self-report judgments did not. This finding suggests a novel way of connecting neural signals to population responses that has not been previously demonstrated and provides information that may be difficult to obtain otherwise
Copyright/Permission Statement
This is the Author's accepted manuscript.
Keywords
mass media, neuroimaging, health, cognitive neuroscience, neuromarketing, health communication, smoking
Recommended Citation
Falk, E. B., Berkman, E. T., & Lieberman, M. D. (2012). From Neural Responses to Population Behavior: Neural Focus Group Predicts Population-Level Media Effects. Psychological Science, 23 (5), 439-445. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797611434964
Date Posted: 23 May 2016
This document has been peer reviewed.