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Ntoumanis I, Sheronova J, Davydova A, Dolgaleva M, Jääskeläinen IP, Kosonogov V, Shestakova AN, Klucharev V. Deciphering the neural responses to a naturalistic persuasive message. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2024; 121:e2401317121. [PMID: 39413130 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2401317121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2024] [Accepted: 09/13/2024] [Indexed: 10/18/2024] Open
Abstract
Effective health promotion may benefit from understanding how persuasion emerges. While earlier research has identified brain regions implicated in persuasion, these studies often relied on event-related analyses and frequently simplified persuasive communications. The present study investigates the neural basis of valuation change induced by a persuasive healthy eating call, employing naturalistic stimuli. Fifty healthy participants performed two blocks of a bidding task, in which they had to bid on sugar-containing, sugar-free, and nonedible products during functional MRI. In between the two blocks, they listened to a persuasive healthy eating call that influenced their bidding behavior. Intriguingly, participants who resisted persuasion exhibited increased synchronization of brain activity during listening in several regions, including default mode network structures. Additionally, intersubject functional connectivity among these brain regions was found to be weaker in persuaded individuals. These results emphasize the individualized nature of processing persuasive messages, challenging conventional interpretations of synchronized neural activity. Our findings support the emerging practice of tailoring persuasive messages in health promotion campaigns.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ioannis Ntoumanis
- International Laboratory of Social Neurobiology, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow 101000, Russia
- Neuroscience Research Center, Jane and John Justin Institute for Mind Health, Cook Children's Health Care System, Fort Worth, TX 76104
- Department of Bioengineering, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX 76010
| | - Julia Sheronova
- International Laboratory of Social Neurobiology, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow 101000, Russia
| | - Alina Davydova
- International Laboratory of Social Neurobiology, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow 101000, Russia
| | - Maria Dolgaleva
- International Laboratory of Social Neurobiology, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow 101000, Russia
| | - Iiro P Jääskeläinen
- International Laboratory of Social Neurobiology, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow 101000, Russia
| | - Vladimir Kosonogov
- International Laboratory of Social Neurobiology, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow 101000, Russia
| | - Anna N Shestakova
- International Laboratory of Social Neurobiology, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow 101000, Russia
| | - Vasily Klucharev
- International Laboratory of Social Neurobiology, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow 101000, Russia
- Graduate School of Business, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow 119049, Russia
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Schmälzle R, Huskey R. Integrating media content analysis, reception analysis, and media effects studies. Front Neurosci 2023; 17:1155750. [PMID: 37179563 PMCID: PMC10173883 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1155750] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2023] [Accepted: 03/28/2023] [Indexed: 05/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Every day, the world of media is at our fingertips, whether it is watching movies, listening to the radio, or browsing online media. On average, people spend over 8 h per day consuming messages from the mass media, amounting to a total lifetime dose of more than 20 years in which conceptual content stimulates our brains. Effects from this flood of information range from short-term attention bursts (e.g., by breaking news features or viral 'memes') to life-long memories (e.g., of one's favorite childhood movie), and from micro-level impacts on an individual's memory, attitudes, and behaviors to macro-level effects on nations or generations. The modern study of media's influence on society dates back to the 1940s. This body of mass communication scholarship has largely asked, "what is media's effect on the individual?" Around the time of the cognitive revolution, media psychologists began to ask, "what cognitive processes are involved in media processing?" More recently, neuroimaging researchers started using real-life media as stimuli to examine perception and cognition under more natural conditions. Such research asks: "what can media tell us about brain function?" With some exceptions, these bodies of scholarship often talk past each other. An integration offers new insights into the neurocognitive mechanisms through which media affect single individuals and entire audiences. However, this endeavor faces the same challenges as all interdisciplinary approaches: Researchers with different backgrounds have different levels of expertise, goals, and foci. For instance, neuroimaging researchers label media stimuli as "naturalistic" although they are in many ways rather artificial. Similarly, media experts are typically unfamiliar with the brain. Neither media creators nor neuroscientifically oriented researchers approach media effects from a social scientific perspective, which is the domain of yet another species. In this article, we provide an overview of approaches and traditions to studying media, and we review the emerging literature that aims to connect these streams. We introduce an organizing scheme that connects the causal paths from media content → brain responses → media effects and discuss network control theory as a promising framework to integrate media content, reception, and effects analyses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ralf Schmälzle
- Department of Communication, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United States
| | - Richard Huskey
- Department of Communication, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States
- Cognitive Science Program, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States
- Center for Mind and Brain, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States
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Jovanova M, Falk EB, Pearl JM, Pandey P, Brook O'Donnell M, Kang Y, Bassett DS, Lydon-Staley DM. Brain system integration and message consistent health behavior change. Health Psychol 2022; 41:611-620. [PMID: 36006700 PMCID: PMC10152515 DOI: 10.1037/hea0001201] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Modifiable behaviors, including physical activity and sedentary behavior, are important determinants of health, and messages are important tools for influencing these behaviors. Functional neuroimaging research suggests that activity in regions of the brain's default mode and salience systems are independently associated with attending to health promoting messages. However, it remains unclear how these brain systems interact during exposure to persuasive messages and how this interaction relates to subsequent behavior change. Here, we examine how between-person differences in the relative integration between default mode and salience systems while viewing health messages relates to changes in health behavior. METHOD Using wrist-worn accelerometers, we logged physical activity in 150 participants (mean age = 33.17 years, 64% women; 43% Black, 37% white, 7% Asian, 5% Hispanic, and 8% other) continuously for an average of 10 days. Participants then viewed health messages encouraging physical activity while undergoing functional MRI (fMRI) and completed an additional month where physical activity was logged and the health messages were reinforced with daily text reminders. RESULTS Individuals with higher default mode and salience system integration during health message exposure were more likely to decrease their sedentary behavior and increase light physical activity in the month following fMRI than participants with lower brain integration. CONCLUSIONS Interactions between the salience and default mode systems are associated with message receptivity and subsequent behavior change, highlighting the value of expanding the focus from the role of single brain regions in studying health behavior change to larger-scale connectivity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
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Affiliation(s)
- Mia Jovanova
- Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania
| | - Emily B Falk
- Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania
| | - Jacob M Pearl
- Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania
| | | | | | - Yoona Kang
- Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania
| | - Dani S Bassett
- Department of Bioengineering, School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Pennsylvania
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Liu J, O’Donnell MB, Falk EB. Deliberation and Valence as Dissociable Components of Counterarguing among Smokers: Evidence from Neuroimaging and Quantitative Linguistic Analysis. HEALTH COMMUNICATION 2021; 36:752-763. [PMID: 31931605 PMCID: PMC7354887 DOI: 10.1080/10410236.2020.1712521] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Counterarguing is a key obstacle to successful persuasion. However, the difficulty of directly measuring counterarguing during message exposure limits knowledge of the underlying mechanisms. The current study combines neuroimaging and linguistic measures to unpack neurocognitive and psychological mechanisms associated with counterarguing among a sample of established smokers in response to anti-smoking messaging. We capture participants' neural activity in brain regions associated with effortful deliberation and negative argumentation during message exposure, and link it with their subsequent language patterns to further understanding of counterarguing in the brain. Greater brain activity within key regions of interest associated with deliberation and negative argumentation is associated with greater cognitive depth and less positivity in the post-scan message descriptions, respectively, among those who have lower intention to change their smoking behavior. We connect these neural representations of counterarguing with psychological theories and discuss implications that may increase the impact of persuasive communications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiaying Liu
- Department of Communication Studies, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602
| | - Matthew B. O’Donnell
- Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104
| | - Emily B. Falk
- Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104
- Marketing Department, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104
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Huskey R, Turner BO, Weber R. Individual Differences in Brain Responses: New Opportunities for Tailoring Health Communication Campaigns. Front Hum Neurosci 2020; 14:565973. [PMID: 33343317 PMCID: PMC7744697 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2020.565973] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2020] [Accepted: 11/10/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Prevention neuroscience investigates the brain basis of attitude and behavior change. Over the years, an increasingly structurally and functionally resolved "persuasion network" has emerged. However, current studies have only identified a small handful of neural structures that are commonly recruited during persuasive message processing, and the extent to which these (and other) structures are sensitive to numerous individual difference factors remains largely unknown. In this project we apply a multi-dimensional similarity-based individual differences analysis to explore which individual factors-including characteristics of messages and target audiences-drive patterns of brain activity to be more or less similar across individuals encountering the same anti-drug public service announcements (PSAs). We demonstrate that several ensembles of brain regions show response patterns that are driven by a variety of unique factors. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for neural models of persuasion, prevention neuroscience and message tailoring, and methodological implications for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard Huskey
- Cognitive Communication Science Lab – C Lab, Center for Mind and Brain, Department of Communication, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States
| | - Benjamin O. Turner
- Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
| | - René Weber
- Media Neuroscience Lab, Department of Communication, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, United States
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Schmälzle R, Cooper N, O’Donnell MB, Tompson S, Lee S, Cantrell J, Vettel JM, Falk EB. The Effectiveness of Online Messages for Promoting Smoking Cessation Resources: Predicting Nationwide Campaign Effects From Neural Responses in the EX Campaign. Front Hum Neurosci 2020; 14:565772. [PMID: 33100997 PMCID: PMC7546826 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2020.565772] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2020] [Accepted: 08/20/2020] [Indexed: 01/14/2023] Open
Abstract
What are the key ingredients that make some persuasive messages resonate with audiences and elicit action, while others fail? Billions of dollars per year are put towards changing human behavior, but it is difficult to know which messages will be the most persuasive in the field. By combining novel neuroimaging techniques and large-scale online data, we examine the role of key health communication variables relevant to motivating action at scale. We exposed a sample of smokers to anti-smoking web-banner messages from a real-world campaign while measuring message-evoked brain response patterns via fMRI, and we also obtained subjective evaluations of each banner. Neural indices were derived based on: (i) message-evoked activity in specific brain regions; and (ii) spatially distributed response patterns, both selected based on prior research and theoretical considerations. Next, we connected the neural and subjective data with an independent, objective outcome of message success, which is the per-banner click-through rate in the real-world campaign. Results show that messages evoking brain responses more similar to signatures of negative emotion and vividness had lower online click-through-rates. This strategy helps to connect and integrate the rapidly growing body of knowledge about brain function with formative research and outcome evaluation of health campaigns, and could ultimately further disease prevention efforts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ralf Schmälzle
- Department of Communication, College of Communication Arts and Sciences, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, United States
| | - Nicole Cooper
- Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States
- U.S. Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Adelphi, MD, United States
| | - Matthew Brook O’Donnell
- Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - Steven Tompson
- U.S. Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Adelphi, MD, United States
- Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - Sangil Lee
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States
| | - Jennifer Cantrell
- New York University School of Global Public Health, New York, NY, United States
| | - Jean M. Vettel
- U.S. Army Research Laboratory, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Adelphi, MD, United States
- Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, United States
| | - Emily B. Falk
- Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States
- Wharton Marketing Department, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, United States
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Imhof MA, Schmälzle R, Renner B, Schupp HT. Strong health messages increase audience brain coupling. Neuroimage 2020; 216:116527. [PMID: 31954843 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116527] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2019] [Revised: 12/03/2019] [Accepted: 01/07/2020] [Indexed: 10/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Mass media messaging is central for health communication. The success of these efforts, however, depends on whether health messages resonate with their target audiences. Here, we used electroencephalography (EEG) to capture brain responses of young adults - an important target group for alcohol prevention - while they viewed real-life video messages of varying perceived message effectiveness about risky alcohol use. We found that strong messages, which were rated to be more effective, prompted enhanced inter-subject correlation (ISC). In further analyses, we linked ISC to subsequent drinking behavior change and used time-resolved EEG-ISC to model functional neuroimaging data (fMRI) of an independent audience. The EEG measure was not only related to sensory-perceptual brain regions, but also to regions previously related to successful messaging, i.e., cortical midline regions and the insula. The findings suggest EEG-ISC as a marker for audience engagement and effectiveness of naturalistic health messages, which could quantify the impact of mass communication within the brains of small target audiences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martin A Imhof
- Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, 78457, Konstanz, Germany; Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, 78457, Konstanz, Germany.
| | - Ralf Schmälzle
- Department of Communication, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA
| | - Britta Renner
- Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, 78457, Konstanz, Germany; Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, 78457, Konstanz, Germany
| | - Harald T Schupp
- Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, 78457, Konstanz, Germany; Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, 78457, Konstanz, Germany
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Kranzler EC, Schmälzle R, Pei R, Hornik RC, Falk EB. Message-Elicited Brain Response Moderates the Relationship Between Opportunities for Exposure to Anti-Smoking Messages and Message Recall. THE JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION 2019; 69:589-611. [PMID: 32009669 PMCID: PMC6977712 DOI: 10.1093/joc/jqz035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2018] [Revised: 08/09/2019] [Accepted: 08/10/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Campaign success is contingent on adequate exposure; however, exposure opportunities (e.g., ad reach/frequency) are imperfect predictors of message recall. We hypothesized that the exposure-recall relationship would be contingent on message processing. We tested moderation hypotheses using 3 data sets pertinent to "The Real Cost" anti-smoking campaign: past 30-day ad recall from a rolling national survey of adolescents aged 13-17 (n = 5,110); ad-specific target rating points (TRPs), measuring ad reach and frequency; and ad-elicited response in brain regions implicated in social processing and memory encoding, from a separate adolescent sample aged 14-17 (n = 40). Average ad-level brain activation in these regions moderates the relationship between national TRPs and large-scale recall (p < .001), such that the positive exposure-recall relationship is more strongly observed for ads that elicit high levels of social processing and memory encoding in the brain. Findings advance communication theory by demonstrating conditional exposure effects, contingent on social and memory processes in the brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elissa C Kranzler
- Wharton Risk Management and Decision Processes Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
| | - Ralf Schmälzle
- College of Communication Arts and Sciences, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA
| | - Rui Pei
- Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
| | - Robert C Hornik
- Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
| | - Emily B Falk
- Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
- Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
- Wharton Marketing Department, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
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Pei R, Schmälzle R, Kranzler EC, O'Donnell MB, Falk EB. Adolescents' Neural Response to Tobacco Prevention Messages and Sharing Engagement. Am J Prev Med 2019; 56:S40-S48. [PMID: 30661524 DOI: 10.1016/j.amepre.2018.07.044] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2018] [Revised: 05/24/2018] [Accepted: 07/25/2018] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Interpersonal communication can reinforce media effects on health behavior. Recent studies have shown that brain activity in the medial prefrontal cortex during message exposure can predict message-consistent behavior change. Key next steps include examining the relationship between neural responses to ads and measures of interpersonal message retransmission that can be collected at scale. METHODS Neuroimaging, self-report, and automated linguistic measures were utilized to investigate the relationships between neural responses to tobacco prevention messages, sharing engagement, and smoking-relevant belief changes. Thirty-seven adolescent nonsmokers viewed 12 ads from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's "The Real Cost" campaign during a functional magnetic resonance imaging scan session (2015-2016). Data were analyzed between 2016 and 2017. The extent that participants talked in detail about the main message of the ads, or sharing engagement, was measured through transcripts of participants' subsequent verbal descriptions using automated linguistic coding. Beliefs about the consequences of smoking were measured before and after the main experiment using surveys. RESULTS Increased brain activation in self- and value-related subregions of the medial prefrontal cortex during message exposure was associated with subsequent sharing engagement when participants verbally talked about the ads. In addition, sharing engagement was significantly associated with changes in participants' beliefs about the social consequences of smoking. CONCLUSIONS Neural activity in self- and value-related subregions of the medial prefrontal cortex during exposure to "The Real Cost" campaign was associated with subsequent sharing engagement, which in turn was related to social belief change. These results provide new insights into the link between neurocognitive responses to ads, the content of interpersonal sharing, and downstream health-relevant outcomes. SUPPLEMENT INFORMATION This article is part of a supplement entitled Fifth Anniversary Retrospective of "The Real Cost," the Food and Drug Administration's Historic Youth Smoking Prevention Media Campaign, which is sponsored by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rui Pei
- Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
| | - Ralf Schmälzle
- Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; College of Communication Arts and Sciences, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan
| | - Elissa C Kranzler
- Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
| | - Matthew B O'Donnell
- Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
| | - Emily B Falk
- Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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Fisher JT, Keene JR, Huskey R, Weber R. The limited capacity model of motivated mediated message processing: taking stock of the past. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2018. [DOI: 10.1080/23808985.2018.1534552] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Jacob T. Fisher
- Media Neuroscience Lab, Department of Communication, UC Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
| | - Justin Robert Keene
- Cognition & Emotion Lab, Department of Journalism and Creative Media Industries, College of Media & Communication, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA
| | - Richard Huskey
- Cognitive Communication Science Lab, School of Communication, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - René Weber
- Media Neuroscience Lab, Department of Communication, UC Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
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