fMRI can predict the outcomes of anti-smoking campaigns
October 28, 2015
by Lauren Dubinsky, Senior Reporter
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can be used to predict the success of anti-smoking campaigns, according to a study that will soon be published in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience.
"The problem is that people are notoriously bad at guessing which ads will be effective and ineffective at changing their behavior," Emily Falk, associate professor of communication at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, said in a statement.
Health campaigns play a big part in encouraging people to change bad habits including smoking, overeating and unsafe sex. If a campaign is a success then millions of lives may be improved, but when they fail the the losses in finances and other resources can be staggering.
Falk and her team of researchers recorded the brain activity of 50 smokers as they viewed 40 anti-smoking images using fMRI.
The part of the brain that they evaluated was the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), which is the part of the brain that helps them determine what information is useful to them. They predicted that the more activity they observed in the smokers’ MPFC, the more persuasive that image would be at making them change their habits.
Those images were then incorporated in an email campaign that was sent to 800,000 smokers by the New York State Smokers Quitline. Each email consisted of one of the images, randomly assigned, the message, “Quit smoking. Start living.”, and a link that provided free help to quit.
The researchers found that the images that conjured the stronger brain activity in the MPFC of the 50 smokers in the study were also the most effective at getting the e-mail recipients to click the link to get help quitting.
"If you ask people what they plan to do or how they feel about a message, you [have] one set of answers," Falk said in a statement. "Often the brain gives a different set of answers, which may help make public health campaigns more successful.”
She added that messages about the risks of smoking, eating poorly or not exercising make people more defensive. But messages that help them understand why the advice is relevant and useful for them, will have a more powerful effect.
"The problem is that people are notoriously bad at guessing which ads will be effective and ineffective at changing their behavior," Emily Falk, associate professor of communication at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, said in a statement.
Health campaigns play a big part in encouraging people to change bad habits including smoking, overeating and unsafe sex. If a campaign is a success then millions of lives may be improved, but when they fail the the losses in finances and other resources can be staggering.
Falk and her team of researchers recorded the brain activity of 50 smokers as they viewed 40 anti-smoking images using fMRI.
The part of the brain that they evaluated was the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), which is the part of the brain that helps them determine what information is useful to them. They predicted that the more activity they observed in the smokers’ MPFC, the more persuasive that image would be at making them change their habits.
Those images were then incorporated in an email campaign that was sent to 800,000 smokers by the New York State Smokers Quitline. Each email consisted of one of the images, randomly assigned, the message, “Quit smoking. Start living.”, and a link that provided free help to quit.
The researchers found that the images that conjured the stronger brain activity in the MPFC of the 50 smokers in the study were also the most effective at getting the e-mail recipients to click the link to get help quitting.
"If you ask people what they plan to do or how they feel about a message, you [have] one set of answers," Falk said in a statement. "Often the brain gives a different set of answers, which may help make public health campaigns more successful.”
She added that messages about the risks of smoking, eating poorly or not exercising make people more defensive. But messages that help them understand why the advice is relevant and useful for them, will have a more powerful effect.