Brain activity explains message effectiveness: A mega-analysis of 16 neuroimaging studies
Persuasive communication in marketing, political, and health domains influences sales, elections, and public health. We present a mega-analysis (a pooled analysis of raw data) of 16 functional MRI datasets (572 participants, 739 messages, and 21,688 experimental trials) assessing the neural correlates of the effectiveness of messages in individual message receivers and at scale (in large groups of message receivers who did not undergo neuroimaging). Existing theories suggest that decision-making is driven by expected rewards and perceived social relevance associated with the expected outcomes of a given choice. Consistent with these theories, we find that (i) brain activity implicated in reward and social processing is associated with message effectiveness in individuals and at scale across diverse domains (e.g. marketing and health campaigns); (ii) exploratory analysis further suggests language, emotion, and sensorimotor processes as pertinent to message effectiveness; and (iii) brain activity provides complementary information on message effectiveness at scale beyond self-reports provided by the same neuroimaging participants. This study offers novel insights into the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying effective messaging, highlights a path toward greater unity and efficiency in persuasion research, and suggests practical intervention targets for message design.
Authors
- Richard Huskey (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4559-2439)
- Maarten A.S. Boksem
- Jeesung Ahn (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0442-9253)
- Alexander Genevsky
- Jason C. Coronel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6397-3860)
- Carolyn Yoon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5529-7708)
- Matthew Brook O’Donnell (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5665-3930)
- Ale Smidts (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6699-1172)
- Brian Knutson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7669-426X)
- Bruce Doré (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6050-5076)
- Yoona Kang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5564-5090)
- Matthew D. Lieberman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4447-7359)
- Christin Scholz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6567-7504)
- Vinod Venkatraman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8705-2916)
- René Weber (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8247-7341)
- Nicole Cooper (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-2154-0379)
- Hang‐Yee Chan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7179-9436)
- Anthony Resnick (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-6250-339X)
- Emily B. Falk (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6383-1846)
- Khoi Vo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6000-2628)
Institutions
- Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (US)
- Santa Barbara City College (US)
- University of California, Santa Barbara (US)
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- Palo Alto University (US)
- King's College London (GB)
- University of Michigan (US)
- UCLA Health (US)
- Ross School (US)
- King's College School (GB)
- McGill University (CA)
- The Ohio State University (US)
- Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (NL)
- University of Pennsylvania (US)
- University of California, Davis (US)
- Temple University (US)
- University of Amsterdam (NL)
- Erasmus University Rotterdam (NL)
- Stanford University (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- PNAS Nexus
- Published
- 2025-10-31
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgaf287
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Media Influence and Health
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 15.18