fruits can make electricity?
7 July 2013
Brain regions where ideas become contagious identified by Will Parker
How do ideas spread? Why do some videos go viral? UCLA scientists have taken a first step toward answering these questions by identifying the brain regions associated with the successful spread of ideas.
The research, reported in the journal Psychological Science, has broad implications and could lead to more persuasive advertisements and better ways for teachers to communicate with students. The study suggests that people are regularly attuned to how the things they're seeing will be useful and interesting. "Not just to themselves, but to other people," explained the study's senior author, Matthew Lieberman. "We always seem to be on the lookout for who else will find this helpful, amusing or interesting."
In the first part of the study, subjects underwent fMRI brain scans as they saw and heard information about 24 potential television pilot ideas. Among the fictitious pilots were a show about former beauty-queen mothers who want their daughters to follow in their footsteps; a Spanish soap opera about a young woman and her relationships; a reality show in which contestants travel to countries with harsh environments; a program about teenage vampires and werewolves; and a show about best friends and rivals in a crime family.
The subjects exposed to these TV pilot ideas were asked to envision themselves as television studio interns who would decide whether or not they would recommend each idea to their "producers." These students made videotaped assessments of each pilot.
Another group of subjects were asked to act as the "producers." These students watched the interns' videos assessments of the pilots and then made their own ratings about the pilot ideas based on those assessments.
The researchers then focused on which brain regions were activated when the interns were first exposed to information they would later pass on to others.
"We're constantly being exposed to
Brain regions where ideas become contagious identified by Will Parker
How do ideas spread? Why do some videos go viral? UCLA scientists have taken a first step toward answering these questions by identifying the brain regions associated with the successful spread of ideas.
The research, reported in the journal Psychological Science, has broad implications and could lead to more persuasive advertisements and better ways for teachers to communicate with students. The study suggests that people are regularly attuned to how the things they're seeing will be useful and interesting. "Not just to themselves, but to other people," explained the study's senior author, Matthew Lieberman. "We always seem to be on the lookout for who else will find this helpful, amusing or interesting."
In the first part of the study, subjects underwent fMRI brain scans as they saw and heard information about 24 potential television pilot ideas. Among the fictitious pilots were a show about former beauty-queen mothers who want their daughters to follow in their footsteps; a Spanish soap opera about a young woman and her relationships; a reality show in which contestants travel to countries with harsh environments; a program about teenage vampires and werewolves; and a show about best friends and rivals in a crime family.
The subjects exposed to these TV pilot ideas were asked to envision themselves as television studio interns who would decide whether or not they would recommend each idea to their "producers." These students made videotaped assessments of each pilot.
Another group of subjects were asked to act as the "producers." These students watched the interns' videos assessments of the pilots and then made their own ratings about the pilot ideas based on those assessments.
The researchers then focused on which brain regions were activated when the interns were first exposed to information they would later pass on to others.
"We're constantly being exposed to