bkNew #neuroforecasting research out in #PNASNexus : "Brain activity reveals how wildlife imagery evokes engagement on social media"!
Partnering with #NationalGeographic, we found that group brain activity in the Medial PreFrontal Cortex (MPFC) forecast image popularity on their social media feed (as did subjects' "like" ratings).
Further, correlated activity in #face processing (FFG) and #mentalizing (rTPJ) implied that socioemotional features might drive image popularity, verified by modeling the impact of these features on the popularity of out-of-sample images.
Thus, beyond forecasting, brain activity helped to clarify which image features drive popularity. Congratulations to steadfast coauthors Tara Srirangarajan , Nik Sawe , Cynthia Wu , and Tierney Thys and deep thanks to the #Stanford Woods Institute for continued support.
P.S. The news alert below illustrates our findings with the winning wildlife image, and links to the article:
Brain imaging reveals how wildlife photos open donor wallets
Brain imaging identifies the social and emotional features of wildlife photos that drive engagement on social media. Tara Srirangarajan and colleagues scanned the brains of 34 adults while the participants viewed 56 wildlife images from National Geographic’s Instagram feed and made decisions in a matter of seconds about whether to “like” posts and/or donate to depicted species.
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Pascal Vrticka