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Regional Brain Activation With Advertising Images
Ian A. Cook
University of California, Los Angeles
Clay Warren
The George Washington University
Sarah K. Pajot, David Schairer, and Andrew F. Leuchter
University of California, Los Angeles
Preferences for purchasing goods and services may be shaped by many factors,
including advertisements presenting logical, persuasive information or those using
images or text that may modify behavior without requiring conscious recognition of a
message. We tested the hypothesis that these two types of messages (logical persuasion
[LP] vs. nonrational influence [NI]) might affect brain function differently in a pilot
project, using stimuli drawn from real-world print advertisements and quantitative
electroencephalography as a noninvasive measure of regional brain activity. Twenty-
four healthy subjects, 11 women and 13 men, viewed images while brain electrical
activity was recorded. We used the low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography
method to quantify current intensity in brain regions implicated in decision-making and
emotional processing. Data were analyzed using a block design to compare brain
activity during LP and NI stimuli periods. LP images were associated with consistently
and significantly higher activity levels in orbitofrontal, anterior cingulate, amygdala,
and hippocampus regions than were NI images. These findings suggest that advertising
images can evoke different levels of regional brain activity related to the use of LP and
NI elements.
Keywords:
brain activation, advertising, persuasion, influence, EEG, source localization, uncon-
scious processing
Human behavior is affected by multiple fac-
tors, some of which are within the conscious
awareness of the individual and others of which
may fall outside of awareness until the factors
are pointed out. A central tenet of commercial
advertising is that an individual’s purchasing
preferences can be affected so that one product
or service is chosen over another. It is possible
that this impact can take place within the con-
text of an advertisement that presents logical,
factual information that is rationally persuasive
(logical persuasion, or LP); alternatively, an
advertisement might use images or text that are
perceived or processed outside of immediate
awareness to shape behavior without reliance on
rational evaluation (nonrational influence, or
NI). Pratkanis and Greenwald (1988) suggested
several routes of stimulus presentation that
might be used to circumvent conscious aware-
ness of the image and its message: subthreshold
stimuli, which are presented at levels too weak
to be consciously detected; masked stimuli,
Ian A. Cook, Sarah K. Pajot, David Schairer, and Andrew F.
Leuchter, Laboratory of Brain, Behavior, and Pharmacology,
Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, and
Brain Research Institute, University of California, Los Ange-
les; Clay Warren, Department of Organizational Sciences and
Communication, The George Washington University.
We acknowledge financial support for this project from
the International Consciousness Research Laboratories con-
sortium (http://www.icrl.org). We thank Barbara Siegman
and Suzie Hodgkin (for recording the electroencephalo-
graph data); Michelle Abrams (for subject recruitment and
evaluation); Melinda Morgan and Jodie Cohen (for data
management); and Robert Jahn, Brenda Dunne, and the late
Michael Witunski (for informative discussions in develop-
ing and executing this investigation).
Correspondence concerning this article should be ad-
dressed to Ian A. Cook, Miller Family Professor of Psychi-
atry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Semel Institute for Neu-
roscience and Human Behavior, University of California,
Los Angeles, CA 90024-1759, or to Clay Warren, Chauncey
M. Depew Professor of Communication, Department of
Organizational Sciences and Communication, The George
Washington University, Washington, DC 20052-0048.
E-mail: cook@brain.ucla.edu or claywar@gwu.edu
Journal of Neuroscience, Psychology, and Economics © 2011 American Psychological Association
2011, Vol. 4, No. 3, 147–160 1937-321X/11/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0024809
147
which are hidden from awareness by overriding
stimuli; unattended stimuli, which are presented
in a context to avoid conscious decoding of the
images or their meaning; and figurally trans-
formed stimuli, using words or pictures that
have been distorted to a point of conscious
unrecognizability. Regardless of the technique
used, stimuli presented outside of conscious
awareness are hypothesized to include images
that might manipulate the viewer by affecting
autonomic arousal or emotional state and could
include elements considered provocative in na-
ture. Bargh (2002) broadened considerations
from a focus on affecting hedonic-driven behav-
iors to the possibility that an impact on any kind
of goal or motivation might be achieved outside
of awareness.
Decision-Making Systems and the Brain
The possibility of two separate human deci-
sion-making processes has been widely dis-
cussed by Schneider and Shiffrin (1977), Slo-
man (1996, 2002), Kahneman (2003), Evans
(2003), and others. Stanovich and West (2000)
codified these two processes into System 1
(characterized as intuitive, fast, parallel, auto-
matic, effortless, associative, emotional) and
System 2 (reasoning, slow, serial, controlled,
effortful, rule governed, neutral). As an illustra-
tion in the advertising context, an LP-type ad-
vertisement (appealing to System 2 processing)
might show the product clearly and convey fac-
tual, descriptive data (“best mileage in its
class,” “top rated”). In contrast, an NI-type ad-
vertisement (targeting System 1) might mini-
mize the use of text and instead incorporate
elements into the image that could be consid-
ered to be sexually evocative by some viewers
(e.g., breast- or phallic-shaped elements).
Thoughtful reviews of this controversial area in
communication include those by Theus (1994),
Trappey (1996), Merikle and Daneman (1998),
Shapiro (1999), and Aylesworth, Goodstein,
and Kaira (1999), with most investigators find-
ing some evidence indicating the presence of
these elements in print advertisements (cf. War-
ren, 2009). Although a considerable body of
work has examined the neurobiological sub-
strates of decision making in the neuroeconom-
ics context (see reviews by Camerer, Loewen-
stein, & Prelec, 2005, and Goel, 2007), the
impact on brain function of the presence or
absence of these particular elements in real-
world advertisements is not well characterized,
despite the considerable attention surrounding
the notion of neuromarketing (reviewed by Lee,
Broderick, & Chamberlain, 2007, and Plass-
man, Ambler, Braeutigam, & Kenning, 2007).
Neuroimaging, Perception, and Assessment
Much of the experimental research that has
been performed has focused on processing of fa-
cial images. Using facial and nonfacial images,
although not from advertisements, Hoshiyama,
Kakigi, Watanabe, Miki, and Takeshima (2003)
found different brain responses with electroen-
cephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalogra-
phy methods, even when the presentation was
below the level of conscious awareness. Lehmann
et al. (2004) reported a dissociation between overt
and unconscious processing of facial recognition
in the fusiform area. Pessoa (2005) observed that
processing of emotional information is prioritized
by the brain and does not require the emotional
information to be the focus of conscious attention.
Using backward masking, Whalen et al. (1998)
observed a larger magnitude of brain response to
fearful faces than to happy faces, even though
subjects did not recall seeing any emotionally
expressive faces at all. Kilgore and Yurgelen-
Todd (2004) reported that happy and sad faces
elicited different activations in the anterior cingu-
late and amygdala with a backward masking par-
adigm. Dijksterhuis (2004), Dijksterhuis, Bos,
Nordgren, and van Baaren, (2006), and Dijkster-
huis and Aarts (2010) have reviewed and synthe-
sized primary studies suggesting that considerable
amounts of processing and decision making may
take place outside of conscious awareness.
Klucharev, Smidts, and Ferna´ndez (2008) re-
ported that seeing an image of a product soon after
that of a celebrity with perceived expertise about
the product influenced activation in hippocampus,
anterior cingulate, caudate, fusiform gyrus, supe-
rior frontal gyrus, and other connected regions, as
well as recall of images a day later.
Measuring Brain Reactions to Actual
Advertisements
Neuroimaging methods (cf. Raichle & Min-
tun, 2006) hold various degrees of potential for
studying how the brain reacts to advertisements.
148 COOK, WARREN, PAJOT, SCHAIRER, AND LEUCHTER
Positron emission tomography (PET) can be
used to visualize regional metabolism or blood
flow as an indirect indicator of neuronal pro-
cessing. Metabolic PET scans yield an aggre-
gate of activity patterns averaged over the tens
of minutes required for radioactive tracer up-
take, a time frame ill suited to studying viewing
advertisements that are normally seen only
briefly, whereas perfusion PET scans, operating
on a time scale of tens of seconds, have dosim-
etry limitations of radiation exposure that would
limit an experiment to only a few stimuli. Func-
tional MRI (FMRI) can be used to study
changes in regional blood oxygenation levels
reflective of local brain activity, with changes in
stimuli on the order of a few seconds. EEG
affords a noninvasive, unobtrusive, nonradioac-
tive approach to studying the primary neuronal,
synaptic events as the brain processes informa-
tion, which secondarily give rise to changes in
blood flow or metabolism. Most work with EEG
and processing of visual images has relied on
comparisons of patterns of scalp electrical
fields, either as an event-related or an evoked
response (cf. Vuilleumier & Pourtois, 2007),
including some work with EEG and advertise-
ments (e.g., Ohme, Reykowska, Weiner, &
Choromanska, 2009; S. Weinstein, Appel, &
Weinstein, 1980; or W. Weinstein, Drozdenko,
& Weinstein, 1984). A central challenge has
been to use the temporal resolution of EEG
while overcoming the spatial resolution limita-
tions of surface analyses. The introduction of
three-dimensional current density models, for
example with the low-resolution brain electro-
magnetic tomography (LORETA) approach
(Pascual-Marqui et al., 1999; Pascual-Marqui,
Michel, & Lehmann, 1994), has advanced stud-
ies of brain activity of deep structures as well as
those near the brain’s surface. Current density
assessments have not previously been applied to
neuropsychoeconomic investigations.
Given the findings with standardized stimuli
reported by others, we hypothesized that pat-
terns of regional brain function would differ
when subjects viewed logical persuasion versus
nonrational influence images drawn from actual
print advertisements used in commerce. We
tested this hypothesis by measuring brain
electrical activity as advertisements were pre-
sented visually and then using standard meth-
ods to determine the current density patterns
in key brain regions implicated in the process-
ing of this information. In the process, we
also evaluated the feasibility of using source
localization methods to advance neuropsy-
choeconomic research.
Method
Experimental Design
To examine patterns of regional brain activity
under conditions of viewing advertising images,
we collected quantitative EEG data using a con-
ventional stimulus-activation protocol. The pro-
tocol of viewing these images was included as a
task in a larger set of activations and rest peri-
ods during EEG recording in a project studying
brain function and structure in healthy aging,
and it was reviewed and approved by the Uni-
versity of California, Los Angeles, Institutional
Review Board. Informed consent was obtained
from all subjects in advance of experimental
procedures, in accordance with the Declaration
of Helsinki. Subjects were informed that these
experimental procedures were being used to
evaluate brain processing of visual images and
that they should strive to remember the images.
EEG was selected as a noninvasive, well-
tolerated method to assess brain activity at rest
and during activation procedures.
Participants
Data were collected from 24 healthy volun-
teers who were part of the project studying
healthy aging. All were in good health at the
time of enrollment and had a normal neurolog-
ical and psychiatric examination. Exclusion cri-
teria included any active or past history of an
Axis I major psychiatric disorder (e.g., manic
depression, schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s dis-
ease); any poorly controlled medical illness
that could affect brain function (e.g., untreated
hypothyroidism); concurrent use of central ner-
vous system–active medications that could in-
terfere with EEG activity (e.g., benzodiaz-
epines); current or past drug or alcohol abuse;
and any history of head trauma, brain surgery,
skull defect, stroke or transient ischemic attacks
or evidence of stroke on previous MRI. Subjects
were 11 women and 13 men. The mean age for
all 24 subjects was 77.2 years (SD ! 10.6
years). They had a mean of 16.3 years
(SD ! 2.8) of education; 1 man and 2 women
149REGIONAL BRAIN ACTIVATION WITH ADVERTISING IMAGES
were left handed. Men and women did not differ
statistically on age, handedness, or years of
education.
Procedures
Advertising images. We assessed brain
activity in each of three conditions: (a) resting,
awake state, with eyes closed; (b) viewing stim-
uli categorized as LP images; and (c) viewing
stimuli that were NI images. Twenty-four im-
ages were used as stimuli; all were actual ad-
vertisements that appeared in magazines, news-
papers, and similar commercial print media.
Some example images are shown in Figure 1.
The sample LP-type advertisements (upper
row) present (a) a table of facts and figures
about cigarette products, (b) the details about
how to build a better toothbrush, (c) information
and the question “Which makes more sense?”
concerning a curved versus a straight tampon
product, and (d) suggestions about selecting
food for dogs on the basis of their activity level.
In contrast, sample NI-type advertisements
(lower row) show (e) water beading on a road
surface with a shape suggesting the outline of a
dead body, (f) an overlay image combining a
woman standing with legs apart and a statue’s
royal scepter positioned in her groin, (g) a
woman leapfrogging over a fire hydrant erupt-
ing with a water spray as a man enthusiastically
grins behind her, and (h) a big dog measuring
the length of his sausage-shaped dog food at 7
in. on a measuring tape.
The selection of ads followed not only the
System 1–System 2 decision-making codifica-
tion previously mentioned, it also reflects a con-
ventional application of Aristotelian-defined
persuasion-based influence (still used after
more than 2,000 years) that, by definition, must
be intended by the source to allow choice for the
receiver through the presentation of a claim
with a direct connection to a product or an
idea—a claim open to the use of verifiable ev-
idence and appropriate reasoning (Aristotle,
2009; Warren, 2010). NI, however, involves
data intended by the source to circumvent evi-
dential reasoning and thus allow a receiver little
to no choice, preferably the latter, usually based
on a claim with no direct connection (or a
Figure 1. Example advertisements. Samples of logical persuasion (upper row, a– d) and
nonrational influence (lower row, e– h) advertisements are shown.
150 COOK, WARREN, PAJOT, SCHAIRER, AND LEUCHTER
connection the source would be unwilling to
verbally identify) to a product or an idea. (Var-
ious types of NI have been the subject of vig-
orous discussion to date; see Warren, 2009, for
a summary review of this area.)
All of the LP and NI ads selected for use in
this study fit these fundamental definitional cri-
teria. The four example LP ads (see Figure 1)
establish a claim directly connected to the prod-
uct; the four example NI ads, purposely open to
individual interpretation, rely on provocative
elements that have no direct connection to the
ad’s claim. Specifically, this project’s experi-
mental stimuli were selected from more than 20
years of collected example advertisements
drawn from our research and teaching files. A
panel of three faculty members with expertise in
public communication established a consensus
of typing for this collection with a high interra-
ter reliability (Cronbach’s "!.92). The subset
of 24 images used for this study was culled from
the larger set (several hundred ads) as reason-
able exemplars of LP and NI advertising, rec-
ognizing that real-world ads are not exclusively
LP or NI in nature. We purposely selected the
option of using actual ads for this preliminary
study to establish a baseline: If receivers’ pro-
cessing of ecologically valid images did not
yield a detectable difference in current density,
the viability of this approach for future studies
could not be examined.
Because media ads have historically been
“shotgunned” to a broad and heterogeneous au-
dience, there was no reason to select ads on the
basis of user groups and to prematurely attempt
to segment this inquiry (e.g., using ads only
with their intended customers). In fact, given
the preliminary nature of this feasibility study,
circumscribing receivers by unwarrantedly tight
boundaries at this point could promote statisti-
cally sophisticated answers that bypass the gen-
eral problem: Premature definitional precision
can flatten unique, possibly determinant, pat-
terns into general, potentially irrelevant, rela-
tional theory (see Cocker, 1983).
Advertising image activation. Advertise-
ments were scanned from their original print
format and shown at their original dimensions
on the computer screen, except for two images
(size rescaled from full magazine page to fit on
the computer screen). Because we sought to
study the effects of real advertisements by sim-
ulating the actual viewing experience, we did
not make any adjustments to the brightness,
contrast, or color balance of the images, because
these manipulations would have an adverse im-
pact on the ecologic validity of the stimuli and
limit our ability to test hypotheses about the
impact on brain activity of actual advertise-
ments. Stimuli were presented serially using a
block design: 6 LP 3 6 NI 3 6 LP 3 6 NI.
Each stimulus was presented via computer
screen for 20 s (SuperLab; Cedrus Corp., San
Pedro, CA) at a viewing distance of 15–26 cm
and without any delay between stimuli. Data
recorded during the 12 LP stimuli presentations
were averaged for each individual, as were the
data for the 12 NI stimuli. Segments contami-
nated by excessive artifact (e.g., muscle-related
or eye-motion artifacts) were excluded from
analysis. The resting awake state was assessed
at the start of the recording session, before any
activations took place. Before presentation of
the stimuli, subjects were instructed to look at
and remember each image; no overt response
was required.
EEG Methods
Recordings were performed using standard
procedures and equipment previously detailed
(Cook et al., 2002; Cook, O’Hara, Uijtdehaage,
Mandelkern, & Leuchter, 1998; Leuchter, Uijt-
dehaage, Cook, O’Hara, & Mandelkern, 1999)
in a sound-attenuated room. To sustain the
awake state during the resting eyes-closed con-
dition, subjects were alerted by the technicians
during these periods with prompts at the emer-
gence of any sign of drowsiness (e.g., tapping a
pen to make a percussive sound). A Pz-
referential montage was used to collect data
from 35 scalp recording electrodes, placed with
a custom electrode cap (ElectroCap, Eaton, OH)
using a standard extension of the international
10 –20 system (see Figure 2). Signals were dig-
itally recorded with the QND system (Neuro-
data, Inc., Pasadena, CA), using a passband
of 0.3–70 Hz. This system allowed for offline
reformatting of data after the recording to de-
termine power values relative to a linked-ears
reference. Data were analyzed at a sample rate
of 256 samples per second for each channel,
using segments of data of 2-s duration (512
points). EEG data segments were selected if
they were free of eye blink, muscle, or drows-
iness artifacts.
151REGIONAL BRAIN ACTIVATION WITH ADVERTISING IMAGES
These segments of EEG activity were then
processed by the LORETA method (Pascual-
Marqui et al., 1999; Pascual-Marqui et al.,
1994). This numerical method reconstructs the
three-dimensional configuration of current
sources that could give rise to the measured
surface EEG signals. Critically, cross-modal
validation has been performed, finding agree-
ment between LORETA and more established
measures of regional brain activity with FMRI
(Mulert et al., 2004; Vitacco, Brandeis, Pascual-
Marqui, & Martin, 2002) and PET (Dierks et al.,
2000; Oakes et al., 2004). This source localiza-
tion technique has been paired with task-
activation paradigms by other researchers to
examine patterns of regional brain activity dur-
ing engagement in particular mental tasks (e.g.,
Hanslmayr et al., 2008; Lavric, Pizzagalli, &
Forstmeier, 2004; Pizzagalli, Sherwood, Hen-
riques, & Davidson, 2005; Santesso et al.,
2008). LORETA yields current values in 2,394
voxels (Pascual-Marqui et al., 1994) in six stan-
dard frequency bands. We combined voxels to
compute average current density values (amp/
m
2
)forspecificaprioriregionsofinterest
(ROIs) and then averaged LP and NI stimuli
separately to achieve an estimate of current
density for each ROI in each condition. To
define our ROIs, we used the LORETA pack-
age’s correspondence between named region,
Brodmann area (BA), and Tailarach coordi-
nates: orbitofrontal cortex (OFC, comprising
BAs 10 and 11), dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
(DLPFC; BAs 44, 45, and 46), anterior cingu-
late cortex (ACC; BAs 24, 25, 32, and 33),
amygdala (AMY), and hippocampus (HIP).
These regions were included because prior work
has implicated them in regulating decision mak-
ing and processing of emotional information
(cf. Barrett & Wager, 2006; Davidson, Jackson,
& Kalin, 2000; Gruber, Rogowska, & Yurge-
lun-Todd, 2004; Killgore & Yurgelun-Todd,
Figure 2. Electrode montage. We used a standard extension of the international 10 –20
system to sample surface electrical activity across all brain regions.
152 COOK, WARREN, PAJOT, SCHAIRER, AND LEUCHTER
2004, Phan, Wager, Taylor, & Liberzon, 2002;
Scheinle & Schafer, 2009; Seitz, Franz, &
Azari, 2009). The somatosensory cortex (SS;
BAs 3, 1, 2) was used as a control region that
we predicted would not show significant differ-
ences in activity related to stimulus type. Addi-
tionally, we focused on delta (1– 6.5 Hz) and
beta-3 (21.5–31 Hz) bands, because prior work
has demonstrated a positive correlation between
regional cerebral perfusion and EEG activity in
those frequency ranges (Cook et al., 1998; Leu-
chter et al., 1999).
Data Analysis
Analyses were performed using the PASW
statistical package (SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL).
Continuous variable data were analyzed with t
tests; categorical data were examined using the
chi-square statistic.
Results
Using the entire sample, we found significant
differences in multiple brain regions. Higher
activity was detected during LP than NI im-
ages bilaterally in OFC and ACC (Table 1 and
Figure 3; p # .05). Current density was also
higher during LP than NI images in right-sided
AMY and HIP, but not left sided (nonsignificant
difference). Activity in the DLPFC did not dif-
fer significantly between LP and NI images in
either hemisphere. Additionally, our SS control
region did not show significant differences be-
tween stimulus types in either hemisphere. In no
ROI was the current density observed to be
significantly higher during NI images than dur-
ing LP images.
To examine whether there might be gender-
related differences in regional current density
values, we compared average values in each
ROI between male and female subjects. No
significant differences were detected between
the two groups.
To examine the potential effects of hand-
edness, we reexamined the average current
density values in each ROI for only right-
handed subjects (n ! 21); the regions show-
ing significant differences between LP and NI
images were generally similar to the entire
group (see Table 2), although some areas
were no longer statistically significant with
the smaller sample size.
Table 1
Patterns of Regional Activation
Band
Regions of interest (M $SD%)
SS OFC ACC DLPFC AMY HIP
Delta
Left hemisphere
LP 3.49 (1.92) 8.34 (9.38) 3.19 (3.38) 3.26 (2.84) 2.69 (1.53) 1.85 (1.58)
NI 2.87 (1.77) 5.12 (3.40) 1.80 (1.01) 2.52 (1.45) 2.15 (1.14) 1.42 (1.43)
t 1.52 2.15
!!
2.44
!!
1.39 1.65 1.41
Right hemisphere
LP 3.31 (2.35) 8.10 (8.68) 3.28 (3.47) 3.93 (2.80) 2.92 (2.03) 1.46 (1.14)
NI 2.95 (2.31) 5.06 (3.79) 1.85 (1.05) 3.09 (2.01) 2.40 (1.90) 1.04 (0.57)
t 1.35 2.24
!!
2.47
!!
1.66 1.80
!
1.88
!
Beta-3
Left hemisphere
LP 9.83 (4.77) 20.96 (19.47) 7.70 (6.30) 10.39 (7.39) 7.27 (3.46) 3.33 (2.12)
NI 8.92 (4.32) 15.93 (8.85) 5.51 (2.57) 9.60 (5.30) 6.89 (3.29) 2.79 (1.31)
t 1.57 1.71 2.07
!!
0.83 0.40 1.60
Right hemisphere
LP 10.77 (7.00) 21.36 (18.15) 7.95 (6.51) 15.26 (14.00) 8.38 (5.50) 4.67 (3.82)
NI 10.37 (7.41) 16.69 (10.03) 5.67 (2.64) 14.80 (16.40) 9.04 (6.31) 4.14 (3.50)
t 0.78 1.79
!
2.08
!!
0.37 &0.44 1.11
Note. ACC ! anterior cingulate cortex; AMY ! amygdala; DLPFC ! dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; HIP ! hippocam-
pus; OFC ! orbitofrontal cortex; SS ! somatosensory region.
!
p # .5.
!!
p # .025.
153REGIONAL BRAIN ACTIVATION WITH ADVERTISING IMAGES
Discussion
In this pilot project, we had hypothesized that
LP and NI images would elicit different patterns
of brain activation, and we found that differ-
ences in OFC, ACC, AMY, and HIP were de-
tectable using the LORETA three-dimensional
current source localization technique. In all
these brain regions, viewing of LP stimuli was
consistently associated with higher levels of cur-
rent than was viewing of NI stimuli. We believe
that this study is the first using EEG to find sup-
port for differential neurophysiologic activity elic-
ited by these two types of real-world advertising
images in deep and cortical brain regions.
LP images consistently resulted in higher ac-
tivity in delta and beta-3 bands than NI images;
because this is a pilot feasibility project rather
than a definitive study, we can offer only mod-
est, although potentially important, speculations
on the possible meaning of these findings. The
ACC region is a central component of the lim-
bic system and is believed to play a role not
only in emotional processing but also in select-
Figure 3. Differences in activity between conditions. Regional current density values are
shown for delta and beta-3 frequency bands across our regions of interest: left (L) and right
(R) SS, OFC, ACC, DLPFC, AMY, and HIP. ACC ! anterior cingulate cortex; AMY !
amygdala; DLPFC ! dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; HIP ! hippocampus; OFC ! orbito-
frontal cortex; SS ! somatosensory region. t tests were used.
!
p # .05.
!!
p # .025.
Table 2
Comparison of Regional Activation Based on Handedness
Band
Region of interest
SS OFC ACC DLPFC AMY HIP
Delta
L all 1.52 2.15
!!
2.44
!!
1.39 1.65 1.41
L RH 1.03 2.35
!!
2.17
!!
0.83 1.11 0.96
R all 1.35 2.24
!!
2.47
!!
1.66 1.80
!
1.88
!
R RH 0.80 2.69
!!!
2.21
!!
1.22 1.30 1.44
Beta-3
L all 1.57 1.71 2.07
!!
0.83 0.40 1.60
L RH 1.12 1.47 1.77
!
&0.08 0.57 1.13
R all 0.78 1.79
!
2.08
!!
0.37 &0.44 1.11
R RH 0.28 1.52 1.77
!
&0.38 &0.17 0.63
Note. The t scores from all 24 participants (all) are tabulated with those from the 21 right-handed participants (RH) in delta
and beta-3 bands for each of our a priori regions of interest. ACC ! anterior cingulate cortex; AMY ! amygdala; DLPFC !
dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; HIP ! hippocampus; L ! left hemisphere; OFC ! orbitofrontal cortex; R ! right
hemisphere; SS ! somatosensory region.
!
p # .5.
!!
p # .025.
!!!
p # .01.
154 COOK, WARREN, PAJOT, SCHAIRER, AND LEUCHTER
ing which stimulus merits a response in the face
of competing streams of information (cf. Bush,
Luu, & Posner, 2000; Kennerley, Walton, Beh-
rens, Buckley, & Rushworth, 2006; Pardo,
Pardo, Janer, & Raichle, 1990). The higher
ACC currents we found during LP stimuli could
be interpreted as being consistent with greater
processing needs for the factual information
presented in LP ads. With PET perfusion meth-
ods, Stole´ru et al. (2003) reported activation in
a portion of the ACC (BA 24) in both healthy
adult men and men with hypoactive sexual de-
sire disorder when they watched visual sexual
stimuli, in which sexual activity was the focus
of the images. Anatomical subdivisions of the
ACC have been found to subserve different
functions (cf. Carter & van Veen, 2007; Devin-
sky, Morrell, & Vogt, 1995), which could in-
clude differences in assessing the salience of
primary versus secondary aspects of content.
The OFC is also critically involved in evaluat-
ing the emotional (reward) salience of stimuli
from a variety of sensory inputs (e.g., Rolls &
Grabenhorst, 2008). Given that the OFC is im-
plicated in inhibiting responses to stimuli (cf.
Chiu, Holmes, & Pizzagalli, 2008; Dillon &
Pizzagalli, 2007; Hodgson et al., 2002), the
lower activity associated with NI images could
be consistent with lesser degrees of behavioral
inhibition during exposure to those stimuli, po-
tentially leading to patterns of less restrained
behaviors in connection with products depicted
in the NI advertisements.
The AMY serves key roles in emotional pro-
cessing and vigilance (cf. Davis & Whalen,
2001) and may modulate the activity in other
brain regions in response to emotional stimuli
(Vuilleumier & Pourtois, 2007). The right-
lateralized AMY activation we found is sugges-
tive of nonverbal processing in that hemisphere
in right-handed subjects (cf. Gazzaniga, 2000;
Lindell, 2006). This pattern was present in the
right-handed subjects in our pool, and although
we enrolled both right- and left-handed adults in
our project, a future study might focus on en-
rollment of subjects of a single handedness or
expand enrollment to have adequate statistical
power to detect handedness-based differences.
Our AMY finding is consistent with previous
reports of the right AMY’s role in affective
information processing of pictorial or image-
related material (Markowitsch, 1998).
The HIP is central to the formation of de-
clarative memories that can be explicitly ver-
balized (cf. Squire, 1992), so our higher cur-
rent values during LP stimuli suggest that LP
advertisements may engage declarative learn-
ing more than the NI images, which either are
not explicitly memorable or, alternatively,
might be remembered via nondeclarative
mechanisms not involving hippocampal re-
cruitment. We did not test subjects at the end
of the experiment for their ability to recall
advertisements they had previously viewed,
so we cannot test this conjecture. The failure to
find differences in DLPFC activity in our data
may reflect smaller differences in emotional va-
lence of the stimulus categories than anticipated
(cf. Simpson et al., 2000) or a lack of engagement
of this particular emotional processing center in
evaluating advertising images. The lack of differ-
ential activation in the SS region supports the
conclusion that there is not simply a generalized
increase in activity with LP stimuli across all brain
regions, but rather that the differences have re-
gional specificity.
Morris et al. (2009) examined brain activa-
tion while subjects watched TV advertise-
ments during FMRI scanning and then rated
ads along dimensional constructs of “plea-
sure” and “arousal.” They found that bilateral
activations in the inferior frontal and middle
temporal gyri were associated with differ-
ences along the pleasure dimension, whereas
the arousal dimension influenced activation in
right superior temporal and right middle fron-
tal gyri. Our study’s findings are consistent
with Morris et al.’s conclusion that the dif-
fering emotional reactions to viewing ads
may be related to underlying neurobiological
processes, but further direct comparisons are
difficult given differences in the two studies’
stimuli and hypotheses. In another project,
Ohme et al. (2009) used EEG, electromyog-
raphy, and skin conductance to study subjects
as they watched two versions of a TV adver-
tisement that differed only in the visual image
presented in a single scene. They had hypoth-
esized that the two versions would produce
different levels of asymmetric EEG activation
in the frontal regions, based on the approach–
avoidance model proposed by Davidson
(2004), as well as differing levels of arousal
detected via skin conductance and electro-
myography activity. They found statistical
155REGIONAL BRAIN ACTIVATION WITH ADVERTISING IMAGES
differences in their surface asymmetry mea-
sure in comparing the two versions of the
scene, even though subjects did not con-
sciously recall seeing a difference in the two
video clips; skin conductance and electro-
myography activity also differed. A direct
comparison of our three-dimensional regional
findings with their asymmetry measure is dif-
ficult to make, but both sets of findings indi-
cate that neurophysiologic activity may differ
when advertisements are viewed, even if sub-
jects have no conscious recall of differences
in the information presented.
Limitations and Future Directions to
Address Them
We should note several limitations of this
study, along with their implications for future
research. One is whether the observed differ-
ences are tied to the particular stimuli in our
battery or if this is a more general phenome-
non. Our choice of actual advertisements is
both a strength and a limitation of this proj-
ect; although our observations have an eco-
logical validity that is not possible with im-
ages contrived to control for features such as
amounts of text, luminance, or saturation of
color, we are limited in our ability to identify
which components of the images may have
driven the differences in regional brain acti-
vation. Future extensions could address this
concern by using a wider variety of stimuli
drawn from sources not confined to real-
world advertisements, such as synthetic im-
ages designed to directly test hypotheses
about how the brain evaluates information
presented without engaging logical aware-
ness, or images that vary the degree of emo-
tional charge. Future work might include the
development and validation of a standardized
set of advertising stimuli much like the
widely used Pictures of Facial Affect stimuli
developed by Ekman and Friesen (1976);
such a set would strive to have well-
characterized psychometric (e.g., emotional
valence and arousal) or physical (e.g., lumi-
nance, word count) properties. We also did
not seek to study whether one type of adver-
tisement was superior to the other; we elicited
no data on recall of or attitudes toward the
products being advertised, and no conclusions
as to merit of advertising strategy should be
drawn from this study.
Another limitation is that our subjects were
older adults. It has been reported that younger
and older individuals may use different strate-
gies when processing images (detail processing
vs. schema-based processing, per Yoon, 1997)
or emotional information (e.g., Kensinger &
Leclerc, 2009). The emotional valence of some
of the NI elements in the stimuli might be
different in younger subjects, and future studies
could address this by enrolling subjects across a
wider range of ages or by explicitly comparing
a group of subjects in their 20s with a group
such as our subject pool. An additional consid-
eration related to our subject pool is that it
contained similar numbers of male and female
subjects. Some evidence from prior work has
shown that gender-related differences may exist
in information processing (e.g., Orozco &
Ehlers, 1998), and future studies might seek to
focus on a single gender or might be larger so as
to have adequate statistical power to detect gen-
der-related differences. An additional line of
work might evaluate whether processing differ-
ences emerged in comparison of individuals
with personal relevance to the product or not
(e.g., gender- or lifestyle-specific products).
Another potential criticism is that our instruc-
tion to the subjects—to try to remember the
images—is not how advertisements in maga-
zines and other print media are conventionally
viewed. Although advertisers may hope that
their advertisements will be remembered, there
is, of course, no such instruction given as a
person is exposed to these images in daily life;
future work might examine differences between
an instructionless viewing period and different
sorts of structured, specific instructions, be-
cause these might alter the subjects’ approach to
viewing and processing.
Finally, our data do not allow us to differen-
tiate between specific attributes of the NI stim-
uli, which might include impact on either emo-
tional or unconscious processes. Indeed, adver-
tisements of this NI variety appear to frequently
blend the two, and disambiguation might be
better addressed using images chosen or artifi-
cially constructed to separate these elements.
Future work in this area might include the de-
velopment of a standardized battery of adver-
tisements with well-characterized psychometric
properties.
156 COOK, WARREN, PAJOT, SCHAIRER, AND LEUCHTER
Conclusions and Implications for
Psychology, Communication, Economics,
and Business
These pilot data provide evidence for differ-
ences in regional brain processing of real-world
advertising images, depending on whether the
images appeal to rational, logical functions or to
nonrational, emotionally valenced functions.
Our findings may raise numerous new ques-
tions, as our earlier recommendations for future
work suggest. Nonetheless, such future work
cannot be justified without pilot investigations,
such as this one, that demonstrate the feasibility
of using these measures in this novel way.
For research in psychology and communica-
tion, these findings provide additional justifica-
tion for studying decision-making processes
through the use of inductively generated evi-
dence. For economics and business, our find-
ings lend support to the possibility that some
elements of decision making may be influenced
by appeals outside of a rational evaluation of
information. Given that economic theories tend
to be predicated on a rational appraisal of infor-
mation being the determinant of actions, our
findings suggest that consideration of more in-
clusive theories may be warranted. For busi-
ness, our findings suggest that further study is
needed before reliable predictions, based on
neurophysiologic measurements, can be ad-
vanced about how advertising campaigns sway
consumer behavior. Overall, additional work is
both necessary and warranted to help bridge
from these initial neurophysiologic observa-
tions to implications for advertising practices
and behavioral influences in human consumers.
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Received August 24, 2009
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