Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41200100›Full record

ArticlePNAS nexus2025

Brain activity explains message effectiveness: A mega-analysis of 16 neuroimaging studies.

Christin Scholz, Hang-Yee Chan, Jeesung Ahn, Maarten A S Boksem, Nicole Cooper, Jason C Coronel, Bruce P Doré, Alexander Genevsky, Richard Huskey, Yoona Kang and 10 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in PNAS nexus, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

20 authors.

Christin ScholzAmsterdam School of Communication Research, University of Amsterdam, 1018 WV Amsterdam, The Netherlands.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6567-7504
Hang-Yee ChanDepartment of Marketing, King's Business School, King's College London, London WC2B 4BG, United Kingdom.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7179-9436
Jeesung AhnDepartment of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0442-9253
Maarten A S BoksemDepartment of Marketing Management, Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, 3062 PA Rotterdam, The Netherlands.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9370-6007
Nicole CooperAnnenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
Jason C CoronelSchool of Communication, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43201, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6397-3860
Bruce P DoréDesautels Faculty of Management, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3A 1G5.
Alexander GenevskyDepartment of Marketing Management, Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, 3062 PA Rotterdam, The Netherlands.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1048-3256
Richard HuskeyDepartment of Communication, UC Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
Yoona KangDepartment of Psychology, Rutgers University, Camden, NJ 08102, USA.
Brian KnutsonDepartment of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7669-426X
Matthew D LiebermanDepartment of Psychology, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4447-7359
Matthew Brook O'DonnellAnnenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
Anthony ResnickAnnenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0000-6250-339X
Ale SmidtsDepartment of Marketing Management, Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, 3062 PA Rotterdam, The Netherlands.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6699-1172
Vinod VenkatramanFox School of Business, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8705-2916
Khoi VoFox School of Business, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA.
René WeberDepartment of Communication, UC Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8247-7341
Carolyn YoonStephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5529-7708
Emily B FalkDepartment of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6383-1846

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

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.

Indexed as

mentalizingmessage effectivenessneuroforecastingpersuasionreward

Identifiers

PMID41200100
PMCPMC12586322

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.