Predicting persuasion-induced behavior change from the brain
Open accessAbstract
Although persuasive messages often alter people's self-reported attitudes and intentions to perform behaviors, these self-reports do not necessarily predict behavior change. We demonstrate that neural responses to persuasive messages can predict variability in behavior change in the subsequent week. Specifically, an a priori region of interest (ROI) in medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) was reliably associated with behavior change (r = 0.49, p < 0.05). Additionally, an iterative cross-validation approach using activity in this MPFC ROI predicted an average 23% of the variance in behavior change beyond the variance predicted by self-reported attitudes and intentions. Thus, neural signals can predict behavioral changes that are not predicted from self-reported attitudes and intentions alone. Additionally, this is the first functional magnetic resonance imaging study to demonstrate that a neural signal can predict complex real world behavior days in advance.
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Both NAc and vmPFC have been shown to be important predictors of changes in appetitive and self-regulatory behaviors in the real world.
“both regions have been shown to be important predictors of changes in appetitive and self-regulatory behaviors in the real world [45],[80],[81]”
From Distinct Brain Systems Mediate the Effects of Nociceptive Input and Self-Regulation on Pain (2015) · cites this paper as [81]
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- Authors
- Falk, E. B., Berkman, E. T., Mann, T., Harrison, B., & Lieberman, M. D.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- University of Minnesota (US)
- Venue
- Journal of Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Society for Neuroscience
- Published
- 2010-06-23
- Volume
- 30
- Issue
- 25
- Pages
- 8421-8424
- ISSN
- 0270-6474 (ISSN-L)
- 1529-2401
- PMC
- PMC3027351
- OpenAlex
- W2113483252
- Cited by
- 317
- References
- 26
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 33 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 19 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 24 · 2017: 25 · 2016: 22 · 2015: 33 · 2014: 20 · 2013: 26 · 2012: 21
- FWCI
- 11.44
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- ScholarlyCommons (University of Pennsylvania) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Drug Abuse (F31DA024904)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Behavioral Health and Interventions
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Psychology of Social Influence
- Keywords
- persuasion, medial prefrontal cortex, persuasive messages, self-reported attitudes, neural correlates of behavior
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Attitude to Health, Brain, Brain Mapping, Female, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Motivation, Persuasive Communication, Health Behavior, Intention
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