Reference
Berns, G. and Moore, S. (2012). A neural predictor of cultural popularity. Journal
of Consumer Psychology, 22 (1), pp.154-160.
Summary
The
current approaches to predicting popularity rely on standard marketing
strategies such as focus groups and questionnaires. The purpose of the paper
was to test whether it is possible for functional magnetic resonance imaging
(fMRI) to forecast the popularity of music (cultural popularity). Past research
had suggested that “activity in reward-related regions of
the brain, notably the orbitofrontal cortex and ventral striatum is predictive
of future purchasing decisions of the individuals who are scanned.” However, it
had not been clear whether this activity in the brain of individuals can
correlate to purchasing decisions of a population.
Teenagers
were first asked to rank 6 musical genres. The ranking of the genres showed
that the participants had tastes similar to the national population. They
listened to 20 songs from each of their top 3 genres. The songs were by unknown
artists from myspace.com. What they heard was a 15-s clip including either the
hook or chorus of the song. Each participant went through 60 trials, two-thirds
of which included a display of popularity of the song among myspace.com users.
The brain scan was taken before the display of popularity. The total of sales
of the songs within the three years following the scans were compared to the
initial scans or brain responses.
Although
the individuals’ personal opinions on the likability of the songs did not
correlate with the number of units sold, their brain responses did. The study found that the “final pathway
linking the brain to album sales was mediated only thought the NACC. When these
relationships were visualized, it became clear that “hit” songs did not result
from a specific combination of NACC and OFC activity, but that “non-hits” were
associated with a combination of both low OFC and low NACC activity.”
We
should note that most of the songs that were heard did not go on to be ‘hits’, many genres were used and only 27 individuals were used, all teenagers who make
up only 20% of music consumers.
OFC
= Orbitofrontal cortex
NACC
= ventral striatum/nucleus accumbens
Reflection
This
article left me wanting more, although the topic is very attention-grabbing, it
lacked in depth explanations of the results from a neuroscience
perspective. More background information was necessary regarding the functions
of the orbitofrontal cortex, the ventral striatum and their connections. However,
I understand that the paper’s aim was more to do with marketing than science.
The
authors did address several reasons that may have caused the ratings not to go
hand-in-hand with the brain scans but I still think that the brain’s ability to “know” which songs are “hits” regardless of the compatibility with likability
is quite remarkable.
2 comments:
This is one of the most interesting studies I have read about! I think you are right about the fact that certain depth of information may have been lacking because of the commercial aspect of the study. It would have been useful if the researchers had detailed the functions of these parts of the brain. The orbitofrontal cortex is one of the least understood areas of the brain, but is associated with decision making and expectation. The ventral striatum is also connected to decision making, but is considered to be a reward center, and is involved with reward based decision making. I am not sure how this accounts for the disparity in what the brain scans showed, and the opinions of the subjects. Fascinating indeed.
I agree with both of you, R.M. and Reanna. The information this study provided left me wanting more of an explanation, although the topic is quite interesting. I find it especially interesting to note that certain brain activity was associated with "non-hits" rather than with "hits". Perhaps songs that rate especially low on the charts are rated that way due to lack of the "correct" brain response. The reason certain songs are "hits" could have more to do with the marketing strategies behind those songs. It could be that a less well known song could elicit the same brain response as a "hit" song, if the fact that a song is popular is due to repeated exposure and marketing strategies. If a song is heard repeatedly on the radio, its familiarity will have an impact on the pleasure of anticipation that was discussed in another post.
Post a Comment