New #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: