MoNA
The Moral Narrative Analyzer (MoNA) extracts moral information from media messages using a hybrid approach between automated computational methods and hand coding.
Asteroid Impact
Asteroid Impact is an open-source naturalistic video game stimulus and designed for applications in behavioral, psychophysiological, and brain imaging research paradigms.
fMRI Method/Theory
Several recent projects and manuscripts are aimed at improving method-theory synergy in communication neuroscience with a focus on open science, reproducible practices.
Recent Publications
Van Atteveldt, W., Margolin, D., Shen, C., Trilling, D., & Weber, R. (2019). A roadmap for computational communication research. Computational Communication Research, 1(1), 1-11
Hopp, F. R., Schaffer, J. A., Fisher, J. T., Cornell, D., & Weber, R. (2019). iCoRe: The GDELT interface for the advancement of communication research. Computational Communication Research, 1(1), 13-44.
Klasen, M., Wolf, D., Eisner, P. D., Eggermann, T., Zerres, K., Zepf, F. D., Weber, R., Mathiak, K. (2019). Serotonergic contributions to human brain aggression networks. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 13:42. Link.
Turner, B., Huskey, R., & Weber, R. (2018). Charting a future for fMRI in communication science. Communication Methods and Measures, 13(1), 1-18. Link.
Huskey, R., Wilcox, S., & Weber, R. (2018). Network neuroscience reveals distinct neuromarkers of flow during media use. Journal of Communication, 68(5), 872-895. Link.
Fisher, J. T., Huskey, R., Keene, J. R., & Weber, R. (2018, Distinguished Article Award for the year 2018, National Communication Association). The Limited Capacity Model of Motivated Mediated Message Processing: Looking to the future. Annals of the International Communication Association, 42(4), 291-315. Link.
Fisher, J. T., Keene, J. R., Huskey, R., & Weber, R. (2018). The Limited Capacity Model of Motivated Mediated Message Processing: Taking stock of the past. Annals of the International Communication Association, 42(4), 270-290. Link.
Wolf, D., Klasen, M., Eisner, P., Zepf, F. D., Zvyagintsev, M., Palomero-Gallagher, N., Weber, R., Esiert, A., & Mathiak, K. (2018). Central serotonin modulates neural responses to virtual violent actions in emotion regulation networks. Brain Structure and Function, 223, 3327-3345. Link.
Huskey, R., Craighead, B., Miller, B. M., & Weber, R. (2018). Does intrinsic reward motivate cognitive control? A naturalistic fMRI study based on the synchronization theory of flow. Cognitive Affective and Behavioral Neuroscience, 18(5), 902-924. Link.
Weber, R., Mangus, J. M., Huskey, R., Hopp, F. R., Amir, O., Swanson, R., Gordon, A., Khooshabeh, P., Hahn, L., & Tamborini, R. (2018, Best Article of the Year 2018 Award, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication). Extracting latent moral information from text narratives: Relevance, challenges, and solutions. Communication Methods and Measures, 12(2-3), 119-139. Link.
Huskey, R., Bowman, N., Eden, A., Grizzard, M., Hahn, L., Lewis, R., Matthews, N., Tamborini, R., Walther, J.B., & Weber, R. (2018). Things we know about media and morality. Nature Human Behavior. Link.
Weber, R., Alicea, B., Huskey, R., & Mathiak, K. (2018). Network dynamics of attention during a naturalistic behavioral paradigm. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 22, 182. Link.
Rains, S. A., Levine, T. R., & Weber, R. (2018). Sixty years of quantitative communication research summarized: Lessons from 149 meta-analyses. Annals of the International Communication Association. 42(2), 105-124. Link.
Weber, R., Fisher, J. T., Hopp, F. R., & Lonergan, C. (2017). Taking messages into the magnet: Method-theory synergy in communication neuroscience. Communication Monographs, 85(1), 81-102. Link.
Huskey, R., Mangus, J. M., Turner, B., & Weber, R.* (2017). The persuasion network is modulated by drug-use risk and predicts anti-drug message effectiveness. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 12(12), 1902-1915. Link.
Swanson, R., Gordon, A., Khooshabeh, P., Sagae, K., Huskey, R., Mangus, J. M., Amir, O., & Weber, R. (2017). An empirical analysis of subjectivity and narrative levels in weblog storytelling across cultures. Dialogue and Discourse, 8(2), 105-128. Link.
Grizzard, M., Tamborini, R., Sherry, J., & Weber, R. (2017). Repeated play reduces video games’ ability to elicit guilt: Evidence from a longitudinal experiment. Media Psychology, 20, 267-290. Link.
Lewis, R. J., Grizzard, M., Mangus, J. M., Rashidian, P., & Weber, R.* (2017). Moral clarity in narratives elicits greater cooperation than moral ambiguity. Media Psychology, 20(4), 533-556. Link
Other Projects
Narratives and Morality
Social Norm Violations in TV Drama
Longitudinal studies utilizing disposition theory predict audience responses to soap operas. Audience enjoyment of the TV dramas increases when characters are perceived as morally deserving the outcomes that befall them.
TV Drama Exposure & Salience of Moral Intuitions
Extended exposure to daytime soap operas influences viewers’ dispositions toward characters, as well as their real-world moral judgements.
Neural Responses to Social Norm Violations in TV Drama
Individuals’ attentional and moral networks synchronize during TV drama scenes featuring immoral characters who suffer negative consequences.
Morality in Narratives, Synchronized Exposure, and Cooperation
The ability of humans to synchronize our thoughts and emotions with others through morally-salient narratives might be one important mechanism driving trust and cooperation in large groups.
Automated Analysis of Moral Content in Online Communication Sources
In collaboration with colleagues from the Institutue for Collaborative Technologies at the University of Southern California, the Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies at the University of California Santa Barbara, and the Army Research Lab, we are developing a system to automatically classify the moral content of text gathered from the Internet by leveraging both communication theory and sophisticated data-mining methods.
Media, Attention, and Cognitive Control
Motivated attention to media
Recent work in the lab has reviewed and theoretically updated the Limited Capacity Model of Motivated Mediated Message Processing (LC4MP) in view of modern media neuroscience work [Link]
Neural underpinnings of flow experiences
In collaboration with Richard Huskey, lab alum and assistant professor at UC Davis, the lab investigates the neural precursors and correlates of flow experiences during video game play [Link]
Designing interventions at the intersection of neuroscience and media design
Recent work from the lab (forthcoming in New Technologies for Health-Related Cognitive and Behavioral Change) highlights how neuroimaging and multimedia design can be combined to create new and more effective health-related interventions.
Cognitive load, perceptual load, and attention to media
Cognitive and perceptual operations load the human processing system in different ways, leading to different outcomes. Recent work from the lab (forthcoming in Media & Communication) shows that perceptual complexity in messages influence attention in a modality-specific manner, whereas cognitive complexity influences attention in a modality-general manner.
Network neuroscience of attention and media
In a recent publication in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience [Link], we investigate the dynamics of attention networks in the brain during an interactive video game, showing that attention networks exhibit curvilinear patterns of robustness in the presence of increasing distraction.
Interactive Narratives & Violence
Neuroimaging & Video Game Violence
Teens and adolescents play video games frequently, and a significant portion of the games contain increasingly realistic portrayals of violence. A brain imaging (fMRI) study demonstrates that virtual violence in video game playing results in neural patterns that are considered characteristic for aggressive cognition and behavior.
Brain Correlates of Semi-Natural Behavior: fMRI During Violent Video Games
Virtual environments provide a useful tool for the study of neuronal processes involved in semi-naturalistic behavior as determined by content analysis. A brain imaging (fMRI) study observed 13 males as they played a violent first-person shooter game and identified potential neural correlates associated with violent behavior.
Video Games & Interactivity
Interactivity is a common, but under-specified concept in the video game literature. The lab’s research identifies six dimensions of interactivity including: feature-based interactivity, customization & co-creation, controller responsiveness, artificial intelligence, perceptual persuasiveness, and exploration.
Character Attachment in Interactive Environments
In interactive video games, there is no parasocial interaction with a fictitious character, no felt connection per se, but an actual, tangible connection between the gamer and a fully functional, completely controllable avatar. The lab’s character attachment scale provides a way to measure the connection between player and avatar.
The Internet and Aggression
The Internet is an environment of instant connections and opportunity. It is also an instrument of great social and personal penetration. In an edited chapter, we consider the relationship between motivation, disinhibitory, and opportunity aspects of Internet use that are associated with aggression.
Persuasion Neuroscience
Dynamics of Persuasion
Media theory has shifted from “effects” models to “processing” models. In this project, the process of persuasion is examined over time during message receipt.
Multilevel Analysis of PSA Effectiveness
In this project, we contrast predictions of anti-drug message effectiveness from three different theoretical perspectives (ELM, AMIE, and LC4MP). We use televised anti-marijuana messages, young-adult samples, and a multilevel approach to test competing hypotheses.
The Neural Systems of Counterarguing
Building on multilevel analyses of PSA effectiveness, in this project we focus on the counterarguing (or biased processing) phenomenon in persuasion research. With a new approach in brain imaging data analysis (intersubject correlation analysis) we identify the neural systems of biased processing and develop a sensitive marker for counterarguing detection.
Theories & Methods
A Synchronization Theory of Flow
The Synchronization Theory of Flow offers a neurological explanation for flow experiences. In this view, flow is a discrete, energetically optimized, and gratifying experience resulting from the synchronization of attentional and reward networks under conditions of a balance between challenge and skill.
The Neurophysiological Perspective in Mass Communication Research
The neurophysiological perspective argues for a paradigm shift to a new way of thinking about mass communication that goes beyond the nomothetic deductive models of the past and embraces current scientfic ontology and epistemology.
Flow Theory: Advances in Experimental Manipulation & Measurement
An experimental study manipulates level of challenge in a video game and makes a case for the use of secondary task response times as a continuous, unobtrusive measure of flow.
Null Hypothesis Significance Testing in Communication Research
We consider theoretical and methodological issues associated with null hypothesis significance testing (NHST) and offer a practical guide for NHST.
Effect & Equivalence Testing – SPSS Custom Dialogs
Although equivalence testing is needed when a researcher’s goal is to support the null hypothesis (i.e., no substantial effect), equivalence tests are virtually unknown and unused in communication research. We provide the rationale for and theoretical background of effect- and equivalence testing. SPSS custom dialogs are provided to assist the research community in conducting tests of statistical effects and statistical equivalence.
Neusrel – Nonlinear Structural Equation Modeling
The Media Neuroscience Lab is a scientific collaborator of Neusrel Causal Analytics. This collaboration seeks to advance nonlinear structural equation modeling methods by incorporating machine learning techniques (e.g., neural networks). This statistical approach is of particular interest to the lab as it expands the researcher’s toolbox when analyzing brain imaging data and other complex datasets. Find out more at Neusrel Causal Analytics.