Super Bowl XLI Ads to be Ranked by fMRI Brain Scans

Super Bowl XLI Ads to be Ranked by fMRI Brain Scans

FKF Applied Research and UCLA Brain Mapping Center to Release Second Annual fMRI Super Bowl Ad Ranking Using Advanced Brain Imaging to Study Ads

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 31 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Want to know which Super Bowl ads scored touchdowns and which fumbled? FKF Applied Research, LLC and Professor Marco Iacoboni of the UCLA Ahmanson Lovelace Brain Mapping Center will release their Second Annual Ranking of the most effective Super Bowl ads using fMRI brain imaging. They will monitor activity in regions of the brain known to help control whether a consumer will buy or reject a pitch, and will provide color images showing these reactions.

The fMRI displays activity in parts of the brain responsible for elemental responses, including wanting, reward, surprise, fear, disgust, conflict, and attempts to control emotions. The ad rankings will be available Sunday night and will be posted on http://www.fkfrank.com/ and also distributed through a press release. More about the use of fMRI in assessing advertising, news stories and last year's results are also on the site.

FKF Applied Research and Dr. Marco Iacoboni's group at the UCLA Ahmanson Lovelace Brain Mapping Center recruit advertising's prime target viewers, men and women ages 18-34, to watch the Super Bowl ads as they air during the game.

The subjects view the ads while in UCLA's high-field fMRI scanner, which measures real-time the activity in their brains.

"Many of the forces that determine how people feel and act are very automatic: they can't tell you exactly what is going on deep in their brain any more than they could tell you what is happening in their heart" says Dr. Joshua Freedman, Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at UCLA and co- founder of FKF Applied Research. "Pundits and polls certainly can't access this information either -- fMRI lets us see how people are actually reacting to the ad." Dr. Freedman notes that last year the Sierra Mist ad was a big hit in people's brains, but commentators overlooked it. "Research is confirming what seems obvious in hindsight -- buying or not buying is determined by activity in the peoples' brains."

FKF Applied Research (http://www.fkfappliedresearch.com/) uses fMRI technology to better understand commercially and culturally important communications. fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) is viewed by most neuroscientists as the most powerful technology ever developed to understand how people think, feel, and make decisions. It has revolutionized the scientific study of human behavior and choice at most major Universities around the world, and is rapidly changing the field of market research and advertising.

For an interview with Dr. Joshua Freedman, UCLA Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and co-founder of FKF Applied Research, contact Debra DeShong Reed (202-528-4214), Amy Weiss (202-203-0448) or Mark Wheeler with UCLA (301-794-2265).

Source: FKF Applied Research, LLC

CONTACT: Debra DeShong Reed, +1-202-528-4214, or Amy Weiss,
+1-202-203-0448, both for FKF Applied Research

Web site: http://www.fkfappliedresearch.com/
http://www.fkfrank.com/

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