Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Spectral EEG frontal asymmetries correlate with the experienced pleasantness of TV commercial advertisements

  • Special Issue - Original Article
  • Published:
Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The aim of this research is to analyze the changes in the EEG frontal activity during the observation of commercial videoclips. In particular, we aimed to investigate the existence of EEG frontal asymmetries in the distribution of the signals’ power spectra related to experienced pleasantness of the video, as explicitly rated by the eleven experimental subjects investigated. In the analyzed population, maps of Power spectral density (PSD) showed an asymmetrical increase of theta and alpha activity related to the observation of pleasant (unpleasant) advertisements in the left (right) hemisphere. A correlation analysis revealed that the increase of PSD at left frontal sites is negatively correlated with the degree of pleasantness perceived. Conversely, the de-synchronization of left alpha frontal activity is positively correlated with judgments of high pleasantness. Moreover, our data presented an increase of PSD related to the observation of unpleasant commercials, which resulted higher with respect to the one elicited by pleasant advertisements.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Astolfi L, Cincotti F, Mattia D, Marciani MG, Baccalà LA, de Vico Fallani F, Salinari S, Ursino M, Zavaglia M, Babiloni F (2006) Assessing cortical functional connectivity by partial directed coherence: simulations and application to real data. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng 53(9):1802–1812

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Astolfi L, Cincotti F, Mattia D, De Vico Fallani F, Tocci A, Colosimo A, Salinari S, Marciani MG, Hesse W, Witte H, Ursino M, Zavaglia M, Babiloni F (2008) Tracking the time-varying cortical connectivity patterns by adaptive multivariate estimators. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng 55(3):902–913

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Babiloni C, Carducci F, Del Gratta C, Demartin M, Romani GL, Babiloni F, Rossini PM (2003) Hemispherical asymmetry in human SMA during voluntary simple unilateral movements. An fMRI study. Cortex 39(2):293–305

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Babiloni C, Brancucci A, Babiloni F, Capotosto P, Carducci F, Cincotti F, Arendt-Nielsen L, Chen AC, Rossini PM (2003) Anticipatory cortical responses during the expectancy of a predictable painful stimulation. A high-resolution electroencephalography study. Eur J Neurosci 18(6):1692–1700

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Babiloni C, Babiloni F, Carducci F, Cappa SF, Cincotti F, Del Percio C, Miniussi C, Moretti DV, Rossi S, Sosta K, Rossini PM (2004) Human cortical responses during one-bit short-term memory. A high-resolution EEG study on delayed choice reaction time tasks. Clin Neurophysiol 115(1):161–170

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Braeutigam S, Rose SP, Swithenby SJ, Ambler T (2004) The distributed neuronal systems supporting choice-making in real-life situations: differences between men and women when choosing groceries detected using magnetoencephalography. Eur J Neurosci 20(1):293–302

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Coan JA, Schaefer HS, Davidson RJ (2006) Lending a hand: social regulation of the neural response to threat. Psychol Sci 17(12):1032–1039

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Davidson RJ (2000) Affective style, psychopathology, and resilience: brain mechanisms and plasticity. Am Psychol 55:1196–11214

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Davidson RJ (2002) Anxiety and affective style: role of prefrontal cortex and amygdala. Biol Psychiatry 51(1):68–80

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Davidson RJ (2004) What does the prefrontal cortex “do” in affect: perspectives on frontal EEG asymmetry research. Biol Psychol 67(1–2):219–233

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Davidson RJ, Irwin W (1999) The functional neuroanatomy of emotion and affective style. Trends Cogn Sci 3:11–21

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. De Vico Fallani F, Astolfi L, Cincotti F, Mattia D, Tocci A, Marciani MG, Colosimo A, Salinari S, Gao S, Cichocki A, Babiloni F (2007) Extracting information from cortical connectivity patterns estimated from high resolution EEG recordings: a theoretical graph approach. Brain Topogr 19(3):125–136

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Eisenberger NI, Lieberman MD, Williams KD (2003) Does rejection hurt? An FMRI study of social exclusion. Science 302(5643):290–292

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Ioannides AA, Liu L, Theofilou D, Dammers J, Burne T, Ambler T, Rose S (2000) Real time processing of affective and cognitive stimuli in the human brain extracted from MEG signals. Brain Topogr 13(1):11–19

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Klimesch W (1999) EEG alpha and theta oscillations reflect cognitive and memory performance: a review and analysis. Brain Res Brain Res Rev 29(2–3):169–195

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Knutson B, Scott R, Wimmer GE, Prelec D, Loewenstein G (2007) Neural predictors of purchases. Neuron 53:147–156

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Lamm C, Batson CD, Decety J (2007) The neural substrate of human empathy: effects of perspective-taking and cognitive appraisal. J Cogn Neurosci 19:42–58

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Langleben DD, Loughead JW, Ruparel K, Hakun JG, Busch-Winokur S, Holloway MB, Strasser AA, Cappella JN, Lerman C (2009) Reduced prefrontal and temporal processing and recall of high “sensation value” ads. Neuroimage 46(1):219–225

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Silberstein RB, Harris PG, Nield GA, Pipingas A (2000) Frontal steady-state potential changes predict long-term recognition memory performance. Int J Psychophysiol 39(1):79–85

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Somerville LH, Heatherton TF, Kelley WM (2006) Anterior cingulate cortex responds differentially to expectancy violation and social rejection. Nat Neurosci 9:1007–1008

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Urbano A, Babiloni F, Babiloni C, Ambrosini A, Onorati P, Rossini PM (1997) Human short latency cortical responses to somatosensory stimulation. A high resolution EEG study. Neuroreport 8(15):3239–3243 Erratum in: Neuroreport 1998 Jun 1;9(8)

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Vecchiato G, Astolfi L, De Vico Fallani F, Cincotti F, Mattia D, Salinari S, Soranzo R, Babiloni F (2010) Changes in brain activity during the observation of TV commercials by using EEG, GSR and HR measurements. Brain Topogr 23(2):165–179

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Welch PD (1967) The use of fast Fourier transform for the estimation of power spectra: a method based on time averaging over short, modified periodograms. IEEE Trans Audio Electroacoustics AU-15:70–73

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Zar JH (1999) Biostatistical analysis, 4th edn. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, pp 72–75

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The Authors thank “Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo, programma neuroscienze” for the support given for the research for L.A.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Rome “Sapienza”, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185, Rome, Italy

    Giovanni Vecchiato, Fabrizio De Vico Fallani & Fabio Babiloni

  2. Neuroelectrical Imaging and BCI Lab, IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Via Ardeatina 306, 00179, Rome, Italy

    Giovanni Vecchiato, Laura Astolfi, Fabrizio De Vico Fallani, Febo Cincotti, Donatella Mattia, Francesco Bez & Fabio Babiloni

  3. Department of Computer Science and Systems, University of Rome “Sapienza”, Via Ariosto 25, 00185, Rome, Italy

    Jlenia Toppi & Laura Astolfi

Authors
  1. Giovanni Vecchiato
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jlenia Toppi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Laura Astolfi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Fabrizio De Vico Fallani
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Febo Cincotti
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Donatella Mattia
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Francesco Bez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Fabio Babiloni
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fabio Babiloni.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Vecchiato, G., Toppi, J., Astolfi, L. et al. Spectral EEG frontal asymmetries correlate with the experienced pleasantness of TV commercial advertisements. Med Biol Eng Comput 49, 579–583 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11517-011-0747-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11517-011-0747-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation