Communicating with Sensation Seekers: An fMRI Study of Neural Responses to Antidrug Public Service Announcements

This study examined the neural basis of processing high- and low-message sensation value (MSV) antidrug public service announcements (PSAs) in high (HSS) and low sensation seekers (LSS) using fMRI. HSS more strongly engaged the salience network when processing PSAs (versus LSS), suggesting that high-MSV PSAs attracted their attention. HSS and LSS participants who engaged higher level cognitive processing regions reported that the PSAs were more convincing and believable and recalled the PSAs better immediately after testing. In contrast, HSS and LSS participants who strongly engaged visual attention regions for viewing PSAs reported lower personal relevance. These findings provide neurobiological evidence that high-MSV content is salient to HSS, a primary target group for antidrug messages, and additional cognitive processing is associated with higher perceived message effectiveness.