The images appear on television while ominous music plays in the background. It is yet another negative political ad and before you are aware of it, the message takes hold of your brain.
You may not want it to, but it works just about instantly.
In fact, the ad's effects on the brain "are actually shocking," says psychiatry professor Dr. Marco Iacoboni.
PHOTO: AFP
Scientists around the United States are keeping track of the emotional and physical effects of negative political ads. Iacoboni tracked parts of the middle brain that lit up in brain scans when people watched their favorite candidates get attacked. Other scientists hooked up wires to measure frowns and smiles before the meaning of the ads' words sunk in. Mostly, researchers found that negative ads tend make it less likely that supporters of an attacked candidate will vote.
"Everyone says, 'We hate them, they're terrible,'" said psychology professor George Bizer. However, he added, "They seem to work."
And politicians know it because the latest figures show that political parties are spending more money on negative ads than positive ones.
Negative ads make supporters of the attacker more likely to vote and make the followers of the victimized candidate feel depressed and less likely to vote, said Stanford University communications professor Shanto Iyengar.
But the attack ads do not do much to independents, said Iyengar, who has finished a study on people's reactions to positive and negative ads in seven close US Senate races which were decided last Tuesday. His online study measured "the basic gut feeling, the emotional reaction," of Democrats, Republicans and independents who watched the ads. (AP)
影像出現在電視上，背景是不祥的音樂。這將是另一個負面政治廣告，在你尚未意識到之前，訊息就掌控了你的大腦。
你或許不希望如此，但它已立即發揮功效。
精神病學教授馬可．亞柯博尼博士說，事實上，這種廣告對大腦的影響「實在驚人」。
全美的科學家持續追蹤著負面廣告對身心的影響。亞柯博尼追蹤了人們觀看最愛的候選人遭攻擊時，中腦斷層掃描會亮起的部分區域。其他科學家則在廣告字句的含義滲透之前，測量人們皺眉頭與微笑的程度。通常，研究人員發現，負面廣告讓遭攻擊的候選人之支持者可能不去投票。
心理學教授喬治．比澤說︰「大家都說『我討厭這種廣告，它們很糟糕』。」不過他也提到︰「它們似乎奏效。」
而且，政治人物也知道這一點。因為最近的數據顯示，政黨花更多的錢打負面廣告，而不是正面廣告。
史丹佛大學傳播學教授善托．易言格表示，負面廣告讓攻擊他人的候選人之支持者更可能投票，讓受害的候選人之支持者感到失望，投票可能性降低。
易言格說，不過攻擊性的廣告對獨立選民影響不大。美國參議員選舉結果於十一月七日揭曉，他已完成民眾對結果相近的七州之正負面廣告的反應之研究。他網路上的研究測量了觀看廣告的民主黨員、共和黨員與獨立選民的「基本直覺與情緒反應」。 （美聯社/翻譯：賴美君）
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