Personal involvement is related to increased search ... - Frontiers

After the fMRI experiment subjects were asked to complete a German version of the Personal Involvement Inventory (RPII, Zaichkowsky, 1994). The ... Articles Abstract Introduction ExperimentalProcedure Results Discussion ConflictofInterestStatement Acknowledgments References SuggestaResearchTopic> DownloadArticle DownloadPDF ReadCube EPUB XML(NLM) Supplementary Material Exportcitation EndNote ReferenceManager SimpleTEXTfile BibTex totalviews ViewArticleImpact SuggestaResearchTopic> SHAREON OpenSupplementalData ORIGINALRESEARCHarticle Front.Hum.Neurosci.,26March2015 |https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2015.00144 PersonalinvolvementisrelatedtoincreasedsearchmotivationandassociatedwithactivityinleftBA44—apilotstudy MichaelSchaefer1*,FranziskaRumpel2,AbdolkarimSadrieh3,MartinReimann4andClaudiaDenke5 1DepartmentofNeurology,Otto-von-GuerickeUniversityMagdeburg,Magdeburg,Germany 2DepartmentofMarketing,Otto-von-GuerickeUniversityMagdeburg,Magdeburg,Germany 3DepartmentofE-Business,Otto-von-GuerickeUniversityMagdeburg,Magdeburg,Germany 4EllerCollegeofManagement,UniversityofArizona,Tucson,AZ,USA 5DepartmentofAnesthesiologyandIntensiveCareMedicine,Charité—UniversitätsmedizinBerlin,Berlin,Germany Numerousstudiesexploreconsumerperceptionofbrandsinamoreorlesspassiveway.Thismaystillberepresentativeformanysituationsordecisionswemakeeachday.Nevertheless,sometimesweoftenactivelysearchforanduseinformationtomakeinformedandreasonedchoices,thusimplyingarationalandthinkingconsumer.Researcherssuggesteddescribingthisdistinctionaslowrelativetohighinvolvementconsumerbehavior.Althoughtheinvolvementconcepthasbeenwidelyusedtoexplainconsumerbehavior,behavioralandneuralcorrelatesofthisconceptarepoorlyunderstood.Thecurrentstudyaimstodescribeabehavioralmeasurethatisassociatedwithhighinvolvement,thelengthofsearchbehavior.Asecondaimofthisstudywastoexplorebrainactivationsassociatedwithinvolvementbyemployingfunctionalmagneticresonanceimaging(fMRI).Wepresentedparticipantsinformationcuesfordifferentproductsandtoldthemthattheyhadtoanswerquestionswithrespecttotheseproductsattheendoftheexperiment.Participantswerefreetostoptheinformationsearchiftheythinktheygatheredenoughinformationortocontinuewithcollectinginformation.Behavioralresultsconfirmedourhypothesisofarelationshipbetweensearchingbehaviorandpersonalinvolvementbydemonstratingthatthelengthofsearchcorrelatedsignificantlywiththedegreeofpersonalinvolvementoftheparticipants.fMRIdatarevealedthatpersonalinvolvementwasassociatedwithactivationinBA44.Sincethisbrainregionisknowntobeinvolvedinsemanticmemory,theresultsofthispilotstudysuggestthathighinvolvementconsumerbehaviormaybelinkedtocognitiveloadandattentiontowardsaproduct. Introduction Itiswellknownthatthereoftenexiststrongemotionalbondsbetweenabrandandthecustomer(EngleandBlackwell,1982;Leahy,2008).Forexample,ithasbeendemonstratedthattheperceptionoffavoritebrandsorproductsinvolvessimilarbrainnetworksasartificiallyassociatedrewardstimuli(e.g.,O’Doherty,2004;O’Dohertyetal.,2006;Knutsonetal.,2007;SchaeferandRotte,2007a;Schaeferetal.,2011).Thishasbeenexplainedbytheassociationofbrandswithappetitivestimuli,e.g.,duetomarketingefforts(Gorn,1982;Leahy,2008).However,whenwefacebrandsorconsumerproductswearenotonlydrivenbyemotionalandunconsciousfactors.Sometimesweactivelyandextensivelysearchforinformationtomakeinformedandreasonedchoices.Thus,theconsumerhereisarationalandintelligentindividual,lookingextensivelyforinformationandperformingacomprehensiveevaluationofthechoicealternatives.Ithasbeenproposedthatthisattitudecanbedescribedashighor,respectively,aslowinvolvementconsumerbehavior,whichcanbedifferentiated,forexample,bythedegreeinwhichconsumersactivelyandextensivelysearchforinformation(Zaichkowsky,1985).However,theinvolvementconstructiscomplexandhasmanydifferentfacets.Antecedentsofinvolvementmaybepersonalfactors(needs,values,importance),stimulusfactors(differentiationofalternatives,contentofcommunication),aswellassituationalfactors(occasion,purchase/use).Hence,onecanbeinvolvedwithproducts,advertisements,orwithpurchasedecisions.Possibleresultsofinvolvementmaybetheamountofinformationsearch,theeffectivenessofanadtoinducepurchase,therelativeimportanceoftheproductclass,theperceiveddifferencesinproductattribution,thepreferenceofaparticularbrand,theinfluenceofpriceonbrandchoice,andthetimespentdeliberatingalternatives(Zaichkowsky,2012).GiventhecomplexityofthisconceptKassarjian(1981)claimedthatitwas“unfortunatethatasimpleinstrumentortoolhasnotyetbeendevelopedtomeasuretheconceptofinvolvementbutif‘necessityisthemotherofinvention’thatwillcomeintime—forthemeasureoflevelsofinvolvementisunquestionablyanecessity—onethatcannolongerbeignored”.Thisneedwasaddressed1985byJudithLynneZaichkowsky,whodevelopedabipolaradjectivescaletomeasuretheconceptofinvolvement(PersonalInvolvementInventory,Zaichkowsky,1985,1994).Inthefollowingyearsthisinstrumenthasbeenwidelyusedtoexamineconsumerbehaviorinvariouscontexts. AlthoughtheconceptofinvolvementandthePersonalInvolvementInventoryresultedinnumerousstudies,littleisknownaboutbehavioralcorrelatesofthisdistinction.Oneimportantresultofthisconceptisthatsearchbehaviorinadvancetoadecisionshoulddifferwithrespecttothisdistinction.Thus,highinvolvementshouldbeassociatedwithanincreasedlengthofsearchbehaviorwhencollectingdata.Thepresentexperimentexploresbehavioralcorrelatesforsearchbehaviorinordertotestthishypothesis.Weassumedthatcollectinginformationforhighinvolvementproductsresultsinincreasedsearchbehavior(relativetolowinvolvementproducts). Asecondaimistoexamineneuralcorrelatesforinvolvement.Recentadvancesinneuroimagingnowallowexaminingtheoreticalconstructsbeyondbehavioraldimensions,providinginformationwithrespecttotheirunderlyingneuronalnetworks.Hereweaimedtotestthisdichotomyofconsumerbehaviorbymeansoffunctionalmagneticresonanceimaging(fMRI).Giventhatinvolvementcanbeseenasthepersonalmeaningofaspecificobjectinacertainsituation(Zaichkowsky,1985),wehypothesizedthathighinvolvementconsumerbehaviorisassociatedwithbrainregionsknowntoberelatedtoself-relatedcognitions.Thosebrainareasaretheprecuneus(e.g.,CavannaandTrimble,2006)andtheprefrontalcortex(e.g.,Johnsonetal.,2002;Ochsneretal.,2004;SchaeferandRotte,2007b).Activationintheprefrontalpartofthebrainhasbeenrelatedtopersonalityexpression,decision-making,searchingprocessesandplanningofcomplexcognitivebehavior.Inparticular,ithasbeenrelatedtoactionswithinternalgoals(Milleretal.,2002)andtorewardexpectation(Watanabe,1996).Thus,wehypothesizedthathighinvolvementconsumerbehavior(relativetolowinvolvement)islinkedtoincreasedactivationinprefrontalbrainregions. Inordertotestbothhypothesesweusedaparadigminwhichparticipantswerepresentedinformationtospecificproducts,similartoasearchontheInternetwithasearchengine.Participantswereaskedtocollectinformationforvariousproducts.Theyweretoldthataftertheendoftheexperimentaquestionnairewouldhavetobecompleted,inwhichtheywereaskedquestionsforeachproductandrewardedwith0.30€foreachcorrectanswer.Aftereachinformationcuetheparticipantshadtodecideiftheywanttoreceivemoreinformationortostoptheinformationsearchforthisproduct.Sincetheparticipantwasnottoldwhatkindofquestionswewouldaskhim,weassumedthatthelengthofsearchbehaviorwasdependingonhisorherpersonalinvolvementinaproduct.Thus,wehypothesizedthatthenumberofinformationcueswouldbeassociatedwiththedegreeofpersonalinvolvement.Inotherwords,weassumedthatthemoreparticipantswerepersonallyinvolvedinaproduct,themoreinformationtheywouldcollect.Wehypothesizedthatthisinvolvementattitudeislinkedtoactivityinprefrontalcortex. ExperimentalProcedure Participants Tensubjects(fivefemales)withameanageof25yearsparticipatedinthestudy.Allparticipantswerestudentsfromthelocaluniversity,recruitedfromadatapoolofvolunteers.Eachofthemreceived18Eurosforparticipatinginthisstudy.Theparticipantsgaveinformedwrittenconsenttothestudy,whichadheredtotheDeclarationofHelsinkiandwasapprovedbythelocalhumansubjects’committee(UniversityofMagdeburg). Procedure ParticipantswereinstructedtocollectinformationondifferentproductssimilartoasearchontheInternet.Theyweretoldthataftertheendoftheexperimentaquestionnaireonthoseproductswouldbepresented.Foreachcorrectanswertheywouldget0.30€. Informationstimuliconsistedoutoftextsorpicturesprovidinginformationonacertainproduct(informationcues),forexample,displayingthepictureofaspecificcarmodelorprovidinginformationabouttechnicalfeaturesofacar(e.g.,gasolineconsumption)(seeFigure1).Therewasatotalof30informationcuesforeachproduct.Participantsviewed30products.Thestimuliweretakenfromapre-study,whichcontrolledallitemstomatchwithrespecttovalence.Productsincludedobjectssuchascameras,cars,orcosmetics.Allstimuliwerenon-fictional.Participantshadnopriorknowledgeabouttheobjects(asverifiedbeforeincludingtheminthestudy). FIGURE1 Figure1.Designofthesearchtask.Fordetailsseetext. Eachinformationcue(pictureoftext)lastedfor6sandwasfollowedbyaquestionscreen:“Wouldyouliketosearchmore?”Heretheparticipantshadtochooseiftheywantedtogetmoreinformationonthisproduct(“Yes,searchmore.”)ortostoptheinformationsearchonthisproductandstartwithanotherproduct(“No,nextproduct.”)(seeFigure1).Iftheydecidedtoseemoreinformationthenextinformationcueonthisproductwouldbepresented.Iftheychosetostopthesearchhere,aninformationcueonanotherproductwouldshowup.Thequestionscreenappearedfor2s.Participantswereallowedtospendupto30storespondtothisquestion.Thenexttrialstarted6saftertheresponseoftheparticipants.Condition-relatedactivitywasmeasuredusinga“floating”timewindowofeightimagessurrounding(fourbefore,oneduring,andthreeafter)thepointofresponseforeachparticipant(analogtoGreeneetal.,2001).Inaddition,weappliedabaselinecondition,whichdisplayedafixationasteriskfor15s.Participantswereinstructedtorelaxinthisrestingcondition. Inordertorespondtothequestionsparticipantshadtopressakeywiththeirrighthand.Thekeywascustom-madeandhadtwobuttons. Visualimageswereback-projectedtoascreenattheendofthescannerbedclosetothesubject’sfeet(projector:JVCDLAG150CL).Subjectsviewedtheimagesthroughamirrormountedonthebirdcageofthereceivingcoil. Theexperimentconsistedoftworuns.Eachrunincludedallconditions.Theexperimentlastedforabout1h.Participantsspentabout45mininsideandabout15minoutsidethescanner(forpreparingforMRI,explainingthetaskandcompletingtheRPII). AfterthefMRIexperimentsubjectswereaskedtocompleteaGermanversionofthePersonalInvolvementInventory(RPII,Zaichkowsky,1994).TheRPIIisa10-itemself-reportsurveyaskingtojudgevariousproductsagainstaseriesofdescriptiveaffectiveandcognitiveadjectivesaccordingtotheirpersonalperception.Forexample,participantswereinstructedtojudgeifaproductisclosetotheadjective“boring”or“interesting”(Zaichkowsky,1994).AccordingtoZaichkowskytheRPIIcanbedividedintoacognitiveandinanaffectivescale.ParticipantscompletedtheRPIIforallproductcategories. fMRIDataAcquisitionandAnalysis Weuseda1.5Tscanner(GeneralElectricsSignaLX,Fairfield,Conneticut,USA)toconductfunctionalimaging(gradientechoT2-weightedecho-planarimages;TR=2s,TE=35ms,flipangle=80°,FOV=20mm).Datawereacquiredintwofunctionalimagingsessions.DuetoT1equilibrationeffects,wediscardedthefirstthreevolumesofthefunctionaldataforeachsession.Functionalvolumesconsistedof23slices.Eachvolumecomprised5mmslices(1mmgap,inplanevoxelsize3.125×3.125mm).Functionalsliceswereacquiredinterleavedinascendingorder.Inordertofacilitatelocalizationandcoregistrationoffunctionaldata,high-resolutionanatomicalscanswereadditionallyacquiredusingaT1-weightedspoiledgradientrecalledechosequence(TR=520ms,TE=9ms,flip=90°). fMRIdatawaspreprocessedandanalyzedusingtheStatisticalParametricMappingSoftware(SPM8,WellcomeDepartmentofImagingNeuroscience,UniversityCollegeLondon,London,UK).ForeachparticipantthefMRIscanswererealignedtocorrectforinter-scanmovementusingsincinterpolationandsubsequentlynormalizedintoastandardanatomicalspace(MNI,MontrealNeurologicalInstitutetemplate),resultinginisotropic3mmvoxels.ThescanswerethensmoothedwithaGaussiankernelof8mmfull-widthhalfmaximum. StatisticalparametricmapswerecalculatedusingmultipleregressionwiththehemodynamicresponsefunctionmodeledinSPM(boxcar-function).First,weexamineddataontheindividualsubjectlevelbyusingafixedeffectsmodel.Second,theresultingparameterestimatesforeachregressorateachvoxelwerethenenteredintoasecond-levelanalysisbyusingarandomeffectsmodel.Statisticalcontrasts(ttests)wereperformedtoexaminecorticalactivationassociatedwiththefirstpositiveresponse(“Yes,moreinformation”)relativetothelastpositiveresponse.Thelastpositiveresponsewasdefinedastheresponsebeforeindicatingthattheparticipantdidnotwanttoreceivemoreinformationonthisproduct.Weassumedthatthefirstresponserepresentsasituationwithhighinvolvement,sincetheparticipantherewantstoreceivemoreinformation.Incontrast,thelastpositiveresponserepresentsastatewithlowinvolvement,becauseafterthenextimagehewillfinishtheinformationcollectionforthisproduct.Furthermore,weaddedtime(numberofcuesbetweenfirstandlastsearchitem)asacovariateinouranalysis.Finally,wecorrelatedthepercentualsignalchangeoftheBOLDresponses(peakactivations)withthebehavioralresponses(usingSPM). Inaddition,weusedasecondmeasuretotestourhypotheses.Wecomparedbrainactivationforproductswithlongsearchduration(highinvolvement)comparedwithproductswithshortsearchduration(lowinvolvement). Theresultingimageswerethresholdedatp<0.05correctedformultiplecomparisons(FWE).Correctionwasachievedbyimposingathresholdforthevolumeofclusterscomprisingcontiguousvoxelsthatpassedavoxel-wisedthresholdofp<0.001. AnatomicalinterpretationofthefunctionalimagingresultswasperformedbyusingtheSPMAnatomytoolbox(Eickhoffetal.,2005). Results BehavioralResults Oneparticipantwasexcludedpriorfurtherdataanalysisduetotechnicalreasons.Noneofourparticipantsclaimedtohavedifficultieswiththetaskorhadtimeswhenheorshefeltboredorexhausted.Inaddition,noneofourparticipantsstatedtohaveusedanystrategiesinordertoperformthetask. Themeannumberofviewedinformationcueswas19.36(±2.06standarddeviation)(totalpossiblenumberofinformationcueswas30).Analysisofthebehavioraldatarevealedcorrelationsbetweenself-reportedinvolvement(RPIIscores)andnumberofviewedstimuli(informationcues):Thenumberofviewedstimuli(collapsedacrossproductsforeachindividual)correlatedsignificantlywiththecognitivedimensionoftheRPII(r=0.69,p<0.05)(seeFigure2andTable1).Thus,ourhypothesisthatmorestimuliareviewedforhighinvolvementproductsreceivedsupportbyshowingthatmorestimuliwereviewed(onaverage)whenparticipantsweremoreinvolvedwithproducts(ingeneral).Correlationwiththeaffectivedimensionfailedtorevealsignificantactivations(p>0.10).TheaffectiveandthecognitivedimensionsoftheRPIIwerenotsignificantlycorrelated(r=0.28,p=n.s.). FIGURE2 Figure2.Behavioralresultsdemonstratecorrelationbetweencognitivescaleoftheinvolvementbutnotoftheaffectivescaleoftheinvolvementquestionnaire. TABLE1 Table1.Meannumberofcues(picturesandtextcues)betweenfirstandlastresponsesforallparticipants(acrossallproducts). Statisticalcomparisonofthereactiontimesbetweenfirstandlastpositiveresponsedidnotshowsignificantresults. Inaddition,weexaminedifpictureandtextcueswerenotequallydistributedacrossthecategoriesfirstandlastresponses.Statisticalcomparisonsrevealednosignificantdifferences. fMRIResults AnalysisofthefMRIdatafortheBOLDactivityduringthefirstrelativetothelastpositiveresponserevealedbrainactivationinleftinferiorfrontalgyrus(BA44,parsopercularis,peakMNIcoordinates:−44,8,30,z=5.35,158voxels,FWEcorrected).Furthermore,theleftmiddlefrontalgyrus,theleftinferiortemporalgyrus,andtherightangulargyruswereinvolved(seeTable2andFigure3).Comparisonofbrainactivityduringlastpositiveresponserelativetofirstpositiveresponsefailedtorevealsignificantactivations.Analysisofthecovariatetimerevealednosignificantresults. TABLE2 Table2.Resultsofrandomeffectsanalysisforbrainactivationforthefirstpositiveresponse(“Yes,moreinformation”)relativetothelastpositiveresponse(beforestoppingthesearch)(random-effectsanalysis,p<0.05,FWEcorrected,L=lefthemisphere,R=righthemisphere,inbrackets:uncorrectedresults). FIGURE3 Figure3.Statisticalmapshowingbrainactivationforthefirstpositiveresponse(“Yes,moreinformation”)relativetothelastpositiveresponse(random-effectsanalysis,p<0.05,FWEcorrected).ResultsrevealedactivationofleftBA44.AreasofsignificantfMRIsignalchangeareshownascoloroverlaysontheT1-MNIreferencebrain. Analysisofthebrainresponsesforproductswithlongsearchduration(highinvolvement)comparedwithproductswithshortsearchdurationrevealednosignificantresults(atp<0.05,FWEcorrected).However,whenusingtheresultsofourfirstmeasureasaregionofinterest,wefoundasignificantactivation(peakMNIcoordinatesofthiscluster−32,0,34,z=4.21,FWEcorrected,smallvolumecorrection(SVC)). CombinationofBehavioralandfMRIData Wethencorrelatedindividual’sdifferentialbrainactivationsforthecontrastfirstrelativetolastresponsewithindividualRPIIscores.ResultsdemonstratedapositivecorrelationofbrainresponseswiththecognitivescaleoftheinvolvementquestionnaireinleftBA44(peakMNIcoordinates:−44,8,30,r=0.64,p<0.05,Pearson),butnocorrelationwiththeaffectivescale(r=0.45,p=n.s.)(seeFigure4).Furthermore,BOLDresponseinBA44wasassociatedwiththenumberofviewedinformationcuesoverallproducts(r=0.52). FIGURE4 Figure4.CorrelationsofcognitiveandaffectivedimensionsoftheinvolvementquestionnairewithbrainactivationsinBA44.OnlythecognitivedimensiondemonstratedapositivesignificantrelationshipwithBOLDresponsesinBA44.Seetextfordetails. CorrelationsofindividualRPIIscoreswithotherbrainregions(leftmiddlefrontalgyrus,leftinferiortemporalgyrus,rightangulargyrus)failedtoreachthelevelofsignificance. Discussion Consumerbehaviorcanbeverydifferent.Ontheonehandwesometimesactivelyandextensivelysearchforinformationtomakereasonedchoices.Ontheotherhand,ourconsumerbehaviorisoftenpassive,intuitive,andnon-conscious.Zaichkowsky(1985)suggesteddescribingthesedifferentkindsofconsumerbehaviorwiththeinvolvementconcept,whichcanbemeasuredbyasemanticdifferentialintroducedbyZaichkowsky(Osgoodetal.,1957;Zaichkowsky,1985,1994).Hereweaimedtoexaminebehavioralcorrelatesaswellastheunderlyingneuralcorrelatesforthisconcept.Behavioralresultsconfirmedourhypothesisbydemonstratingthathighinvolvementconsumerbehaviorisassociatedwithsearchduration.Furthermore,fMRIdatashowedthatpersonalinvolvementislinkedtoactivationinleftBA44. Involvementtheoryhasbecomeanimportantconceptintheconsumerbehaviorliterature.Sincebehavioralcorrelatesofhighinvolvementareoftendescribedaslongerandsustainedsearchbehavior(Zaichkowsky,1985),wehereconductedastudyinwhichparticipantsperformedasearchingtask.Thissearchingtaskincludedpicturesandtextinformationaboutdifferentproducts.Wehypothesizedthathighinvolvementproductswerefollowedbylongersearchduration.ResultsconfirmedourhypothesisbyshowingthatRPIIscoresweresignificantlycorrelatedwiththelengthofthesearch.Thus,ourresultsprovidebehavioralevidencefortheinvolvementconcept.However,thecorrelationwithbehavioralresultswasvalidonlyforthecognitivescale,theaffectivescaledoesnotseemtoberelatedtothelengthofsearchingbehavior. Inaddition,wefoundbrainregionsassociatedwithsearchingbehavior.ResultsrevealedthatamoresustainedsearchingbehaviorwaslinkedpredominantlytoanactivationoftheleftBA44.Moreover,ourresultsdemonstratedthatactivityinthisbrainregioncorrelatedwiththepersonalinvolvementoftheparticipants.Thus,themoretheparticipantswerepersonallyinvolvedintheobjects,themorethisprefrontalbrainregionwasengagedduringthesearchingtask.However,againonlythecognitivedimensionoftheinvolvementquestionnairewaslinkedtobrainactivationinBA44,theaffectivedimensionfailedtoreachthelevelofsignificance. ItiswellknownthatBA44isinparticularassociatedwithlanguagefunctions(Broca-area).Furthermore,BA44(leftIFG)hasbeenrelatedtosemanticmemoryprocesses.Forexample,Wagneretal.(1998)demonstratedthattheabilitytolaterrememberaverbalexperienceispredictedbythemagnitudeofactivationinleftIFG.Inthecurrentstudyourresultssuggestthattheactivationinthisbrainregionpointtoanincreasedcognitiveloadandimprovedattentionreflectingthehighinvolvementattitude.Furthermore,recentworkalsosuggestsarolefortheleftIFGinriskprocessing(Fecteauetal.,2008;Christopoulosetal.,2009).Sincehighinvolvementisalsoknowntooccurwhenanindividualexpectsapurchasewithahighlevelofperceivedrisk(whichcanbefinancialbutalsosocialrisk),thebrainimagingdataisalsoinlinewiththisriskfacetoftheinvolvementconcept. fMRIresultsalsosuggestarolefortherightangulargyrus(althoughsignificantonlyatanuncorrectedlevel).Previousresearchlinkedthisbrainregiontocomplexlanguagefunctions.Forexample,lesionsofthispartofthebrainresultinalexiaoragraphia(Gerstmann,1940).Furthermore,ourresultsincludeactivationofleftinferiortemporalgyrusduringtaskperformance.Thisbrainregionissuggestedtoworktogetherwithotherbrainregionsinordertoprocessandrecognizeinformationof“what”somethingis(theventralstreamoftwo-streamhypothesis,GoodaleandMilner,1992).Bothexplanationsareinlinewithrequirementsofthegiventaskinthecurrentexperiment. ThepresentresultsdemonstraterelationshipsofthecognitivescaleoftheRPIIwithlengthofsearchbehavioraswellaswithbrainactivationsinBA44.TheaffectivescaleoftheRPIIfailedtorevealanyrelationshipswithbehavioralandneuroimagingdata.Sowhyisonlythecognitivescalelinkedtoourresults?ItseemsthattheaffectivedimensionoftheRPIIshouldbelinkedtootherconceptsthansearchbehavior.Onecouldspeculatethattheremaybetwodifferentwaysofbeinginvolvedratherthanoneglobalconceptofpersonalinvolvement.However,giventhatthisisthefirststudysuggestingbehavioralcorrelatesfortheinvolvementconcept,wethinkthatfutureresearchisneededinordertoproofthishypothesisandruleoutthatothertasksmayaffectboththeaffectandcognitivescales. Theremaybeseveralobjectionstoourstudy.BothourbehavioralaswellasourfMRIdatamayreflectpredominantlyattentionprocesses.However,itseemsverydifficulttofullycontrolforattentionalprocesseswhenexperimentallyinvestigatingtheinvolvementconcept.Infact,attentionseemstobearesultofinvolvement.Anotherconcernmayfocusonthefactthatlastandfirstresponsesdifferedwithrespecttothememoryload.Hence,memoryeffectsmighthaveaffectedourfindings.Nevertheless,sincesomeofourparticipantsviewedarelativelylargenumberofcuesforhighinvolvementproducts,wethinkitisunlikelythatmemoryeffectsmayexplainourresults.Inaddition,thepositivecorrelationbetweenbrainresponsesandthecognitivescaleoftheRPIImaysimplyresultfromthefactthatsubjectssearchedlongerwhentheywerehighlyinvolvedinaproduct.However,sincethereisacorrelationwiththeRPII(andnotonlywiththenumberofshowncues)webelievethatthisexplanationisunlikely.Furthermore,weincludedtime(numberofcues)inouranalysisasacovariate,whichresultedinnosignificantresults.Last,thesearchtaskwasnotverystrictlydesigned.Thus,participantsmighthavebeenunsurewhatkindofinformationtheyshouldlookfor.However,thebasicideaofthisexperimentwastoexamineneuralcorrelatesfordifferentdegreesofinvolvementratherthanforsearchingbehavioringeneral.Theideawastogivetheparticipantsthisonlyroughlydefinedaimofthesearchingtaskinordertogatherinformationonthepersonalinvolvementconcept.Hence,webelievethatthistaskwasappropriate. However,therearesomelimitationsofourstudy.First,thesampleofthepresentstudyincludedonlyfewparticipants.Abiggersamplemayhaverevealedadditionalbrainareasassociatedwiththeinvolvementvariable.Thus,futurestudiesincludingmoreparticipantsareneededtoconfirmtheresultsofthispilotstudy.Second,thecurrentexperimentpresentedonlyalimitedchoiceofdifferentproducts.Futurestudiesshouldincludeahighernumberofparticipantsandabiggervarietyofproductsinordertoincreasethevarianceofdifferentinvolvementbehavior.Third,weareawareofthefactthattheprefrontalcortexisengagedinalotofdifferentfunctions,whichislimitingthepossibleconclusionswecandrawoutoftheimagingresults.Futurestudiesarenecessaryinfurtherinvestigatetherelationshipbetweentheprefrontalcortexandpersonalinvolvement.However,giventhatthepresentstudyisthefirstattempttoinvestigatethismodelwithaneuroimagingapproach,webelievethattheresultsareencouragingtofurtherlinkeconomictheorieswithbrainimagingtechniquesinordertounderstandconsumerbehavior.Last,ourcorrelationalanalysesrefertoaninvolvementscorecollapsedoverdifferentproducts,thereforelimitingourconclusionhere.However,thepresentresultssuggestthatoneconsequenceofhighinvolvementmaybetheamountofinformationsearch,whichisinaccordancewiththeoreticalassumptions(Zaichkowsky,2012).Inaddition,ourresultssuggestthatthehigherparticipantswereinvolvedintheshownproducts(onaverage),thehigherwashisorherbrainresponseinthisbrainregion(onaverage).Futureresearchbasedonotherstudydesignsisneededtoverifytheseresults. Insummary,thisstudypresentstworesults.First,wedemonstratedforthefirsttimeabehavioralparadigmthatisabletomeasurepersonalinvolvementbeyondthewell-knownsemanticdifferential(Zaichkowsky,1994).Inaddition,thepresentresultssuggestthatpersonalinvolvementisassociatedwithneuralactivityinleftBA44,abrainregionthatisknowntobeinvolvedinsemanticmemory,cognitiveload,andattention.However,bothrelationshipsaccountonlyforthecognitivedimensionoftheinvolvementconcept.Theaffectivedimensiondoesnotseemtobelinkedtothesekindsoftasks.Futurestudiesarenecessarytoconfirmtheresultsofthispilotstudy. ConflictofInterestStatement Theauthorsdeclarethattheresearchwasconductedintheabsenceofanycommercialorfinancialrelationshipsthatcouldbeconstruedasapotentialconflictofinterest. Acknowledgments MSwassupportedbytheDeutscheForschungsgemeinschaft.MRwassupportedbyagrantofGoogleInc. 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GoogleScholar Keywords:involvement,decisionbehavior,socialneuroscience,fMRI Citation:SchaeferM,RumpelF,SadriehA,ReimannMandDenkeC(2015)PersonalinvolvementisrelatedtoincreasedsearchmotivationandassociatedwithactivityinleftBA44—apilotstudy.Front.Hum.Neurosci.9:144.doi:10.3389/fnhum.2015.00144 Received:19September2014;Accepted:02March2015;Publishedonline:26March2015. Editedby:BurkhardPleger,MaxPlanckInstituteforHumanCognitiveandBrainSciences,Germany Reviewedby:BurkhardPleger,MaxPlanckInstituteforHumanCognitiveandBrainSciences,GermanyKonstanzeAlbrecht,UniversityofBonn,GermanyJoeranLepsien,MaxPlanckInstituteforHumanCognitiveandBrainSciences,Germany Copyright©2015Schaefer,Rumpel,Sadrieh,ReimannandDenke.Thisisanopen-accessarticledistributedunderthetermsoftheCreativeCommonsAttributionLicense(CCBY).Theuse,distributionandreproductioninotherforumsispermitted,providedtheoriginalauthor(s)orlicensorarecreditedandthattheoriginalpublicationinthisjournaliscited,inaccordancewithacceptedacademicpractice.Nouse,distributionorreproductionispermittedwhichdoesnotcomplywiththeseterms. *Correspondence:MichaelSchaefer,DepartmentofNeurology,Otto-von-GuerickeUniversityMagdeburg,LeipzigerStr.44,39120Magdeburg,GermanyTel:+49(0)391-6117542,Fax:+49(0)[email protected] COMMENTARY ORIGINALARTICLE Peoplealsolookedat SuggestaResearchTopic>