In the first stage, brainwaves were tracked through strategically placed electrodes on my scalp. Alpha and beta brainwaves were tracked through electrode pairs on the scalp locations that got the best readings from the frontal and parietal lobes, said Corinne Nacin, graduate student in journalism and mass communication and co-investigator in this media message study.

The study was composed of three stages, with the first measuring my physiological reactions to media messages.

“The first study measures negative and positive – valence – feelings and overall arousal,” Nacin said.

With eight sets of electrodes connected to my scalp and cheek bones and behind my ears, I looked at still advertisements while intermittently closing my eyes to return my brainwaves back to a relaxed state while an EEG measured my brainwaves as a control for the experiment.

Anti-drug and -smoking public service announcements were mixed in with ads featuring snakes and sharks among other textbook fear-inducing images.

“Alpha and beta waves are most important in wakefulness and paying attention,” Nacin said. “Some people’s are very hard to read.”

The right hemisphere of the brain is theorized to create negative feelings and thoughts, while the left hemisphere of the brain is thought to create positive feelings, Nacin said.

The second stage of media messages was a series of commercials, mostly focused on characters dying in violent deaths with a message portrayed through fear. I was asked to rate on a scale from one to 10 to what extent the commercials conveyed fear or happiness and what impact they had on me.

“Moderate fear is most effective in commercials,” Nacin said.

The third stage of the experiment featured a series of banners presented on a computer screen. I was asked to read the messages that slowly scrolled across the screen – all of them advertisements for neutral companies like travel agencies and air purifiers.

The banner-reading experiment is conducted for Sela Sar, assistant professor of journalism and communication, as part of a study on the effect of media messages on mood.

“Reading aloud quickly will put you in a better mood, while reading aloud slowly will put you in a worse mood,” Nacin said.

The study started on April 15 and will run until May 25. Each experiment takes about an hour to complete.