In the Article Sharing task, participants read the headlines and abstracts of 80 news articles from the health section of the New York Times (published online between July 2012 and February 2013) while in the fMRI scanner.
Data collected using this task is published here:
- Scholz, C., Baek, E. C., O’Donnell, M. B., Kim, H. S., Cappella, J. N., & Falk, E. B. (2017). A neural model of valuation and information virality. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 201615259.
- Baek, E. C., Scholz, C., O’Donnell, M. B., & Falk, E. B. (2017). The Value of Sharing Information: A Neural Account of Information Transmission. Psychological science, 0956797617695073.
The Article Sharing Task consists of 2 runs, with 40 trials each. To control for reading speed, participants hear a recording of the headlines and abstracts read aloud (M = 10.2s, range 8-12s, SD = 1.41s). Each headline and abstract was randomized into one of four conditions: 1) broadcast share condition ("how likely would you be to share this article on your Facbeook wall?"), 2) narrowcast share condition ("how likely would you be to share this article with Facebook Friend X", where X is the name of a specific friend), 3) select to read for self condition ("how likely would you be to read the article yourself?"), and 4) content recall/control condition ("is [age/nutrition/fitness/science/laws/well-being/cancer] the topic of this article?"). Participants see 20 news headlines and abstracts within each condition, which are randomly assigned that treats article length as a blocking factor (i.e., to balance the length of articles across conditions). Participants are asked to rate their responses on a 1-5 likert scale.
Each trial begins with a 1.5s orientation screen that informs participants which condition they are about to undertake. The participants then see and hear via headphones an article headline and abstract (8-12s). This is followed by a jittered fixation screen (M = 2s, range 0.5-4.7s, SD = 0.97s). Participants then have 3s to record their responses on a 5-point likert scale. This is followed by a fixation with a jittered inter-trial interval (M = 1.5s, range 0.5-4.7s, SD = 0.96s).
Prior to entering the scanner, participants were introduced to the task with a tutorial to ensure that they fully understood the task. They were also shown the button box used to record their answers in the scanner and asked to practice pressing each button. Immediately prior to the beginning of the task in the fMRI scanner, participants were once again briefly reminded of the task's instructions over the intercom in the scanner control room.
A researcher verbally instructed the participants on the details of the task during the tutorial:
“In the Articles task, you will be seeing 80 headlines and abstracts of health-related articles that we picked from the New York Times website. Next to reading the texts, you will be hearing them read to you over earphones. After reading each article, you will be asked one question. There are four different questions and, for each article, we will randomly choose one out of these four and ask you to answer it. The four questions are:
1. Would you share the article on your Facebook wall? (Very Unlikely – Very Likely)
2. Would you share the article with Friend X via a private Facebook message? (Very Unlikely – Very Likely) – For this question, we chose 6 friends from your Facebook network about whom you said you were likely to talk to about physical activity and healthy living information.
3. Would you read the full text of this article yourself? (Very Unlikely – Very Likely)
4. Is this article about topic X? The screen will say Topic: (e.g. Disease or Fitness) – Your task is to decide whether the article is about that specific topic. (Certainly not – Certainly yes)
All ratings are made from 1-5 using the button box I showed you earlier. It is important for you to know that the ratings you are making in the scanner will determine what we will ask you to after the scan session. Specifically, based on your ratings, we will determine the articles that you were most likely to share on your Facebook wall and ask you to share one of them on your actual Facebook wall. Similarly, of those articles you said inside the scanner you would be most likely to share via a private Facebook message, we will ask you to share one via a private message to a Facebook friend later. Finally, we will ask you to choose one of your favorite articles for reading the full text yourself to read in full after the scan.
Let me now explain the structure of this task. You will first see the Ready… screen which indicates that the task will start in a few seconds. You will hear the scanner start being noisy at that time. You will then see short instructions to remind you what you are asked to do next. Then we’ll show you the button box to remind you which buttons are which. Finally, the task starts. For each trial, you will first see a screen that indicates which of the 4 questions you will be asked about the article that follows. Share:Wall = Do you want to share on your Facebook wall, Share: Friend X = Do you want to send a private message to X?, Read: Yourself = Do you want to read the full text of this article?, Topic: X = Is X the topic of this article? As soon as you see that screen, please start thinking about this question.
The next screen then shows the article’s headline and abstract and you will also hear someone reading it to you. The screen also reminds of you what question you will be asked next. Please make sure that you read the article with the specific question in mind that you will be asked next. Since we are taking pictures of your brain and want to find out details about the activity of your brain when you are thinking about specific things, it is very important that you try and follow the task instructions closely and that you control what you are thinking about at all times. After you read the article, you will see a fixation cross for a short amount of time. You won’t have to do anything while this cross is on the screen. Finally, you will see the rating screen. It reminds you of the question you are being asked and prompts you to answer using the buttons (1-5) on your response box. Before you start the next trial, you will see a short fixation screen again.
Do you have any questions? [If not:] Great! We will now go through some examples to give you a feeling of how fast these screens move on. Some final tips: Beware that the task is not waiting for you to make a rating. Try to make your rating in time. If you miss a rating, don’t worry, let it go and focus on the next article. Generally, it is important that you try not to linger on a past articles with your thoughts, but always focus entirely on the article that is on the screen RIGHT NOW.”
Then, immediately prior to the task starting in the scanner, participants were briefly reminded of the task instructions:
“This is the Article Task, where you read various articles. We will randomly choose one out of four questions for you to answer for each article. The questions are: Would you share the article on your Facebook wall?, Would you share the article with a specific Facebook friend?, Would you read the article’s full text yourself?, Is the topic of the article X? Answer the questions by pressing your button pad. You will also hear the article read out loud. Make sure that you are considering the question while reading each article.”