Spatiotemporal consistency of neural responses to repeatedly presented video stimuli accounts for population preferences

Population preferences for video advertisements vary across short video clips. What underlies these differences? Repeatedly watching a video clip may produce a consistent spatiotemporal pattern of neural activity that is dependent on the individual and the stimulus. Moreover, such consistency may be associated with the degree of engagement and memory of individual viewers. Since the population preferences are associated with the engagement and memory of the individual viewers, the consistency observed in a smaller group of viewers can be a predictor of population preferences. To test the hypothesis, we measured the degree of inter-trial consistency in participants' electroencephalographic (EEG) responses to repeatedly presented television commercials. We observed consistency in the neural activity patterns across repetitive views and found that the similarity in the spatiotemporal patterns of neural responses while viewing popular television commercials predicts population preferences obtained from a large audience. Moreover, a regression model that used two datasets, including two separate groups of participants viewing different stimulus sets, showed good predictive performance in a leave-one-out cross-validation. These findings suggest that universal spatiotemporal patterns in EEG responses can account for population-level human behaviours.

Automated summary

Population preferences for video advertisements vary across individuals, and this variation is influenced by the consistent spatiotemporal patterns of neural activity produced through repetitive viewing of video clips. The degree of engagement and memory in individual viewers is associated with this consistency. The observed consistency in a smaller group of viewers can predict population preferences and can be identified through EEG responses to repeated television commercials.