Cayolla Ricardo, Biscaia Rui, Baumeister Roy F, Chan Hang-Yee, Duarte Isabel C, Castelo-Branco Miguel
Department of Economics and Management, Consumer Neuroscience Lab, REMIT, Portucalense University, Porto, Portugal.
Department for Health, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom.
Front Hum Neurosci. 2024 Jan 8;17:1235139. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2023.1235139. eCollection 2023.
We analyzed the importance of fan identity and brand strength on fans' neural reactions to different team-related stimuli.
A total of 53 fMRI scans with fans of two professional sport teams were conducted. Following up on a previous study we focused on the differences between fandom levels as well as the contrast between two team "brand" strength. Neural responses were compared among individuals based on their levels of fan identity. In sum, group comparisons between relatively high and lower identity and between weak and strong teams were made based on the notion that the latter reflects team brand strength (strong brand and weak brand).
Findings indicate that brain activity in emotion regulation, memory, and cognitive control circuits is influenced by the relative level of fan identity.
Higher-level identified fans showed increased reactivity to positive stimuli and the under-recruitment of their cognitive appraisal circuits, suggesting more vulnerability to marketers' messages. The strength of the team brand activates different neural mechanisms. Interestingly, the posterior cingulate showed larger recruitment both for weaker brands and lower fan identification, suggesting that visual memory processes are more active in these cases. Neurally processed content depends on the relative brand's strength, highlighting the importance of brand-focused communications.
我们分析了球迷身份认同和品牌强度对球迷在面对不同球队相关刺激时神经反应的重要性。
对两支职业运动队的球迷进行了总共53次功能磁共振成像扫描。在前一项研究的基础上，我们关注球迷忠诚度水平之间的差异以及两支球队“品牌”强度的对比。根据球迷身份认同水平对个体之间的神经反应进行比较。总之，基于后一种情况反映球队品牌强度（强品牌和弱品牌）这一概念，对相对高身份认同和低身份认同以及弱队和强队之间进行了组间比较。
研究结果表明，情绪调节、记忆和认知控制回路中的大脑活动受球迷身份认同相对水平的影响。
高忠诚度的球迷对积极刺激表现出更高的反应性，且其认知评估回路的活动不足，这表明他们更容易受到营销信息的影响。球队品牌的强度激活了不同的神经机制。有趣的是，后扣带回在弱品牌和低球迷认同度的情况下都表现出更大的激活，这表明在这些情况下视觉记忆过程更活跃。神经处理的内容取决于相对品牌的强度，突出了以品牌为重点的沟通的重要性。
