| dc.description.abstract | Studies focusing on EEG, neuromarketing, sports, and suspense and surprise have all been executed; however, there are no studies combining these aspects to focus on neurological effects based on suspense and surprise while viewing sports. Purpose: The main purpose of this study was to discern how sports fans are neurologically affected when watching video presentations of sporting events with varying suspenseful or surprising characteristics. Methods: 35 subjects were recruited to participate in the Electroencephalogram (EEG) portion of the study. After inclusion criteria was met, and preprocessing and processing of data was complete, 21 subject’s data remained usable for analysis. Another 16 subjects participated in a Truth-of-Consensus portion of the study; this portion is where the subjects watched a random selection of videos and rated the videos using a Suspense and Surprise rating Scale created for this study. Each participant in the EEG portion of the study watched two videos from four different categories: High Suspense High Surprise (HH), High Suspense Low Surprise (HL), Low Suspense High Surprise (LH), Low Suspense Low Surprise (LL). Video category and wave frequency band were analyzed in pairs; ex: Theta HH or Alpha LH. Results: Whole brain electrocortical brain activation, prefrontal cortex electrocortical brain activation, and left and right hemispheres in the prefrontal cortex were all analyzed for differences due to varying levels of suspense and surprise within a video and found no statistically significant results. However, “rest of brain” compared to prefrontal cortex was analyzed for differences due to varying levels of suspense and surprise and found statistically significant results in all video category types and frequency waves, with the exception of one video type in Beta and all Gamma waves (no significant results reported from Gamma waves). “Rest of brain” vs prefrontal cortex showed theta () HH (p= 0.00), HL (p= ), LH (p= 0.00), LL (p= 0.00); alpha () HH (p= 0.00), HL (p= 0.01), LH (p= 0.00), LL (p= 0.00); beta () HH (p= 0.03), LH (p= 0.03), LL (p= 0.02). These results are significant in the direction of whole brain, which was not the hypothesized direction because a greater mean in the prefrontal cortex would indicate greater emotional response. However, the most notable finding is in the alpha differences in all four categories. Due to alpha’s assumed role in decreased cortical activity, hemispheric activity levels are thought to actually decrease with an increase in alpha activity. This being stated, alpha having higher activity in the “rest of brain” portion lead to the assumption that alpha has lower activity levels in the prefrontal cortex, leading to greater alpha functions, including memory. Conclusion: The insignificant findings from the analysis are counterintuitive to the multiple hypotheses from this study. It was believed that videos of varying levels of suspense and surprise would create differences from baseline electrocortical brain activation. Several potential limitations including averaging data across the entire video, too small of a sample, and boredom due to a possible disinterest in certain videos leads to multiple suggestions for future research in the field of suspense and surprise in sports media. | en_US |
