Ralf Schmälzle

Associate Professor: Department of Communication, Neuroscience of Messages Lab (NOM) nom.cas.msu.edu 

Director of the Health and Risk Communication M.A. program comartsci.msu.edu/hrcma

Core Leader: Health and Risk Communication Center (HRCC) hrcc.cas.msu.edu

Co-Director: Center for Avatar Research and Immersive Social Media Applications (CARISMA) carismalab.com

Personal Website: ralfschmaelzle.net

Recent mentions

Washington Post: Why human brains are bad at assessing the risks of pandemics

National Geographic: Struggling to assess pandemic risks? You’re not alone

LATimes: Op-Ed: Why storytelling is an important tool for social change

New European Bauhaus (video): Fictional narrative & the meaning factory

StoryTank, European Film Lab (video): Audience brain responses to films

Newsweek: Scientists Connect Three People's Minds So They Can Communicate Using Brainwaves Alone

MSUToday: The link between brain activity and social networks
 

Recent research articles

in press/2023

Schmälzle, R., Wilcox, S., & Huskey, R.. (submitted/under revision/in press). Brain imaging as a window into the biological basis of social cognition and communication. In. T. Reimer and L. van Swol, Lyn and A. Florack (Eds.). Handbook of Communication and Social Cognition.

Tamborini, R., Schmälzle, R., & Bowman, N. D.. (submitted/under revision/in press). The role of theory in media entertainment research. In. N. Bowman & N.D. Shackleford (Eds). Degruyter Handbook Entertainment Media and Communication, 1.

Huskey, R., & Schmälzle, R.. (submitted/under revision/in press). Finding middle ground In cognitive media psychology. In. N. Bowman & N.D. Shackleford (Eds). Degruyter Handbook Entertainment Media and Communication, 1.

Lim, S., & Schmälzle, R. (2023). The effect of source disclosure on evaluation of AI-generated messages: A two-part study. arRxiv. link

Lim, S., & Schmälzle, R. (2023). Exploring the mechanisms of AI message generation: A chatbot development activity for students. Communication Teacher. link|code

Schmälzle, R., Liu, H., Delle, F., Lewin, K., Jahn, N. T., Zhang, Y., Yoon, H., & Long, J. (2023). Moment-by-moment tracking of audience brain responses to an engaging public speech: Replicating the reverse-message engineering approach. Communication Monographs. link|code

Schmälzle, R., Lim, S., Cho, H. J., Wu, J., & Bente, G. (2023). The VR Billboard Paradigm: Using VR and eye-tracking to examine the Exposure-Reception-Retention link in realistic communication environments. bioRxiv. link|code

Schmälzle, R., & Huskey, R. (2023). Skyhooks, Cranes, and the Construct Dump: A Comment on and Extension of Boster (2023). Asian Communication Research. link

Schmälzle, R., Wilcox, S., & Huskey, R. (in press). Brain imaging as a window into the biological basis of social cognition and communication. In. T. Reimer, L. van Swol, & A. Florack (Eds.). Handbook of Communication and Social Cognition.

Huskey, R., & Schmälzle, R.. (in press). Finding Middle Ground In Cognitive Media Psychology. In. N. Bowman & N.D. Shackleford (Eds). De Gruyter Handbook Entertainment Media and Communication. link

Schmälzle, R., & Huskey, R. (2023). Integrating Media Content Analysis, Reception Analysis, and Media Effects Studies. Frontiers in Neuroscience (Neuroscience and the Media). link

Lim, S., & Schmälzle, R.. (2023). Artificial intelligence for health message generation: Theory, method, and an empirical study using prompt engineering. Frontiers in Communication: Health Communication. link|code

Holmstrom, A., Dorrance-Hall, E., Wilcox, S., & Schmälzle, R.. (2023). Confirmation, Disconfirmation, and Communal Coping for Joint Physical Activity in Romantic Dyads. Health Communication. link

Bente, G., Schmälzle, R., Jahn, N. T., & Schaaf, A. (2023). Measuring the Effects of Co-Location on Emotion Perception in Shared Virtual Environments: An Ecological Perspective. Frontiers in Virtual Reality. link|code
 

2022

Lim, S., & Schmälzle, R. (2022). Artificial intelligence for health message generation: Theory, method, and an empirical study using prompt engineering. arXiv, 2212.07507.

Schmälzle, R. (2022). Theory and method for studying how messages prompt shared brain responses along the sensation-to-cognition continuum. Communication Theory, 32(4), 450-460.

Schmälzle, R., & Wilcox, S. (2022). Harnessing artificial intelligence for health message generation: The folic acid message engine. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 22(1), e28858.

Schmälzle, R., Wilcox, S., & Jahn, N. T. (2022). Identifying moments of peak audience engagement from brain responses during story listening. Communication Monographs, 89(4), 515-538.

Jahn, N., Bente, G., & Schmälzle, R. (2022). Media neuroscience on a shoestring: Examining electrocortical responses to visual stimuli via mobile EEG. Journal of Media Psychology.

Grady, S. M., Schmälzle, R., & Baldwin, J. A. (2022). Examining the relationship between story structure and audience response: How shared brain activity varies over the course of a narrative. Projections – Journal for Movies and Mind, 16(3), 1-28.

Bente, G., Schmälzle, R., Kryston, K., & Jahn, N. (2022). Building blocks of suspense. Subjective and physiological effects of narrative content and film music.. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 9, 449.

2021

Baldwin, J. A., & Schmälzle, R. (2021). A Character Recognition Tool for Automatic Detection of Social Characters in Visual Media Content. Computational Communication Research.

Schmälzle, R., Wilcox, S., & Grall, C. (2021). Neuroimaging in Environmental Communication Research. In. Takahashi, B., Metag, J., Thaker, C. & Evans-Comfort, A.: ICA-Routledge Handbook of International Trends in Environmental Communication. 437-448.

Dorrance-Hall, E., Wilcox, S., Holmstrom, A., McGraw, J. & Schmälzle, R. (2021). Reactance to Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Messages: Face Threat and Face Management Strategies in Memorable Daily Conversations Among Couples. Health Communication.

Anderson, J., Lapinski, M., Turner, M., Peng, T., & Schmälzle, R. (2021). Speaking of Values: Value-Expressive Communication and Exercise Intentions. Health Communication. 

Grall, C., Weber, R., Tamborini, R., & Schmälzle, R.. (2021). Stories collectively engage listeners’ brains: Enhanced intersubject correlations during reception of personal narratives. Journal of Communication, 71(2), 332-355. 

2020

Schmälzle, R., & Meshi, D.. (2020). Communication Neuroscience: Theory, methodology, and experimental approaches. Communication Methods and Measures, 1(1), 1-16. [+Shared first authorship]

Imhof, M. A., Schmälzle, R., Renner, B., & Schupp, H. T.. (2020). Strong health messages increase audience brain coupling. NeuroImage.

Schmälzle, R., & Grall, C.. (2020). Mediated messages and synchronized brains. In. Floyd & Weber: Handbook of Communication Science and Biology.

Wilcox, S., Holmstrom, A., Dorrance-Hall, E., & and Schmälzle, R.. (2020). The emerging frontier of interpersonal communication and neuroscience: Scanning the social synapse. Annals of the International Communication Association, 44(4), 368-384.

Schmälzle, R., & Grall, C.. (2020). Psychophysiological methods: Options, uses, and validity. In. J. VanDenBulck & M.-L. Mares: The International Encyclopedia of Media Psychology.

Grall, C., & Schmälzle, R.. (2020). Neurocinematics. In. J. VanDenBulck & M.-L. Mares: The International Encyclopedia of Media Psychology.

Schmälzle, R., & Grall, C.. (2020). The coupled brains of captivated audiences: An investigation of the collective brain dynamics of an audience watching a suspenseful film. Journal of Media Psychology, (Online First). [+Shared first authorship]

Huskey, R., Eden, A., Grall, C., Meshi, D., Prena, K., Schmälzle, R., Scholz, C., Turner, B., & Wilcox, S.. (2020). Marr’s tri-level framework integrates biology with communication science. Journal of Communication, 1(1), 1-20.

Schmälzle, R., Cooper, N., O’Donnell, B. M., Tompson, S., Lee, S., Cantrell, J., Vettel, J. M., & Falk, E. B.. (2020). The effectiveness of online messages for promoting smoking cessation resources: Predicting nationwide campaign effects from neural responses in the EX campaign. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, [Shared frist authorship].

2019
Schmälzle, R.,Imhof, M., Kenter, A., Renner, B. & Schupp, H.T. (2019). Impressions of HIV risk online: Brain potentials while viewing online dating profiles. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 19(5), 1203-1217. 

Kranzler, E. C., Schmälzle, R., O’Donnell, M. B., Pei, R., & Falk, E. B.. (2019). Message-elicited brain response moderates the relationship between opportunities for exposure to anti-smoking messages and message recall. Journal of Communication.

Schmälzle, R., Hartung, F-M., Imhof, M., Kenter, A., Renner, B. & Schupp, H.T. (2019). Visual cues that predict intuitive risk perception in the case of HIV. PLOSOne.

Pei, R., Schmälzle, R., Kranzler, E., O’Donnell, M. B., & Falk, E. B. (2019). Neural activity during anti-smoking message exposure predicts subsequent message sharing engagement. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 56(2), S40-S48.

2018
Schlicht-Schmälzle, R., Chykina, V.,& Schmälzle, R.(2018). An attitude network analysis of post-national citizenship identities. PLOSOne, 13(12), e0208241. 

Kryston, K., Novotny, E., and Schmälzle, R., & Tamborini, R. (2018). Social demand in video games and the synchronization theory of flow. Ed. N. Bowman. Video Games: A Medium that Demands Our Attention.

Kranzler, E., Schmälzle, R., O’Donnell, M. B., Pei, R. & Falk, E. B. (2018). Adolescent neural responses to anti-smoking messages, perceived effectiveness, and sharing intention. Media Psychology.