Ralf Schmälzle

Associate Professor: Department of Communication, Neuroscience of Messages Lab (NOM) nomcomm.github.io

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/

2024/in press
Jeon, M., Lim, S., and Lapinski, M., Spates, S., Bente, G., & Schmälzle, R.. (2024). Attention and Retention Effects of Culturally Targeted Billboard Messages: An Eye-Tracking Study using Immersive Virtual Reality. bioRxiv.

Schmälzle, R., Jahn, N., & Bente, G.. (2024). Charting the Silent Signals of Social Gaze: Automating Eye Contact Assessment in Face-to-Face Conversations. bioRxiv.

Lim, S., Cho, H. J., Jeon, m., Cui, X., & Schmälzle, R.. (2024). Using VR and eye-tracking to study attention to and retention of AI-generated ads in outdoor advertising environments. bioRxiv. link|code

Cho, H.-J., Lim, S., Turner, M., Bente, G., & Schmälzle, R. (2024). Eyes on VR: Unpacking the Causal Chain Between Exposure, Reception, and Retention for Emotional Billboard Messages. bioRxiv. link|code

Lim, S., Schmälzle, R., & Bente, G.. (2024). Artificial social influence via human-embodied AI agent interaction in immersive virtual reality (VR): Effects of similarity-matching during health conversations. arXiv. link

Lim, S., & Schmälzle, R. (2024). The effect of source disclosure on evaluation of AI-generated messages: A two-part study. Computers in Human Behavior: Artificial Humans. link | pdf | code

Schmälzle, R., Wu, J., Lim, S., & Bente, G.. (2024). The eyes have it: Inter-subject correlations of pupillary responses for audience response measurement in VR. bioRxiv. link

Schmälzle, R., Lim, S., Wu, J., Bezbaruah, S., & Hussain, A. (2024). Converging crowds and tied twins: Audience brain responses to the same movie are consistent across continents and enhanced among twins. Journal of Media Psychology. link

Schmälzle, R., Wilcox, S., & Huskey, R. (2024). 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.. (2024). Finding Middle Ground In Cognitive Media Psychology. In. N. Bowman & N.D. Shackleford (Eds). De Gruyter Handbook Entertainment Media and Communication. link

Tamborini, R., Schmälzle, R., & Bowman, N. D.. (2024). The role of theory in media entertainment research. In. N. Bowman & N.D. Shackleford (Eds). Degruyter Handbook Entertainment Media and Communication, link

2023

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., & 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.