Publications by authors named "Catherine Aronowitz"
Article Synopsis
- The study examines the effectiveness of graphic warning labels (GWLs) on cigarette packs, focusing on the emotional responses they evoke in smokers.
- Participants were divided into two groups, receiving either high-arousal or low-arousal GWLs for four weeks, allowing researchers to measure changes in smoking behavior and intentions to quit.
- Results showed that the low-arousal GWLs led to reduced smoking, increased desire to quit, and a stronger endorsement of warning messages, while high-arousal GWLs initially produced more emotional response in the brain but decreased over time.
Introduction: Mentholated tobacco cigarettes are believed to be more addictive than non-menthol ones. Packaging of most menthol cigarette brands includes distinctive green hues, which may act as conditioned stimuli (ie, cues) and promote menthol smoking. To examine the cue properties of menthol cigarette packaging, we used a priming paradigm to assess the effect of packaging on the neural substrates of smoking cue reactivity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Argument strength (AS) is a validated measure of persuasiveness that has been identified as one of the key variables determining the effectiveness of video ads. Smoking-cessation videos with high AS are more effective at reducing smoking behavior than videos with low AS. The neural processes that mediate the effects of AS on subsequent smoking have not been identified.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Adolescents and young adults are essential targets for smoking prevention, but there's limited understanding of how they process health information.
- Recent studies using fMRI and EEG revealed that key brain regions like the medial prefrontal cortex, amygdala, and hippocampus react to anti-smoking messages, with developmental factors influencing these responses.
- Combining neurophysiology and behavior research can help identify the best ways to communicate the dangers of smoking to young people.
Article Synopsis
- Graphic warning labels (GWLs) combine textual warnings with emotionally impactful images to warn about smoking's health risks, but their use in the US is on hold due to court rulings.
- A study involved 73 daily smokers who were given cigarette packs with GWLs varying in emotional reaction levels for 4 weeks to test how well they recalled the associated text.
- Results showed that participants remembered the textual warnings better when they were paired with high emotional reaction images, highlighting the importance of emotionality in enhancing the effectiveness of GWLs.
Studies testing the benefits of enriching smoking-cessation video ads with attention-grabbing sensory features have yielded variable results. Dopamine transporter gene (DAT1) has been implicated in attention deficits. We hypothesized that DAT1 polymorphism is partially responsible for this variability.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study aims to determine the frequency of intracranial hypertension without papilledema in children. Charts of patients evaluated in a pediatric intracranial hypertension clinic at our institution were retrospectively reviewed. The patients were divided into 2 groups depending on whether they had presence or absence of optic nerve edema at the time of presentation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe aimed to determine the frequency of intracranial hypertension without headache in children. We retrospectively analyzed patients evaluated in a pediatric intracranial hypertension referral center. Patients were divided into 2 groups depending on whether they complained of headache at the time of presentation.
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