About

René Weber is a Professor in the Department of Communication and in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is also the director of UCSB’s Media Neuroscience Lab. His research investigates complex cognitive responses to mass communication and mediated narratives, with an emphasis on the neural mechanisms of moral conflict, persuasion, media violence, cognitive control, and flow experiences. His current projects focus on the relationships between media-multitasking and attention disorders such as ADHD, compulsive media use, and the analysis of moral narratives and moral conflict in global news and entertainment. René Weber received his Ph.D. in Psychology from the Berlin University of Technology in 2000 and his M.D. in Psychiatry and Cognitive Neuroscience from RWTH University in Aachen, Germany, in 2008. He has published four books and more than 160 journal articles and book chapters as of October 2022. His research has been supported by grants from national scientific foundations in the United States and Germany, private philanthropies, and industry contracts. He was the first communication scholar to regularly use fMRI to investigate various media effects, including the impact of violence in video games and the effectiveness of anti-drug PSAs.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Social psychology
• Psychology
• Political Science
• Linguistics
• Artificial Intelligence
• Communication
• Neuroscience
• Cognitive psychology
• Public relations
• Engineering
• Engineering ethics
• Epistemology
• Philosophy
• World Wide Web

Selected publications

• Highlighting the Role of Morality in News Framing and Its Short-Term Effects on Stock Market Fluctuations

  International Journal of Financial Studies · 2025-06-09 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  The Model of Intuitive Morality and Exemplars (MIME) suggests that news audiences, including investors, evaluate news based on their moral frames, and that these moral evaluations shape behavior. We extracted moral signals from 382,185 news articles across an 8-month period and examined their predictive effect on stock market movement. Results indicate that morality is a strong predictor during low economic periods and is driven by subversion and sanctity. Overall, our study suggests that moral framing and its foundations are important considerations for research on news effects, especially during periods of economic instability. The study provides an additional theoretical perspective on stock market fluctuations as well as practical implications for stakeholders with an interest in dampening collective panics and stabilizing investor sentiment.

  PublisherDOI

• Brain activity explains message effectiveness: A mega-analysis of 16 neuroimaging studies

  PNAS Nexus · 2025-10-31 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access

  Persuasive communication in marketing, political, and health domains influences sales, elections, and public health. We present a mega-analysis (a pooled analysis of raw data) of 16 functional MRI datasets (572 participants, 739 messages, and 21,688 experimental trials) assessing the neural correlates of the effectiveness of messages in individual message receivers and at scale (in large groups of message receivers who did not undergo neuroimaging). Existing theories suggest that decision-making is driven by expected rewards and perceived social relevance associated with the expected outcomes of a given choice. Consistent with these theories, we find that (i) brain activity implicated in reward and social processing is associated with message effectiveness in individuals and at scale across diverse domains (e.g. marketing and health campaigns); (ii) exploratory analysis further suggests language, emotion, and sensorimotor processes as pertinent to message effectiveness; and (iii) brain activity provides complementary information on message effectiveness at scale beyond self-reports provided by the same neuroimaging participants. This study offers novel insights into the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying effective messaging, highlights a path toward greater unity and efficiency in persuasion research, and suggests practical intervention targets for message design.

  PublisherDOI

• How should we approach negative news in the media? A ‘mindful’ and ‘harmonious’ consumption of negative news by users might be an answer

  Frontiers in Psychology · 2025-06-18 · 5 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  The prevalence of negative sentiment in news content appears to have increased over time. This trend has raised concerns about the potential challenges associated with consuming negative news, particularly when it is consumed frequently. In response, two general recommendations have emerged: news organizations should strive to balance negative coverage with positive reporting, and users are advised to limit their exposure to negative news. However, these recommendations seem to not be effective in practice in many cases and may also raise moral, intellectual, informational, and societal challenges (e.g., the public's unawareness of societal issues). This Perspective aims to propound that negative news can be consumed 'mindfully' and 'harmoniously'. We propose that individuals should adopt an agentic mindset toward negative news consumption. We outline what mindful and harmonious consumption of negative news might look like and argue that recommending a fixed duration limit for exposure to negative news for all users may not be feasible, given the interpersonal and intrapersonal variability among individuals. The mindful-harmonious consumption of negative news may serve as an adaptive strategy for contemporary users, who are continuously exposed to negative news yet still require it. Conceptual and empirical investigations into the mindful and harmonious consumption of negative news warrant scholarly and public attention.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Exploring Neural Idiosyncrasies in Response to Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response Videos: Naturalistic Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study of Stress and Sensory Processing

  Journal of Medical Internet Research · 2025-07-14

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Background: Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) videos have been increasingly popularized as accessible tools for stress relief. Despite widespread media coverage promoting their benefits, empirical research on the neural mechanisms underlying ASMR remains limited, particularly in general, unselected populations rather than self-identified ASMR responders. Objective: This study aimed to investigate whether ASMR videos, when viewed in a naturalistic context by a general population sample, elicit consistent neural synchrony in stress-related brain regions and whether individual differences in perceived stress predict variability in neural responses. Methods: The study included 72 young adults from South Korea. They participated in a functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment in which they viewed 3 ASMR videos selected through both manual and computational content analysis to reflect commonly consumed ASMR content. Intersubject correlation analysis was used to quantify the degree to which participants exhibited shared temporal patterns of neural activity across 16 a priori regions of interest implicated in stress processing. Intersubject representational similarity analysis assessed whether pairwise similarity in self-reported stress levels predicted similarity in neural synchrony. Exploratory analyses examined differences across videos, the impact of familiarity and prior ASMR use, and comparisons with a Mukbang control video. Results: Intersubject correlation analysis demonstrated that ASMR videos elicited significant neural synchrony in several brain regions (P<.05), including the insula and amygdala, although this synchrony varied across videos. No significant associations were identified between perceived stress and neural synchrony after correction for multiple comparisons (all P>.05). Exploratory comparisons with a Mukbang control video revealed no significant differences in stress-related neural synchrony between ASMR and non-ASMR content (all P>.05). Additional exploratory analyses examining familiarity with the content and prior ASMR viewership also did not show significant effects (all P>.05). Uncorrected analyses suggested weak trends that indicated greater neural variability among participants with differing stress levels, but these findings are preliminary. Conclusions: The results do not provide conclusive evidence that ASMR videos consistently engage stress-related neural networks or that individual stress levels predict neural synchrony during ASMR video viewing. The findings highlight the substantial variability in ASMR engagement across content and individuals, and underscore the need for further research using multimodal physiological measures, larger samples, and stratified designs to identify which ASMR components and viewer characteristics are most relevant to potential stress-relief effects.

  PublisherDOI

• The Extended Morality as Cooperation Dictionary (eMACD): A Crowd-Sourced Approach via the Moral Narrative Analyzer Platform

  Communication Methods and Measures · 2025-05-20 · 2 citations

  articleSenior authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Mindful Use of Social Media is Associated with Weaker Conspiracy Beliefs—Evidence from the Philippines, Australia, and Iran

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01 · 2 citations

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Cracking the Code of Gaming Disorder

  2025-03-28 · 2 citations

  otherOpen accessSenior author

  Video gaming is a popular pastime worldwide; however, what happens when gaming becomes compulsive and problematic? How do parents, policymakers, or practitioners begin to articulate and address this emerging disorder? This chapter explores video gaming disorder as a behavioral addiction, distinguishing healthy engagement from pathological gaming and examining societal and individual factors that define excessive use. Using frameworks like the DSM-5 and ICD-11, it outlines criteria for identifying gaming disorder and differentiates it from substance and other behavioral addictions. Psychological models, including the I-PACE (interaction of person-affect-cognition-execution) framework and dual-process theory, explain cognitive and neurobiological mechanisms driving gaming disorder. Key risk factors, such as impulsivity, internalizing comorbidities, environmental stressors, and gender disparities, are analyzed alongside gaming's unique, addictive potential, shaped by reward structures and psychological satisfaction. The chapter also addresses effective communication strategies for parents, policymakers, and practitioners when engaging with affected individuals. Recommendations emphasize gamified interventions, improving parental gaming literacy, and nuanced public health campaigns. By highlighting these approaches, the analysis underscores the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in tackling the challenges of gaming disorder within an increasingly digital world.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Psychopathology and Gaming Disorder in Adolescents

  JAMA Network Open · 2025-07-29 · 11 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Importance: Although gaming disorder is recognized as a diagnosable behavioral addiction, uncertainty remains regarding its directional association with adolescent psychopathology. Clarifying this association is crucial for refining diagnostic frameworks and developing targeted interventions. Objective: To examine directional longitudinal associations between psychopathology and gaming disorder among adolescents using the Interaction of Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution model as a theoretical framework. Design, Setting, and Participants: This cohort study used data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (release 5.1), analyzing 4289 adolescents in the US who played video games and completed 3 waves of data collection (at ages 11-12, 12-13, and 13-14 years) between January 1, 2018, and December 31, 2022. Statistical analysis was performed from December 2024 to March 2025. Main Outcomes and Measures: Psychopathology was assessed using caregiver reports from the Child Behavior Checklist, which provided measures of depression, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), social problems, anxiety, and conduct disorder or aggression. Additional person-centered core characteristics (eg, negative life events, family conflict, bullying, and impulsivity) were incorporated. Gaming disorder was measured using the Video Game Addiction Questionnaire, which aligns with the DSM-5 criteria for internet gaming disorder. Results: This cohort comprised 4289 adolescents (mean [SD] age, 168.8 [8.2] months; 2391 of 4288 [56%] males). Household income varied widely, with 1374 of 3877 households (35%) reporting an income from $100 000 to $199 000. Cross-lagged panel models (CLPMs) demonstrated that higher baseline levels of psychopathology were associated with an increased risk for subsequent gaming disorder from the 2-year to the 3-year follow-up (β = 0.03 [95% CI, 0.002-0.06]; P = .003) and from 3-year to the 4-year follow-up (β = 0.07 [95% CI, 0.04-0.10]; P < .001). Even when controlling for other personal core characteristics associated with increased risk, there was still a small to medium effect size of psychopathology associated with gaming disorder from the 3-year to the 4-year follow-up (β = 0.04 [95% CI, 0.002-0.07]; P = .04). In contrast, gaming disorder was not associated with later increases in psychopathology. Hierarchical mixed-effects models that accounted for both the panel structure and grouping of the data corroborated the results from the CLPMs. Conclusions and Relevance: The results of this cohort study suggest that psychopathology is significantly associated with the development of gaming disorder among adolescents. Clinical efforts to address underlying mental health issues, particularly for internalizing symptoms such as depression, anxiety, social problems, and ADHD, may reduce the incidence and severity of gaming disorder.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A Sensitive and Specific Neural Signature Robustly Predicts Graded Computations of Moral Wrongness

  Research Square · 2025-11-25

  preprintOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• From Theory Extremism and Methodological Arrogance to Method-Theory Synergy

  Asian Communication Research · 2024-04-23 · 1 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Damian Trilling

  University of Amsterdam

  50 shared

• Wouter van Atteveldt

  Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

  50 shared

• Cuihua Shen

  49 shared

• drew margolin

  University of Vienna

  49 shared

• Frederic R. Hopp

  42 shared

• Jacob T. Fisher

  37 shared

• Klaus Mathiak

  28 shared

• Richard Huskey

  24 shared

Awards & honors

• Fellow of the International Communication Association