Neurobiology: The Influence of Advertisements on the Brain

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Education Connection Commercial Jingle circa 2009

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYS5NtRXlZQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYS5NtRXlZQ

I can confidently say that I know every word to the education connection jingle from their 2009 commercial. The advertisement targets young people considering higher education. Their service helps people “find the right college for free.”  I was 12 years old when the commercial first aired. I can distinctly remember singing the jingle at school with my friends. It was a bop! The jingle in the commercial is easy to remember, catchy and repetitive. These elements allow the brain to make an emotional connection with the tune. When we hear it it has the same effect of listening to a song we know by heart.
The part of the brain stimulated by music is the amygdala which is part of the limbic system. This area reacts emotionally to music by eliciting feelings of excitement, happiness, sadness, etc. The ventral tegmental area of the limbic system is also thought to be stimulated by music. Interestingly, this area is a source of dopamine production. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is involved in the pleasure/reward reinforcement function. So when we listen to a song or hear a jingle that we enjoy our brains produce dopamine. Dopamine makes us feel good and that reinforces how we feel about what initially stimulated the dopamine production. Perhaps this is why songs get stuck in our head? Researchers call the clip of the song that gets stuck “earworms” when they have this effect. These earworms stimulate the auditory cortex of the brain. The auditory cortex is considered responsible for repeating the jingle over and over after we have stopped listening to it play.



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