Driving-themed cannabis risk messages captured the most attention and arousal | Research

The takeaway

Among 50 young adults, psychophysiological measures showed driving-themed cannabis risk messages produced the strongest cognitive and emotional responses compared to messages about cognitive ability or health harms.

Public health communicators, prevention campaign designers, and researchers studying substance use messaging.

Driving-themed messages outperformed on all psychophysiological measures

What the researchers found

Driving-themed prevention messages from two different campaigns consistently produced the greatest cognitive resource allocation, highest arousal, and most positive emotional responses, as measured by heart rate, skin conductance, and facial action coding.

Why it matters

Most cannabis prevention messaging research relies on self-reports, which may not capture actual cognitive and emotional processing. This study used physiological measures to reveal which message types actually grab attention and generate emotional engagement.

The numbers in context

50 participants; 6 messages per participant; 2 campaigns x 3 risk themes (cognitive ability, driving, health harms); psychophysiological and self-report measures

How the study worked

Fifty young adult marijuana users and non-users viewed six prevention messages (three from each of two campaigns, covering three risk types). Researchers measured real-time psychophysiological responses including heart rate, skin conductance, and facial action coding, alongside self-report measures.

What this study cannot tell us

Very small sample of 50 participants. Lab setting may not reflect real-world message exposure. Cannot determine whether greater physiological engagement translates to actual behavior change.

How to read the evidence

Small sample size and lab setting, though the use of objective physiological measures adds methodological rigor.

When this study was published

Published in 2021.

The bigger picture

Understanding which message frames actually engage audiences at a physiological level could help public health campaigns spend limited budgets more effectively, moving beyond self-reported preferences to measurable cognitive impact.

Questions still open

Do these physiological responses predict actual changes in cannabis use behavior? Would different risk frames work better for different age groups? How do these findings apply to social media-based campaigns?

Common questions

Why were driving messages more effective?

The study did not determine why, but driving-themed messages consistently produced the greatest cognitive engagement and arousal across both campaigns and regardless of whether participants used marijuana.

Did self-reports match the physiological data?

Not consistently. Self-report measures showed a less consistent pattern, suggesting people may not accurately report their own cognitive and emotional responses to health messages.

Read the original research

Cognitive and affective responses to marijuana prevention and educational messaging.

Drug and alcohol dependence, 225, 108788

View on PubMed ↗Publisher’s paper ↗

Citation

Leshner, Glenn; Stevens, Elise M; Cohn, Amy M; Kim, Seunghyun; Kim, Narae; Wagener, Theodore L; Villanti, Andrea C. (2021). Cognitive and affective responses to marijuana prevention and educational messaging.. Drug and alcohol dependence, 225, 108788. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2021.108788