Brains on Media

At the beginning of this Starbursts commercial, we watch what appears to be two friends getting ready to share starburst. The limbic part of our brain has us feeling relaxed at this normal exchange between friends, but then suddenly changes to confusion as the strangely dressed man appears. Our Reptilian brain kicks in, at first making us weary, possibly scared and the random man's spazziness over the name of the Starbursts, before finally deciding to laugh at his behavior. Finally, as a picture of a starburst pack pops up along with the typography "Juicey Goodness", the neocortex part of our brain kicks in to read the words so we can remember just what this commercial was all about in the first palce.