A new research has helped psychologists at UCLA to indentify the brain regions associated with the successful spread of ideas, often called buzz. The findings has opened doors for more effective public health campaigns, more persuasive advertisements and better ways for teachers to communicate with students, said the study authors.

Matthew Lieberman, who is a UCLA professor of psychology and of psychiatry and bio behavioral sciences, was the study's senior author. He said their findings suggested that people have the general ability to understand how things they see will be useful and interesting.

"Before this study, we didn't know what brain regions were associated with ideas that become contagious, and we didn't know what regions were associated with being an effective communicator of ideas", said lead author of the study Emily Falk.

Lieberman is a faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication. She conducted the research as a UCLA doctoral student in Lieberman's lab.

She said that they were able to successfully map the brain regions linked to ideas that are likely to be contagious and associated with being a good idea salesperson.

UCLA psychologists have gone a step ahead to answer questions like how do ideas spread and what messages are likely to become viral on social media, and if it can be predicted.