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The brain doesn’t work as one undivided whole. Decades of fMRI research describe the cortex as a set of large-scale networks, each handling a broad kind of work. Sapient summarizes its predicted brain response into seven of these networks, one value each, every second. Reading the networks is the most direct way to understand why a lens moved. Every lens is a blend of these seven signals.

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The seven networks

NetworkPlain meaningWhat it tells you
VisualSeeing & imageryHow much the content is engaging the eyes: visual detail, motion, and mental imagery.
SomatomotorBody & movement / voice & soundResponse to physical action, gesture, and the texture of voice and sound.
Dorsal AttentionFocused attentionHow hard the viewer is deliberately concentrating. This is the focus network.
Ventral AttentionSalience & surpriseHow much something is grabbing attention involuntarily. This is the alerting network.
LimbicEmotion & rewardEmotional pull and the sense of reward or desire.
FrontoparietalReasoning & effortActive thinking, problem-solving, and mental work.
Default ModeReflection, memory & self-relevanceInward processing: relating content to yourself, your memories, and meaning.

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How to read them

  • Visual rises with rich, moving, or detailed imagery; it falls on static or empty frames.
  • Somatomotor lifts with physical action, gesture, and the grain of a voice or a sound.
  • Dorsal Attention is voluntary focus: the viewer choosing to lock in.
  • Ventral Attention is involuntary capture: a cut, a noise, or a twist yanking attention without permission.
  • Limbic is the heart of emotional and reward responses; it’s the engine behind both feeling and wanting.
  • Frontoparietal rises when the viewer has to work to follow, decode, or reason through something.
  • Default Mode rises when content turns inward: memory, self-relevance, reflection, and meaning.

From networks to lenses

How these seven networks combine into the seven lenses.