Visual Attention and EmotionThe Distractor Devaluation Effect in Online

Advertising

Despina Panagiotidou 1, Dr. Ana B. Vivas 2

 

1 South-East European Research Centre (SEERC)2 City College, International Faculty of the University of Sheffield

Cognitive Systems of Goal-Directed Behaviour

Selective Attention

Emotion

Current/futureGoal

Cognitive Systems of Goal-Directed Behaviour

Visual AttentionRestricted capacity

Facilitation of target input

Inhibition of distracting information

EmotionEvaluation in terms of current/future goals

Affective Control of Attention

Emotional environmental stimuli

Negative and threatening (e.g., facial expressions)

Capture and maintain attention

Disrupt performance

Reciprocal Interaction of Attention & Emotion

Neurophysiological/neuroimaging data

Activation of mutual brain structures during attention-emotion tasks

Attentional Influences on Emotion

Prior attention state determines ensuing affective evaluations (Raymond et al., 2003)

Distracting stimuli are more devalued than target and novel

2-item visual localization & evaluation tasks

Attentional Influences on Emotion

The Distractor Devaluation effect (DD) of attention Inhibition of distractors

Decreased perceptual & emotional saliency encoded with distractor representation

Prevents reorientation of attention

Prioritization of immediate/future task

Attentional Influences on Emotion

Generalization of DD Raymond & colleagues (2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009)

Object- & location-based inhibitionFeature-based inhibition Response inhibition DD with meaningful stimuli (i.e., faces) – forming first impressions under attentional load ERP evidence – direct link between selective inhibition & devaluation of distractors

DD vs. Mere Exposure –Implications for Advertising

Mere exposure (Bornstein, 1989; Zajong, 2001)

Repeated exposure to a stimulus preference enhancement Embraced by the advertising industry

Theoretical explanations

Perceptual fluency (Reber et al., 1998)

Classical conditioning (Zajong, 2001)

DD vs. Mere Exposure – Implications for Advertising

DD findings contradict mere exposureExposure to distracting information under attentional load

Devaluation of presented input

In our labHigher exposure frequency Stronger inhibition Greater devaluation

Implications for Online Advertising

Pop-up advertisements Users’ appraisalsSingletons – Capture attention Negative affect – Intrusive – distracting annoying Usually unsafe Blocking software

Implications for Online Advertising

Pop-up adsPotential example of DD in virtual environments Interfere with current/future goal of user Inhibited devalued

Fail to fulfill their initial purpose? Emotionally disturb the user rather than increase preference Caution: Negative affect does not necessarily result in decreased online sales – scarce evidence

Affective Computing & DD

HCI Triggers substantive emotions (Reeves &Nass, 1996; Scheirer et al., 2002)

Pop-up ads – form of HCI engendering negative affect

DD findings – explanation of users’ specific emotional states in virtual environments under attentional load

Potential Research Directions

Understudied questions

Is the devaluation of Pop-up ads actually emotional?

Is it a function of attentional inhibition alone, or does the insecurity associated with pop-up ads also play a role?

How long does devaluation of pop-ups take to develop? Which is it’s time course?

Potential Research Directions

Suggested research methods & operational tools

Field studies & lab experiments – naïve and experienced samples of internet users

Traditional experimental tools of cognitive psychology combined with neurophysiological measures of emotion (Bamidis et al., 2004, 2007)

Manipulation of pop-up ads’ content –accompanying malicious software present/absent

Manipulation of the user’s level of attentional load

References

Bamidis, P.D., Luneski, A., Vivas, A., Papadelis, C., Maglaveras, N., Pappas, C.: Multi-channel Physiological Sensing of Human Emotion: Insights into Emotion-Aware Computing Using Affective Protocols, Avatars and Emotion Specifications. Stud Health Technol Inform. 129, pp. 1068--1072 (2007)Bamidis, P.D., Papadelis, C., Koutridou-Papadeli, C., Pappas, C., Vivas, A.: Affective Computing in the Era of Contemporary Neurophysiology and Health Informatics. Interacting with Computers, 16, pp. 715—721 (2004)Bornstein, R.F., D’Agostino, P.R.: Stimulus Recognition and the Mere Exposure Effect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, pp. 545--552 (1992)Fenske, M., & Raymond, J.E.: Affective Influences of Selective Attention. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 15, pp. 312--316 (2006)Fenske, M.J., Raymond, J.E., Kessler, K., Westoby, N., Tipper, S.P.: Attentional Inhibition has Social-Emotional Consequences for Unfamiliar Faces. Psychological Science, 16, pp. 753--758 (2005)Fenske, M.J., Raymond, J.E., Kunar, M.A.: The Affective Consequences of Visual Attention in Preview Search. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 11, pp. 1055—1061 (2004)Goolsby, B.A., Shapiro, K.L., Silvert, L., Fragopanagos, N., Taylor, J., Eimer, M., Nobre, A.C., Raymond, J.E.: Feature Based Inhibition Underlies the Affective Consequences of Attention. Visual Cognition, 17, pp. 500--530 (2009)Kiss, M., Goolsby, B.A., Raymond, J.E., Shapiro, K.L., Silvert, L., Nobre, A.C., Fragopanagos, N., Taylor, J.G., Eimer, M.: Efficient Attentional Selection Predicts Distractor Devaluation: Event-Related Potential Evidence for a Direct Link Between Attention and Emotion. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 19, pp. 1316--1322 (2007)Kiss, M., Raymond, J.E., Westoby, N., Nobre, A., Eimer, M.: Response Inhibition is Linked to Emotional Devaluation: Behavioural and Evidence. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 2, pp. 1—9 (2008)Raymond, J.E., Fenske, M.J, Tavassoli, N.T.: Selective Attention Determines Emotional Responses to Novel Visual Stimuli. Psychological Science, 14, pp. 537--542 (2003)

ReferencesRaymond, J.E., Fenske, M.J., Westoby, N.: Emotional Devaluation of Distracting Patterns and Faces: A Consequence of Attentional Inhibition During Visual Search? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 31, pp. 1404--1415 (2005)Reber, R., Winkielman, P., Schwartz, N.: Effects of Perceptual Fluency on Affective Judgments. Psychological Science, 9, pp. 45--48 (1998)Reeves, B., Nass, C.: The Media Equation: How People Treat Computers, Television, and New Media Like Real People and Places. Cambridge University Press, New York (1996)Scheirer, J., Fernades, R., Klein, J., Picard, R.W.: Frustrating the User on Purpose: A Step Toward Building an Affective Computer. Interacting with Computers. 14, pp. 93—118 (2002)Zajong, R.B.: Mere Exposure: a Gateway to the Subliminal. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 10, pp. 224--228 (2001)