| Chapter 1: | Introduction |
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Specifically, this study investigates how they elicit or alter ORs, increase physiological arousal, and thereby enhance encoding or storage of information contained in banner ads.
Theoretical Importance of the Study
A major theoretical concern of this study is whether animated and/or arousing banner ads, shown as secondary stimuli, can elicit ORs and physiological arousal. This is important because ORs are automatic attention responses. That is, they call for users’ attention and, when they occur, often result in increased processing of the ads. In particular, both these physiological responses are known to result in the automatic allocation of processing resources to the encoding and storage processes. This study is interested in banner advertisements because they are task-irrelevant visual stimuli that appear in users’ peripheral vision. Many studies have shown that animation and arousing pictures shown in the central vision elicited ORs and physiological arousal (A. Lang, Borse, Wise, & David, 2002; P. J. Lang, Greenwald, Bradley, & Hamm, 1993). But will they elicit the same responses when they have nothing to do with subjects’ tasks and are shown in peripheral visual areas?
In this study, the peripheral visual area is loosely defined as the areas that are outside the center of users’ visual field. The point of central focus was maintained by requiring computer users to perform a primary task, which is to read news articles. Since each news article appeared in the center of an 18-in. computer screen, about 3 in. from the four edges of the screen was defined as the peripheral visual area. Banner ads appeared only on the right side of the screen, while the title and a navigation menu bar of the experimental news Web site occupied the top and left periphery.
In addition to being displayed in the peripheral visual area, banner ads are, by nature, irrelevant to the users’ immediate goals and, consequently, are of secondary importance to them.