| Chapter 2: | Background and Hypothesis |
The viewer can control some aspects of the allocation process based on his or her voluntary decisions about media use (e.g., whether, when, what, and how hard to try). Extensive research using the uses and gratification model and the active audience paradigm has demonstrated that the audience’s goals affect the processing of media messages (Gantz, 1978; Rubin, 1994). In addition, characteristics of the viewer also influence the allocation of mental resources to message processing. These variables include motivation, interest, familiarity, emotional responses, sensation seeking, etc. For example, high-sensation seekers are more likely to pay attention to, remember, and respond to messages that are high in sensation value (Everett & Palmgreen, 1995; Palmgreen, Stephenson, Everett, Baseheart, & Francies, 2002).
Next, the medium controls some aspects of resource allocation through the elicitation of ORs. Structure features that elicit ORs include cuts, edits, and movement (A. Lang, 1990; A. Lang et al., 1993; Reeves et al., 1985), video graphics (Thorson & Lang, 1992), voice change and radio special effects (Potter, 2000), and Web animation (A. Lang, Borse, et al., 2002). On the other hand, aspects of message content can also evoke both automatic and controlled resource allocation. Some aspects of content, such as relevance and difficulty, can elicit controlled allocation of processing resources (Basil, 1994; Fox et al., 2004; Thorson & Lang, 1992). Other aspects of content, such as emotion, elicit automatic allocation (A. Lang et al., 2005; A. Lang, Dhillon, & Dong, 1995; A. Lang, Newhagen, & Reeves, 1996; A. Lang, Wise, Lee, & Cai, 2003).Since the message recipient is assumed to have a limited capacity of mental resources, the allocation of resources is restricted by the capacity limitation. When all the resources are allocated to the processes but more resources are required to complete the ongoing processing task, cognitive overload occurs, and as a result, any one or all of the subprocesses may be performed poorly.