To do this, a novel approach is employed in which web users’physiological indicators (how fast their heart is beating and howmuch their palms are sweating) are measured while they areengaged in a web task. By both examining how these measureschange causally in response to the onset of different types of bannerads and then relating those changes to what people rememberfrom the banner ads, this study is able to trace the cognitive chainof events from ad onset to eventual memory or non-memory fora banner ad. Further, it is able to demonstrate that using differenttechniques in the banner ad alters that chain of events in predictableways which change the memorial outcome.
The theoretical model employed also provides a frameworkwithin which marketing and advertising scholars can think aboutother structural and content techniques and their likely impact oncognitive and emotional processing. This framework is one of thefi rst to closely tie emotional, structural, and content features ofmessages to the physiological, cognitive, and emotional processingin media users which ultimately determines the fate of any givenadvertisement.
Annie Lang
Professor of Telecommunications
Telecommunications Department College of Arts and Sciences Indiana University