Visual attention capture on the web
With Anthony Hornof, Erik Nilsen, and Nik Gorman
University of Oregon, 2000-2004
When performing simple tasks online, people are bombarded with visual stimuli. Images, links, and blocks of text vie for our attention, some more insidiously than others (pop-up windows, animated banner ads). What do we look at, and to what degree is this under our control?
Advertisers, in particular, employ animation to grab attention, exploiting our biological wiring to be alert for moving predators. Yet people commonly say they can tune out ads on the web. Advertisements affect site credibility [Fogg et al. 2001], and ad-blocking software [Rowe et al. 2001] is popular. This seeming contradiction between "banner blindness" and the negative reputation of ads (implying that they are noticed and actively disliked) is the basis for a series of experiments into the inherent attentional capture of animation on the web.
We have found that animation irrelevant to a user's primary task: (a) increases primary task time, (b) increases perceived task workload, and (c) reduces memorability of the stimulus.
More details are available in our publications.