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The Psychology of Attention Nick Kolenda
Grab free marketing articles at www.nickkolenda.com
COPYRIGHT 2017 © KOLENDA ENTERTAINMENT LLC
WHYCERTAINSTIMULICAPTUREATTENTION 8.............
1.We’resurroundedbymorestimulithanwecanprocess 8.....................2.Ourancestorsneededtoidentifyimportantstimuliquickly 9.............3.Weinheritedthoseattentionprocesses 10......................................................
STIMULI1:SALIENCE 12.............................................................
A)Color 13...........................................................................................................................B)Orientation 16..............................................................................................................C)Size 17..............................................................................................................................
STIMULI2:MOTION 18................................................................
A)MotionOnset 18..........................................................................................................B)LoomingMotion 19....................................................................................................C)AnimateMotion 20.....................................................................................................D)DynamicImagery 21.................................................................................................E)BiologicalMotion 22..................................................................................................
STIMULI3:PEOPLE 24.................................................................
A)Faces 24...........................................................................................................................B)Bodies 26........................................................................................................................C)BodyParts 27................................................................................................................
STIMULI4:ANIMALS 28..............................................................
A)PrototypicalFeatures 28.........................................................................................
STIMULI5:SPATIALCUES 30.....................................................
A)EyeGaze 31...................................................................................................................B)HeadandBodyOrientation 33..............................................................................C)Pointing 34.....................................................................................................................
D)Arrows 36......................................................................................................................
STIMULI6:HIGHAROUSAL 38..................................................
A)Threat 40........................................................................................................................B)Sex 46...............................................................................................................................
STIMULI7:UNPREDICTABILITY 47.........................................
A)Taboo 48.........................................................................................................................B)Novelty 48......................................................................................................................
STIMULI8:SELF-RELEVANCE 52..............................................
A)YourName 53...............................................................................................................B)YourFace 54..................................................................................................................C)MentalInteraction 55................................................................................................
STIMULI9:GOAL-Relevance 57................................................
A)NoGoal 58......................................................................................................................B)Goal-Directed 59.........................................................................................................
CONCLUSION 61.............................................................................
Capturingattentionusedtobeeasy.
Howitwas:
Howitistoday:
Today,it’sfriggentough.
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That’swhyIdugthroughsomeacademicresearch.Iwantedtoanswerthequestion:whatcapturesattention?
SoIread300+journalarticlesonvisionandneuroscience.AndIfound9specialstimuli.
Whyaretheyspecial?
Thesestimulicaptureattentionimmediatelyandautomatically.Evenifwe’renotpayingattention.Eveninourchaoticworld.
Ifyouwanttocaptureattention,simplyincorporateoneofthesestimuli.Becauseoftheunderlyingneuroscience,peopleneedtolook.
Thinkofallthebene`its:
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Oh,andIguessthereotherapplications:
Butwhoneedssafety?Weneedtosellsh*t.
Thenextsectionwillexplainthescience.ThenI’llexplainthepracticalapplications.Clickheretoviewonevisualsummaryofthe9stimuli.
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WHYCERTAINSTIMULICAPTUREATTENTION
You’rereadingthissection.Awesome.I’llbequick.
Inordertounderstandthisarticle,youneedtounderstandthreefactors.
1.WE’RESURROUNDEDBYMORESTIMULITHANWECANPROCESS
Theworldisvast,butourattentionis`inite.
Asaresult,weuseselectiveattention(Moran&Desimone,1985).Oureyesperceiveeverything,butonlyafractionofthosestimulienterourconsciousness.
Infact,that’sthemechanismbehindsubconsciousin`luence.Oureyesperceivemorestimulithanwecanprocess.Thus,somestimulienterourbrainwithoutourawareness.Butthey’restillinourbrain.Sotheycanin`luenceourperceptionandbehavior.
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2.OURANCESTORSNEEDEDTOIDENTIFYIMPORTANTSTIMULIQUICKLY
Despiteaplethoraofstimuli,ourancestorsneededtodetectlife-threateningstimuliveryquickly:
“The reproductive potential of individuals, therefore, was predicated on the ability to efficiently locate critically important events in the surroundings.” (Öhman, Flykt, & Esteves, 2001, pp. 466)
Andthat’swhathappened.Ourancestorsdevelopedspecializedbrainregionsthatnonconsciouslymonitoredthesurroundingenvironmentforcriticalstimuli:
“…there should be systems that incidentally scan the environment for opportunities and dangers; when there are sufficient cues that a more pressing adaptive problem is at hand—an angry antagonist, a stalking predator, a mating opportunity—this should trigger an interrupt circuit on volitional attention…” (Cosmides & Tooby, 2013, pp. 205)
Whenitdetectedathreat,italertedourconsciousattention.
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Thosemechanismshelpedussurvive.
3.WEINHERITEDTHOSEATTENTIONPROCESSES
Thankstoevolution,weinheritedthoseneuralprocesses.
Eventoday,ifourbraindetectsanimportantstimulus,ittriggersaresponse.Wecan’thelpit.
Buthere’sthefunnything.
Wedevelopedthatprocessmillionsofyearsago.Thestimulithatourancestorsconsidered“life-threatening”aremuchlessimportanttoday.
Considervehiclesandanimals.
Today,vehiclesaredeadly.Andtheythreatenoursurvivalmorethananimals.Butwe’rewiredtonoticeanimalsmorethanvehicles.
“We are more likely to fear events and situations that provided threats to the survival of our ancestors, such as potentially deadly predators, heights, and wide open spaces, than to fear the most frequently encountered potentially deadly objects in our contemporary environment” (Öhman & Mineka, 2001, pp. 483)
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Ifvehiclesstickaroundformillionsofyears,thenourbrainwoulddevelopmechanismstodetect“vehicle”features.Butwe’llbeteleportingbythen.Hopefully.
Here’sthepoint.We’rewiredtonoticestimulithathelpedourancestorssurvive.Eventoday.Evenwithstimulithatdon’tposeathreattooursurvival.Ifyouwanttocaptureattention,youneedtoincorporatestimulithatposedathreattoevolutionarysurvival.
Iknowitsoundsweird.ButI’llexpandandclarifythisconceptalongtheway.
Herearethestimulithathelpedourancestorssurvive—andthusemergedinourattentionsystem:
Stimuli1:Salience
Stimuli2:Motion
Stimuli3:People
Stimuli4:Animals
Stimuli5:SpatialCues
Stimuli6:HighArousal
Stimuli7:Unpredictability
Stimuli8:Self-Relevance
Stimuli9:Goal-Relevance
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STIMULI1:SALIENCE
Ourancestorsneededtodetectsalientstimuli.
Withoutthatability,wedied.Andthat’snogood.
Ifyouwanttocaptureattentiontoday,increasethesaliencyofyourstimulusthroughthesedimensions:
A) Color
B) Orientation
C) Size
Thesefactorsareadditive(Nothdurft,2000).Morefactorswillgrabmoreattention.
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A)COLOR
Colormightbethemostsalientdimension(Milosavljevic&Cerf2008).
Ifyouwantthenittygritty,femalesaremorelikelytonoticeredstimuli.Why?Femalesweretheforagers.Theyneededtodetectredstimuliamonggreenplants(Reganetal.,2001).
Overtime,thatbehaviorreinforcedabiologicalpredispositiontowardred:
“…color vision and, in particular the ability to discriminate red wavelengths, may have a greater adaptive significance for foragers (i.e., females) than for resource protectors (i.e., males) and so contribute to contemporary visual biases and object preferences.” (Alexander, 2003, pp.11)
Foradeeperexplanation,seemyarticleoncolorpsychology.
TACTIC: CHOOSE A COLOR THAT CONTRASTS WITH THE ENVIRONMENT
BeforeuploadingaYouTubevideo,lookatthethumbnailsofrelatedvideos.Whataretheprominentcolors,ifany?
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Createathumbnailwithacontrastingcolorpattern.
You’llincreasethesaliencyofyourimage,thuscapturingmoreattention.
TACTIC: ADD AN ENTRY POINT IN YOUR GRAPHICS
Amateurdesignersoften`illanentirecanvas.Andtheymakeeverythingequallyvibrant.
That’saproblem.Ifeverythingisequallyvibrant,there’snosaliency.Nothingispullingattention.
Instead,addafocalarea.
Pinpointthemostimportantareaofyourdesign.Thenincreaseitssaliency(orreducethesaliencyofsurroundingareas).
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Indoingso,you’lladdanentrypoint.You’llpullattentiontowardthatarea(andthustheoveralldesign).Oncetheyprocessthatarea,thenthey’llshiftattentiontothenextmostsalientarea.
TACTIC: ADD VISUAL DISTINCTIONS TO HIGH ROI PRODUCTS
Attentioniscorrelatedwithchoice.Peoplearemorelikelytochooseanoptioniftheyspendmoretimelookingatit(Atalay,Bodur,&Rasolofoarison,2012).
That’swhysomerestaurantsaddcolordistinctionstohighROIitemsonthemenu.
Youshoulddothesamewithpricingplans.Watchmyvideoformoretips.
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B)ORIENTATION
Wealsonoticemisalignment(Treisman&Gormican,1988).
TACTIC: CREATE A TILT EFFECT
Seethattiltedsquare?It’snottilted.Ijustaddedwhitetrianglesonthetopandbottomtomakeitseemtilted.
Youcoulddothiswheneveryou’recompetingwithsimilarstimuli—likeFacebookads.Inaseaofnon-tiltedads,yourtiltedadshouldcaptureattention.
Doesitwork?Whoknows.Butit’sworthashot.
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C)SIZE
Stimulicaptureattentionwhenthesizeisdifferent(Huang&Pashler,2005)—especiallywithlengthsandnumbers(Treisman&Gormican1988).
TACTIC: ADJUST THE LENGTH OF HEADLINES TO STAND OUT
Ifyou’resubmittingtoacontentaggregator(e.g.,Reddit,HackerNews),youwanttocaptureeyeballs.Socheckthetitlelengthofrecentsubmissions.
Ifmosttitlesarelong,submitashorttitle.
Ifmosttitlesareshort,submitalongtitle.
You’llcreatesaliencyfromthesizedifference—whichshouldcaptureattention.
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STIMULI2:MOTIONMotionshouldn’tbeacategory.It’saformofsaliency(andunpredictability,whichwe’llseelater).
However,itISpowerful.SoIcreatedaseparatecategory.
Hereare5typesofmotionthatcaptureattention:
A) MotionOnset
B) LoomingMotion
C) AnimateMotion
D) DynamicImagery
E) BiologicalMotion
A)MOTIONONSET
Motiononsetsarechangesfromstillnesstomovement(Abrams&Christ,2003).
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TACTIC: ADD MOTION ONSET TO CALL-TO-ACTION BUTTONS
Mostbuttonsarestatic.Whynotaddamotiononset?WithCSS3animations,youcanaddvariouseffects,likepulsingorchangingthebuttoncolor.
B)LOOMINGMOTION
Loomingmotionoccurswhenstimuligetlarger(seeFranconeri&Simons,2005).Thankstoevolution,itcapturesmoreattentionthanrecedingmotion:
“…looming objects are more likely than receding objects to require an immediate reaction, we speculated that the potential behavioral urgency of a stimulus might contribute to whether or not it captures attention.” (Franconeri & Simons, 2005, pp. 962)
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TACTIC: START FACEBOOK VIDEOS BY ZOOMING IN
Peopleincludemotiontowardthebeginningoftheirvideos—inhopestocaptureattention.Theymightpushintitlesfromtheside.Ortheymightzoomoutward.
That’snice.Buttryloomingmotioninstead.
Expandyourtitlesfromsmallertolarger.Orzoominwardtoenlargeanobject.
C)ANIMATEMOTION
Animatemotionisunpredictablemotion.Similartoloomingmotion,itcapturesattentionbecauseofevolution:
“[animate motion was] detected and discriminated more quickly than targets that involved objects that had undergone the same motion changes after collisions with other objects or the surrounding frame (i.e., inanimate motion)” (Pratt et al., 2010, pp. 1728-1729)
Ifapredatorattackedwithoutwarning,weneededtobeprepared.Peoplediediftheycouldn’tdetectanimatemotion.
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D)DYNAMICIMAGERY
AbramsandChrist(2003)arguethatmotionONLYcapturesattentionifitsuddenlyappears(i.e.motiononset).
However,FranconeriandSimons(2005)disagree.Intheirexperiments,motion—itself—capturedattention.AndIthinkthey’reright.
Why?Becausemotiondoesn’tneedliteralmovements.Evenperceivedmotionattractsattention.
Forexample,Cian,Krishna,andElder(2015)trackedeyegazeandwarningsigns(e.g.,crossingsigns).Theyfoundapowerfuleffectfromdynamiciconography:
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“…static pictures evoking more (vs. less) perceived movement are able to draw attention more quickly, resulting in an earlier fixation.” (Cian, Krishna, & Elder, 2015, pp. 1431)
TACTIC: ADD PERCEIVED MOTION TO STATIC ICONS
Forexample…
Youcouldalsoaddmotiontoyourlogo(Cian,Krishna,&Elder,2014).Seemyarticleonfontpsychologyforideas.
E)BIOLOGICALMOTION
Finally,we’resensitivetobiologicalmotion(Troje,2008).Weseemwiredtodetectmotionofourspecies—thankstoourneuralunderpinnings:
“…the right pSTS, revealed an enhanced response to human motion relative to dog motion. This finding demonstrates that the pSTS response is sensitive to the social relevance of a biological motion stimulus.” (Kaiser, Shiffrar, & Pelphrey, 2012, pp. 1)
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However,biologicalmotionrequiresnaturalbodymovements.Forexample,newlyhatchedchicksprefernaturalbodymovementsofahen,ratherthananarti`iciallyrotatinghen(Vallortigara,Regolin,&Marconato,2005).
Humansarethesame.
TACTIC: ADD BIOLOGICAL MOTION TO THE BEGINNING OF FACEBOOK VIDEOS
WhynotaddbodymovementswhenstartingyourFacebookvideos?Whenpeoplearescrollingthenewsfeed,biologicalmotionshouldcapturetheirevolutionary-basedattentionsystem.
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STIMULI3:PEOPLE
Biologicalmotionispowerful.Butyoucanalsocaptureattentionthroughstaticimagesofpeople.
Thoseimagesaresocialcues—thusactivatingourSTSregion(Allison,Puce,&McCarthy,2000).
Herearethemostimportantfeatures:
A) Faces
B) Bodies
C) BodyParts
A)FACES
Facesactivatedistinctbrainregions:
“Faces primarily activated the fusiform gyrus bilaterally, and also activated the right occipitotemporal and inferior occipital sulci and a
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region of lateral cortex centered in the middle temporal gyrus.” (Puce et al., 1996, pp. 5205)
Considerexperimentsonchangedetection.
Insomestudies,researchersmakesmallchangestoanimage.Andtheymeasureif(orwhen)peoplenoticethechanges.Ro,Russell,andLavie(2001)foundthatpeoplecandetectchangesinfacesmoreeasilythaninotherobjects(e.g.,clothes).
However,facesneedtobeupright(Eastwood,Smilek,&Merikle,2003).Thankstothefaceinversioneffect,we’reslowertodetectinvertedfaces(Epsteinetal.,2006).
Also,here’saquestion.Whatmakesaface…well…aface?Atwhatpointwouldourbrainstoprecognizingaface?
Turnsout,ourbrainlooksforunderlyinggeometricpatterns(Aronoff,2006).That’showweidentifyemotionsinotherpeople:
“…our first study indicated that the overall geometric configuration provided by the facial features, rather
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than individual features, was how a culture defined the emotional representation.” (Aronoff, 2006, pp. 85)
Thatmeanswe’rebeableto`indschematicfacesbetterthanblurredfaces:
We’llrevisitthatconceptlater.
B)BODIES
Similarly,wehavespecializedregionsthatdetectthehumanbody:
“…a distinct cortical region in humans that responds selectively to images of the human body, as compared with a wide range of control stimuli. This region was found in the lateral occipitotemporal cortex…” (Downing et al., 2001, pp. 2470)
Justlikefaces,bodiescaptureattentionthroughgeometriccomposition.Downingetal.(2004)showedparticipantsdifferentblobs.Theblobscapturedmoreattentionwhentheyformedahumanbody.
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However,weallocatemoreattentionwhenfacesANDbodiesarepresent(Bindemannetal.,2010).
C)BODYPARTS
Finally,wealsohaveregionsthatdetectindividualbodyparts:
“…body-selective regions, which can be dissociated from regions involved in face perception, have been implicated in the perception of the self and the ‘body schema’, the perception of others’ emotions and the understanding of actions.” (Peelen & Downing, 2007, pp. 636)
Forexample,Desimoneetal.(1984)foundadirectrelationshipbetweenbrainactivationandhandrealism.Activationwasgreaterwhenhandslookedmorerealistic.
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STIMULI4:ANIMALS
You’veprobablyheardthejoke:ifyouwanttogoviral,youjustneedcutecats.
Well…thatmightwork.
Ourancestorsneededtodetectanimalsforsurvival:
“Information about non-human animals was of critical importance to our foraging ancestors. Non-human animals were predators on humans; food when they strayed close enough to be worth pursuing; dangers when surprised or threatened by virtue of their venom, horns, claws, mass, strength, or propensity to charge…” (New, Cosmides, & Tooby, 2007, pp. 16598)
Inordertosurvive,theydevelopedbrainregionsthatdetectedanimalsintheirperiphery.Andweinheritedthosemechanisms.Thatmeans—eventoday—animalscaptureaportionofour`initeattention.
A)PROTOTYPICALFEATURESNospeci`icanimalcapturesattention.Justlikefacesandbodies,ourbraindetectsgeometricpatterns:
“The monitoring system responsible appears to be category driven, that is, it is automatically activated by any target the visual recognition system has categorized as an animal.” (Cosmides & Tooby, 2013, pp. 206)
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However,someanimalscapturemoreattentionthanothers.I’llexplainmorelater.
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STIMULI5:SPATIALCUES
Tosurvive,weneededtodetectspatialcues.I’llexplainwhythroughoutthese`ivespatialcues:
A) EyeGaze
B) HeadandBodyOrientation
C) Pointing
D) Arrows
E) DirectionalWords
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A)EYEGAZE
Didyoureadmyarticlesonadvertisingorconversionoptimization?Thenyoualreadyknowthateyegazecapturesattention.However,Igaveashortsightedview.I’llexplainmoreinthissection.
Ourancestorsneededtodetecteyegazeinordertosurvive.ButWHYwasitcritical?
Sure,ithelpedlocateobjectsandperceiveemotionsinotherpeople(Emery,2000).However,there’sanotherfactor:socialdominance.
Eachsociety—includinganimals—hasadominancehierarchy(Chance,1967).Somecreaturesaremoreimportantthanothers.Inordertosurvive,ourancestorsneededtounderstandtheirpositioninahierarchy.Andtheyneededtoidentifythemostdominantcreature.
Sohowdidtheydoit?Theyreliedonsocialattention.
Everyoneinasocietyallocatesmoreglancestowardthemostdominantcreatureinthehierarchy.
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Ourancestorsanalyzedthoseglancestoidentifythemostdominantcreature.Withoutthatability,theypickeda`ightwiththewrongperson.Andtheydied.
Whoops.
Luckily,ourancestorscouldanalyzeeyegazes(seeEmery,2000).Sotheysurvived.
Inturn,weinheritedtwopossiblemechanisms(Langton,Watt,&Bruce,2000).
1. WE DEVELOPED THE ABILITY TO DETECT EYES MORE EASILY
“…gaze following is “hard-wired” in the brain, and may be localized within a circuit linking the superior temporal sulcus, amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex is discussed.” (Emery, 2000, pp. 581)
ThatmechanismiscalledtheEyeDirectionDetector(EDD)(Baron-Cohen,1995).
2. OUR EYES MAY HAVE BECOME MORE SALIENT
“…the physical structure of the eye may have evolved in such a way that eye direction is particularly easy for our visual systems to perceive. Indeed, recent work suggests that the output of simple cells found in the visual cortex can, in principle, signal the direction of gaze… (Langton, Watt, & Bruce, 2000, pp. 52)
Thetakeaway:ourbrainhasmechanismsthatautomaticallydetectandfolloweyegaze.
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TACTIC: SHOW PEOPLE LOOKING AT YOUR CTA
Thistacticiscommon.SeeSajjacholapuntandBall(2014)forempiricalsupport.
B)HEADANDBODYORIENTATION
Ifwecan’tseetheeyes,weinferpeople’sgaze—basedontheorientationoftheirheadandbody.
Wealsoprioritizethosecues(Langton,Watt,&Bruce,2000).WeplacethemostimportanceoneyesTHENheadTHENbody.
However,thoseeffectsareadditive(Langton&Bruce,2000).Sotrytoincorporateasmanycuesaspossible.
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C)POINTINGAlthoughit’snotdirectlyrelatedtoeyegaze,pointingisstillasocialcue.Andthus,itcapturesattentionautomatically(Langton&Bruce,2000).
Theresearchisprettyinteresting.
NotALLpointingcapturesattention.Itneedstobeanisolatedindex>inger(Ariga&Watanabe,2009).
ArigaandWatanabe(2009)measuredtheeffectsofmultiplehandgestures.Theisolatedindex`ingergeneratedthestrongestimpactonattention.
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Sowhat’simportantabouttheindex`inger?Here’smyhunch.
Whenourancestorsdirectedattentiontowardalocation,theyeventuallystumbledupontheindex`inger.It’stheoptimalcombinationofeaseandaccuracy.
Why?
Theindex`ingerhasonlyoneadjacent`inger.Sowecanextenditfasterthanother`ingers.
Thelittle`ingerALSOhasoneadjacent`inger.However,theindex`ingerislonger(andthusmoreaccurate).Soit’sthebest`ingerforpointing.Andthat’s(probably)whywestartedusingit.
Fastforwardtotoday…
Parentsareteachingtheirkidsabouttheworldbypointingtoobjects.Fromayoungage,westartassociatingthatgesturewithspatialattention.Throughenoughexposures,theassociationbecomesautomatic.Wheneverweseeapointinggesture,weneedtolook.It’sare`lex.
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Ifthatexplanationiscorrect—andiflearnedassociationscancaptureattentionautomatically—thenthatmeansothersymbols(e.g.,arrows)shouldcaptureattentiontoo.
Well,let’stakealook…
D)ARROWS
Theevidenceisprettyclear.ArrowsDOcaptureattentionautomatically(e.g.,Ristic&Kingstone,2006).That`indingreinforcesthelearnedassociationofspatialcues.
TACTIC: POINT ARROWS TOWARD YOUR CALL-TO-ACTION BUTTONS
IfyourCTAissalient,anarrowmightseemredundant.However,thankstotheunderlyingscience,ithelpscapturemoreattention(thusgettingmoreclicks).
YoucanseeevidencefromA/Btests(e.g.,ConversionXL).
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F) DIRECTIONAL WORDS
ThewordLEFThasnoinherentmeaning.Forilliteratepeople,ithasnoimpact.YoumightaswelldisplayXGJP.
Nonetheless,thoseletters—inthatparticularorder—haveacquiredmeaningforliteratepeople.SamewithUP,DOWN,andRIGHT.
Sinceweassociatethosewordswithspatialmeaning,aren’ttheysymboliccues?Shouldn’ttheycaptureattentionaswell?Theyshould.
Andtheydo(Hommeletal.,2001).
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STIMULI6:HIGHAROUSAL
Today,emotionalstimulireachouramygdalabeforeconsciousawareness(Öhman&Mineka,2001),amongothermechanisms(seeCarretiéetal.,2004).
Marketersclaimthatemotioncapturesattention.Andthat’swrong.Someemotionscaptureattention.Butnotall.Itdependsonarousal.
BarrettandRussell(1999)arguethatemotionhastwodimensions:
1. AROUSAL:Thelevelofactivation
2. VALENCE:Thelevelofpleasantness
Youcanpositionallemotionsonthosedimensions:
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Anderson(2005)foundthathigharousalemotions—andONLYhigharousalemotions—captureattention.Thoseemotionsoccupythetophalfofthestructure.
Whythoseemotions?Youguessedit…
“It would be advantageous if unexpected events, especially those with a particular emotional value (e.g. threat), could be monitored and detected at least to some extent independently of the current attentional goals.” (Vuilleumier, 2005, pp. 587)
…evolution.
Andthat’swhathappened.Wedevelopedneuralmechanismstoimmediatelydetectarousingevents.Thatbehaviorhelpedussurvive.
Tomeasuretheeffectsonattention,researchersuseanemotionalstroopeffect(Algom,Chajut,&Lev,2004).
Forexample,herearerandomwords.Don’treadthem.Justmentallysaythecolorofthetext:
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Turnsout,we’reslowertonameacolorifthewordisemotional(e.g.,fear).Wenonconsciouslydevoteattentiontothoseemotionalwords.It’sourneurobiology.Wecan’thelpit.
Thissectionexplainsthetwostrongestemotions:
A) Threat
B) Sex
A)THREAT
Thisisabiggie.
Thankstoevolution,wedevelopedafearmodule(Öhman&Mineka,2001).Ourbrainnonconsciouslyscanstheenvironment,searchingforthreats.Ifitdetectsathreat,ittriggersadefensebeforeconsciousattention.
Andthat’sgood.Imagineifweconsciouslyevaluatedeverythreat:
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Thosepeopledied.Andrightlyso.
Now,thatleadstoaquestion:whatconstitutesathreat?Sincedetectionoccurswithoutourawareness,whatfeaturesdowenonconsciouslymonitor?
Youprobablyguessedthisoneaswell.Ourbrainmonitorssimplegeometricpatterns(Aronoff,2006).
Weneedtodetectthreatsquickly.Sowetakeshortcuts.
Wedon’tanalyzeallfeaturesofastimulus.Wemonitorthecomposition.Iftheunderlyingstructureisassociatedwithaknownthreat,thenourbraintriggersadefense.
Considerangryfaces.
Ourancestorsweremorelikelytosurviveiftheycoulddetectangerveryquickly.Withanimmediateresponse,theycoulddefendanattack.
Andsowedevelopedaneuralmechanism.Today,wedetectangryfacesmorequicklythanfriendlyfaces(Öhman,Lundqvist,&Esteves,2001).
Forexample,youcan`indmyangryfaceamongsmilingfacesmorequicklythanthereversal.
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Whydoesthathappen?Imentionedthatourbrainmonitorsgeometricpatterns.Butwhatfeaturegrabsourattention?
TheculpritisthedownwardVoftheeyebrows(Aronoff,2006).
Itsoundsweird.Buthearmeout.
Withemotion,facialexpressionsareuniversal(Ekman,1973).AllangryfacesexudeadownwardV.
Todefendthemselves,ourancestorsneededtodetectthatVinasplitsecond.AndsowedevelopedneuralmechanismsthatassociateaVwiththreat.
Eventoday,exposuretoaVactivatestheamygdala,subgenualanteriorcingulatecortex,superiortemporalgyrus,andfusiformgyrus—allregionsassociatedwiththreatdetection(Larsonetal.,2009).
“…a simple V-shape is capable of activating neural networks instantiating detection of threat and negative affect, suggesting that recognition of potential danger may be based, in part, on very simple, context-free visual cues.” (Larson et al., 2009, pp. 1523)
IfourbrainassociatesaVwiththreat—andifthreateningstimulicaptureattention—shouldn’tV-shapescaptureattentionaswell?Basedonthatresearch,theyshould.
And…theydo(Larson,Aronoff,&Stearns,2007).
Forexample,Larsonetal.(2007)foundthatpeoplecan`indaVamongΛ’smorequickly:
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Thetakeaway:ourbrainconstantlyscanstheenvironment,searchingforgeometricpatternsassociatedwiththreat.Whenitdetectsapattern,italertsourattentionsystem.
TACTIC: SHOW AN ANIMAL ASSOCIATED WITH EVOLUTIONARY THREAT
AsImentioned,yourattentionsystemisbasedonconditionsthatexistedmillionsofyearsago.That’swhyanimalsattractmoreattentionthanvehicles—eventhoughvehiclesaremoredeadly.
That’salsowhyyoucancaptureattentionbydisplayingananimalassociatedwithevolutionarythreat.There’sareasonwhysomanypeopleareafraidofsnakesandreptiles—eventhoughwerarelyseethemtoday:
“…the predatory defense system has its evolutionary origin in a prototypical fear of reptiles in early
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mammals who were targets for predation by the then dominant dinosaurs.” (Öhman & Mineka, 2001, 486)
Again,youdon’tevenneedtoshowtheanimalitself.Youjustneedtoshowfeaturesthatresembletheunderlyinggeometry(Öhman,Flykt,&Esteves,2001).
Considerspiders:
“…the reflexive capture of attention and awareness by spiders does not even require their categorization as animals. Performance was often comparable between identifiable spiders and stimuli which technically conformed to the spider template but that were otherwise categorically ambiguous (rectilinear spiders)” (New & German, 2015, pg. 21)
Thesameistruewithsnakes.Ourbraindoesn’tdetectthesnakeitself.Itdetectsthecurvilinearshape(LoBue,2014).
TACTIC: SHOW AN ANGRY FACE FROM AN OUTGROUP MEMBER
Iexplainedthatwe’remorelikelytodetectangryfaces(Larsonetal.,2009).However,theeffectismorepronouncedwithoutgroupmembers(Ackerman,2006).Ourancestorsweremorecautioustowardoutsiders.
Ifyouneedtocapturesomeone’sattention,incorporateanimageofsomeonewhois:
(A)Demographicallydifferent,and
(B)Expressinganangryemotion
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B)SEX
Ididn’twanttoincludea“sex”category.Thelastthingweneedismoresexinadvertising.
Unfortunately,itdoescaptureattention.Ourancestorsweremorelikelytoreproducewhentheyfoundamatingpartner.Sosexualstimuliarehard-wiredintoourattentionsystem(Mostetal.,2007).Thanks,evolution.
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STIMULI7:UNPREDICTABILITY
Ifstimulidon’thelppeoplereachtheirgoals,theystopnoticingthem:
“…people can intentionally focus their attention on what they perceive as being relevant and can ignore that which they consider to be irrelevant. In addition, this control behavior may even become an automatic process when it occurs frequently enough.” (Sun, Lim, & Peng, 2013, pp. 50)
Banneradsareagreatexample.Toovercomebannerblindness(orotherformsofhabituation),youneedsomethingunpredictable.
Unpredictablyactivatestheamygdala,therebycapturingattention(Herryetal.,2007)
Herearetwosolutions:
1. Taboo
2. Novelty
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A)TABOO
Taboowordscapturemoreattentionthanemotionalwords(Mathewson,Arnell,&Mans`ield,2008).Thiscategoryincludessex,profanity,orexpletives.
Thislanguagemightworkbestforspeakers.Somespeakers(e.g.,TonyRobbins)sustaintheaudience’sattentionbycursing.
B)NOVELTY
Today,infantslookatnovelpatternsmorethanfamiliarpatterns(Fantz,1964).Ourancestorsweremorelikelytosurviveiftheydetectednovelstimuli:
“…novel popout would appear to have a great deal of survival value because it would allow organisms to quickly perceive and prepare to deal with novel intrusions into their familiar surroundings.” (Johnston et al., 1990, pp. 3)
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TACTIC: COMBINE FAMILIAR STIMULI TO CREATE A NEW STIMULUS
Noveltyisadouble-edgedsword.
Ononehand,noveltycapturesattention.
Ontheotherhand,peopledon’tlikenovelty.Theylikefamiliarity(seeWinkielmanetal.,2003).
Sowhatshouldyoudo?Trycombiningfamiliarstimuli.
Consideranthropomorphism.Thisconceptgiveshumanqualitiestoinanimateobjectsoranimals.
Theendresultisanovelstimulus,thuscapturingattention.However,theunderlyingcomponentsarefamiliar,thusretainingafavorableevaluation.
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TACTIC: MOVE BANNER ADS TO NEW LOCATIONS ON A PAGE
Peopleexperiencebannerblindnessbecausetheydevelopimplicitmemoryforstimuluslocations(Chun&Jiang,1998).Peoplerecognizetypicallocationsforabannerad.Andtheymentallyblockthoselocations.
That’swhyyoushouldperiodicallymoveyourbannerads:
“…the dishabituation of a banner location could enhance a viewer’s attention to the ad banner.” (Tangmanee, 2016, pp. 69)
TACTIC: USE THE PIQUE TECHNIQUE TO OVERCOME POPUP BLINDNESS
Habituationalsooccurswithrequests.Overtime,wedevelopastandardrefusal.Ifapasserbyasksformoney,mostpeopleimmediatelydecline.It’sare>lex.
However,Santos,Leve,andPratkanis(1994)foundasolution:thepiquetechnique.
Theresearchersreceivedmoremoneywhentheyaskedforanunusualamount(e.g.,37cents),ratherthanatypicalamount(e.g.,25cents,50cents).
Becausetherequestwasnovel,itpreventedamindlessrefusal.Itforcedpeopletoconsciouslyevaluatetherequest.
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Youcouldusethattechniquetopreventpopupblindness.Atthemoment,whenyouleavemysite,youseethislovelypopup:
Butthatwordingistypical.Yawn.Ishouldprobablymakeitnovel:
Thatheadline—becauseitsnovel—ismorelikelytocaptureattention.Visitorswillbemorelikelytostopandevaluatemyrequest.Mightbeworthatest.
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STIMULI8:SELF-RELEVANCE
Youprobablyexperiencedthecocktailpartyeffect(Moray,1959).Youcouldbeengulfedinaconversion.Butifsomeonenearbymentionsyourname,yourattentionsystemslapsyouintheface.
That’sthepowerofself-relatedstimuli.
“…automatic attentional capture ensures that self-related information is not missed and it is effectively encoded when present in one’s nearby environment” (Alexopoulos et al., 2012, pp. 777)
Herearethreewaystotriggerself-relevance:
A) YourName
B) YourFace
C) MentalInteraction
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A)YOURNAME
Hearingournameactivatesthemedialprefrontalcortex(Perrinetal.,2005).Babiesdevelopthatabilityatroughly4.5months(Mandel,Jusczyk,&Pisoni,1995).
Andit’snotjustauditorystimuli.Weexperiencethesameeffectwithsubliminalexposurestoourwrittenname(Alexopoulosetal.,2012).
TACTIC: PERSONALIZE YOUR MARKETING (IN A NON-CREEPY WAY)
Thankstoself-relevance,personalizationispowerful.Ithinkit’llgetmorepopularovertime.
Butyouneedtobecareful.Toomuchpersonalizationiscreepy:
“Participants reported being more likely to notice ads with their photo, holiday destination, and name, but also increasing levels of discomfort with increasing personalization.” (Malheiros et al., 2012, pg. 1)
Researchersdon’thaveanameforit.ButIcallitthehow-the-f*ck-did-they-know-thateffect.
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B)YOURFACE
Ourbrainalsodevelopedmechanismstoidentifyourownface:
“A complex bilateral network, involving frontal, parietal and occipital areas, appears to be associated with self-face recognition, with a particularly high implication of the right hemisphere.” (Devue & Brédart, 2011, pg. 2)
Intermsofstrength,facesandnamesareequallypowerful(Tacikowski&Nowicka,2010).
TACTIC: DISPLAY THE USER’S PICTURE ON THEIR PROFILE PAGE
Doyouhaveamainloginpagewithaccountsettings?Makeitpersonal.Showtheuser’sfacetoincreasetheirperceivedownershipandinvolvement.
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You’llalsosparkmorementalinteraction,whichisnext…
C)MENTALINTERACTIONThisoneiscool.Idescribetheresearchinmyarticleonadvertisingpsychology.
Essentially,peoplepreferanimagewhentheyimaginethemselvesinteractingwithit.
Forexample,ElderandKrishna(2012)foundthatpeopleweremorelikelytobuyamugwhenthehandlewaspositiontowardtheright—towardthedominanthandofmostpeople.
Theeffectdisappearedwhenparticipantswereholdingsomethingintheirrighthand(becausetheycouldn’tmentallyinteractwithit).
TACTIC: USE 1ST PERSON PERSPECTIVES IN IMAGES
How’sthatforproductplacement?Prettyslick.
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Nonetheless,protrudingforearmsaregreat.Theytriggera1stpersonperspective,thussparkingmentalinteraction(andenhancingpreferences).
Thoseimageswon’t`iteverycontext.ButtheymightworkinFacebookads.
TACTIC: LET USERS UPLOAD THEIR PICTURE ON ECOMMERCE WEBSITES
Doyousellclothingonline?Forgetthesexymodels.Createaninteractive`ittingroom.
Letusersuploadtheirpicturetoseehowtheclothinglooksonthem.
Thatdresslooksfabonme.
Customerscouldevaluatetheclothesmoreaccurately(whichmightlowerreturnrates).Anditalsoincreasesmentalinteraction.Customerswillimaginethemselvesinteractingwiththeproduct—whichshouldnudgethemtobuy.
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STIMULI9:GOAL-RELEVANCE
Attentionisextremelycomplex.ItriedtosimplifythisarticleasmuchaspossibleHowever,Ineedtoaddresstwotypesofattention(Itti&Koch,2001).
Thisarticlefocusedonbottom-upattention.Thisattentionispassive,wherepeopledon’thaveanactivegoal.
Butthere’salsotop-downattention—wherepeopleDOhaveanactivegoal.Thischangessomeoftheprevioustactics.
Youshouldconsidertheseconditions:
A) NoGoal
B) Goal-Directed
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A)NOGOAL
Peoplearemorelikelytonoticeyourstimuluswhentheydon’thaveacurrentgoal.That’sbecausetheircognitiveloadislower,leavingspareroomforattention:
“…task-irrelevant stimuli are perceived in situations of low perceptual load when the relevant task leaves spare capacity for their processing…” (Cartwright-Finch & Lavie, 2007, pp. 17)
Forexample,ResnickandAlbert(2014)foundthatonlineshoppersarelesslikelytonoticeabanneradwhensearchingforspeci`icproducts.They’remorelikelytonoticeanadifthey’rejustbrowsing.
Whatdoesthatmeanforyou?
Tocaptureattention,youshouldplaceyourstimulusinacontextwherepeoplehavelowcognitiveload.
TACTIC: DISPLAY ADS IN FUN OR ENTERTAINING CONTEXTS
Withdisplayadvertising,choosewebsitesthataresemanticallyrelevant,yetfunorentertaining.Thosevisitorsarelesslikelytohaveagoal(andthusmorelikelytoseeyourad).
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B)GOAL-DIRECTED
Whenusingtop-downattention,weonlyseegoal-relatedstimuli(Folk,Remington,&Johnston,1992).Whensearchingforagreenstimulus,ourattentionsearchesforgreen.Redstimuligounnoticed.
IfsomeoneissearchingforXYZ,thenyourstimulusshouldresembleXYZ.
Withtop-downattention,visualsaliencycanback`ire.Forexample,whenadsareverydistinct,theyshout:Hey,I’manad.Sowe’requicker
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toidentifythosestimuliasirrelevant.Andweusetop-downattentiontoblockthemfromourattention.
Alwaysconsiderthetypeofattentionpeopleareusing:
Ifpeoplearen’tsearchingforastimulus,thenthey’reusingbottom-upattention.Usevisualsaliencytocapturetheirattention.
Ifpeoplearesearchingforsomething,they’reusingtop-downattention.Makeyourtargetsimilartotheirgoal(Duncan&Humphreys1989).That’swhyyoumightwanttoreducethesaliencyofbannerads(Neo&Chua,2006).
TACTIC: PLACE YOUR TARGET IN THEIR FOCAL AREA
Peoplevisitwebpagesforcontent.That’stheirgoal.
However,mostadsappearonthetop,bottom,orside—outsidethecorecontent.Thoselocationsarelesseffective.Peoplecanblockthosespatialareas—includingtheads—fromenteringtheirtop-downattention.
Ideally,youshouldplaceadswithinthecontent.Ifyouradseemslikepartofthearticle,it’llbemorelikelytopenetratetheirtop-downattention.
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CONCLUSIONHere’saquicksummary.ThefollowingimagecontainsALLthestimulifromthisarticle.Canyou`indthem?
Here’swheretheyare.
STIMULI 1: SALIENCY
Thebackgroundisasaturatedred.It’ssalientagainstthewhitebackgroundofthispage.Plus,mybodyandtheyellowspideraresalientwithintheimage.
Oh,andIalsotiltedit.
STIMULI 2: MOTION
Itriedaddingamotionblurtothespider.Clearly,mydesignskillsneedsomehelp.
STIMULI 3: PEOPLE
Mybodyandhandarepresent.Prettystraightforward.
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STIMULI 4: ANIMALS
I’darguethatthiscategoryistheleastprevalent.Andyes,Irealizetheimagehasagiantspider.Ichosethespidertoillustrateapoint.
Spidershaveauniqueshape.Theirbodiesaredifferentfrommostcreatures.Inotherwords,theydon’thaveprototypicalfeaturesofananimal.Inaquickglance,yourbrainmightnotcategorizeaspiderasananimal.
However,aspiderDOEScaptureattentionbecauseyourbrainrecognizesthatshapeinthreatdetection.
STIMULI 5: SPATIAL CUES
I’mpointingtoandlookingatthespider.
STIMULI 6: HIGH AROUSAL
ThespidercapturesattentionbecauseoftheevolutionarybasisthatIdescribedinthearticle.
STIMULI 7: UNPREDICTABILITY
Theimage—itself—makesnosense.Becausethesemanticmeaningisunrelated,itconveysnoveltyandunexpectedness.
STIMULI 8: SELF-RELEVANCE
Ipositionedmybodyfacingforward,whilepointingwithmyrighthand.Thatcompositionincreasesmentalinteraction.Youplaceyourselfinmyshoes.
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STIMULI 9: GOAL-RELEVANCE
Youwerealreadyreadingthisarticle.Soyoualreadyhadtop-downattention.Thiswasagimmie.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Tocaptureattention,youjustneedtoincludetheimageaboveinyourmarketingmaterials.
…I’mkidding.Obviously.
Justthinkofsimplewaystoincorporateoneorafewstimulifromthearticle.
Seriously,don’tgooverboard.Whenyouaddtoomuchstimuliintooneimage,youdestroythemostimportanttrait:salience.Simplerisusuallybetter.
Andifyouwantmorehelpwithpsychologyandmarketing,checkoutmyotherarticles:
42PricingTacticsBasedonPsychology&Neuroscience
31NegotiationTacticsBasedByScience
31CopywritingTipsBasedonPsychology&Linguistics
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