Does Animation Attract Online Users' Attention? The Effects of Flash on Information Search Performance and Perceptions.

Author List: Hong, Weiyin; Thong, James Y. L.; Tam, Kar Yan;
Information Systems Research, 2004, Volume 15, Issue 1, Page 60-86.
The proliferation of information on the Internet poses a significant challenge on humans' limited attentional resources. To attract online users' attention, various kinds of animation are widely used on websites. Despite the ubiquitous use of animation, there is an inadequate understanding of its effect on attention. Focusing on flash animation, this study examines its effects on online users' performance and perceptions in both task-relevant and task-irrelevant information search contexts by drawing on the visual search literature and two theories from cognitive psychology. In the task-relevant context, flash is applied on the search target; while in the task-irrelevant context, flash is applied on a nontarget item. The results of this study confirm that flash does attract users' attention and facilitates quicker location of the flashed target item in tightly packed screen displays. However, there is no evidence that attracting attention increases recall of the flashed item, as is generally presumed in practice, and may even decrease the overall recall. One explanation is that when users have to use their limited attentional resources on suppressing the distraction of flash, they will have less mental resources to process information. Moreover, the results suggest that processing information about an item depends not only on the attention it attracts per se, but also on the attention that other items on the same screen attract. While flashing an item may not increase the recall of that item, it can reduce the recall of other items (especially the nontarget items) on the screen. Finally, flash has negative effects on users' focused attention and attitude towards using the website. These results have implications for website interface design, online product promotion, online advertising, and multimedia training systems, among others.
Keywords: associative network model; attention; central capacity theory; flash animation; laboratory experiment; online information search; visual search; website interface design
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#278 0.152 website users websites technostress stress time online wait delay aesthetics user model image elements longer waiting appeal attract utility internet
#116 0.138 research study influence effects literature theoretical use understanding theory using impact behavior insights examine influences mechanisms specifically context perspective findings
#236 0.086 form items item sensitive forms variety rates contexts fast coefficients meaning higher robust scores hardware providing compared single complete subgroups
#283 0.077 interface user users interaction design visual interfaces human-computer navigation human need cues studies guidelines laboratory functional developed restricted know guided
#266 0.063 information presentation graphics format systems graphical graphs design recall representation comprehension experimental presentations experiment presented variables formats graphic tabular led
#217 0.059 search information display engine results engines displays retrieval effectiveness relevant process ranking depth searching economics create functions incorporate low terms
#130 0.053 online users active paper using increasingly informational user data internet overall little various understanding empirical despite lead cascades help availability
#209 0.052 results study research information studies relationship size variables previous variable examining dependent increases empirical variance accounting independent demonstrate important addition
#170 0.051 information processing needs based lead make exchange situation examined ownership analytical improved situations changes informational examine developed receive perceptions facilitates