Nils-Holmberg-Thesis
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Effects of online advertising on children's visual attention and task performance during free and goal-directed internet use A media psychology approach to children's website interaction and advert distraction Holmberg, Nils DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.34031.64168 2016 Document Version: Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Holmberg, N. (2016). Effects of online advertising on children's visual attention and task performance during free and goal-directed internet use: A media psychology approach to children's website interaction and advert distraction. 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LUND UNIVERSITY PO Box 117 221 00 Lund +46 46-222 00 00 Download date: 03. Oct. 2021 NILS HOLMBERG Printed by Media- Tr yck, Lund University 2016 Nor Effectsonlineof advertising on visual children’s attention and task performanceduring free and goal-directed internet use Effects of online advertising on dic Ecolabel 3041 0903 children’s visual attention and task performance during free and goal- Eye-tracking gives us a rare opportunity to look at the world through someone else’s eyes. In this directed internet use dissertation we are looking at online advertising A media psychology approach to children’s website interaction through the eyes of children aged 9 and 12 years. These children are surfing the world wide web and advert distraction to gather information, to play games, or to visit their favorite websites. In this environment, online NILS HOLMBERG advertising is omnipresent, waiting for the moment DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION And MEDIA | LUnd UnIVERSITY 2016 to capture someone’s visual attention through a sudden movement or a seductive motif. If the commercial internet keeps getting smarter, maybe one day, adverts will look back at us? Faculty of Social Sciences Department of Communication and Media 530527 ISBN 978-91-7753-052-7 ISSN 1104-4330 Lund Studies in Media and Communication 21 789177 21 9 Effects of online advertising on children’s visual attention and task performance during free and goal-directed internet use Effects of online advertising on children’s visual attention and task performance during free and goal-directed internet use A media psychology approach to children’s website interaction and advert distraction by Nils Holmberg Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Thesis advisors: Assoc. Prof. Helena Sandberg, Prof. Kenneth Holmqvist Faculty opponent: Assoc. Prof. Jessica Taylor Piotrowski To be presented, with the permission of the Faculty of Social Sciences of Lund University, for public criticism in the Pufendorf Institute Auditorium (Hörsalen, Pufendorfinstitutet) on Friday, the 9th of December 2016 at 10:15. Organization Document name LUND UNIVERSITY DOCTORAL DISSERTATION Department of Communication and Media Date of disputation Box 117 2016-12-09 SE–221 00 LUND Sponsoring organization Sweden The Crafoord Foundation The Swedish Research Council Author(s) Nils Holmberg Title and subtitle Effects of online advertising on children’s visual attention and task performance during free and goal-directed internet use: A media psychology approach to children’s website interaction and advert distraction Abstract This dissertation consists of four eye-tracking studies that investigate how salient online advertising and children’s level of executive function contributes to their advert distraction. In Study 1, children aged 9 were instructed to surf freely on the internet while all advert material appearing on-screen was registered. The analyses examined how perceptual prominence in each online advert was related to children’s visual attention. In Study 2, a mock-up advergame website was designed with controlled advert conditions, and children aged 9 and 12 were instructed to solve a number of in-game tasks. This study investigated the combined effects of perceptual prominence (e.g. abrupt onset) and content relevance (e.g. personalized content) on children’s advert distraction. The results of the first two studies showed significant positive effects of advert saliency on children’s visual attention. Due to the task-oriented research design used in the second study, it was possible to interpret these effects on visual attention in terms of advert distraction. Both studies showed that higher levels of inhibitory control in children significantly decreased the effects of advert saliency on visual attention and advert distraction. The following two studies, investigated how advert animation affected children’s online reading comprehension and information search on commercial websites. In Study 3, children aged 9 were presented with factual texts that they were instructed to read in order to answer comprehension questions. Each text was presented on a web page which also featured static or animated online adverts. In Study 4, children aged 9 were instructed to solve two online task types featuring concurrent online advertising: reading and information search. The results of these studies showed that animated online advertising had significant negative effects on children’s task performance. ABLAD enl SIS 61 41 21 In the third study, it was found that animated adverts had a negative effect on children’s reading comprehension, and that this negative effect was stronger among children with low levels of inhibitory control. The fourth study found that advert animation had a significant positive effect on children’s cognitive load across task types. Taken together, this dissertation project has studied children’s online advert distraction in a wide range of realistic internet usage situations. DOKUMENTDAT Key words online advertising, children, website interaction, visual attention, distraction, cognitive load, eye-tracking, task- orientation, media effects, visual saliency, executive functions, media literacy, inhibitory control Classification system and/or index terms (if any) Supplementary bibliographical information Language English ISSN and key title ISBN 1104-4330 Lund Studies in Media and Communication 21 978-91-7753-052-7 (print) 978-91-7753-053-4 (pdf) Recipient’s notes Number of pages Price 210 Security classification I, the undersigned, being the copyright owner of the abstract of the above-mentioned dissertation, hereby grant to all reference sources the permission to publish and disseminate the abstract of the above-mentioned dissertation. Signature Date 2016-11-10 Effects of online advertising on children’s visual attention and task performance during free and goal-directed internet use A media psychology approach to children’s website interaction and advert distraction by Nils Holmberg Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Thesis advisors: Assoc. Prof. Helena Sandberg, Prof. Kenneth Holmqvist Faculty opponent: Assoc. Prof. Jessica Taylor Piotrowski To be presented, with the permission of the Faculty of Social Sciences of Lund University, for public criticism in the Pufendorf Institute Auditorium (Hörsalen, Pufendorfinstitutet) on Friday, the 9th of December 2016 at 10:15. A doctoral thesis at a university in Sweden takes either the form of a single, cohesive re- search study (monograph) or a summary of research papers (compilation thesis), which the doctoral student has written alone or together with one or several other author(s). In the latter case the thesis consists of two parts. An introductory text puts the research work into context and summarizes the main points of the papers. Then, the research publications themselves are reproduced, together with a description of the individual contributions of the authors. The research papers may either have been already published or are manuscripts at various stages (in press, submitted, or in draft). Cover illustration front: Detail of online advert (Paper iii). Cover illustration back: Photo of Nils Holmberg (Credits: Maja Petersson). Funding information: The research presented in this thesis was funded by the Crafoord Found- ation (20100899) and the Swedish Research Council (421-2010-1982). © Nils Holmberg 2016 Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Communication and Media isbn: 978-91-7753-052-7 (print) isbn: 978-91-7753-053-4 (pdf) issn: 1104-4330 Lund Studies in Media and Communication 21 Printed in Sweden by Media-Tryck, Lund University, Lund 2016 Dedicated to Rosemarie Contents List of original papers . iii Acknowledgements . iv Sammanfattning på svenska . v 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Research motivation: Children’s advert distraction . 3 1.2 Structure of the thesis . 6 1.3 Media and communication perspectives . 9 1.3.1 Advertising and media effects . 9 1.3.2 Children’s susceptibility to advertising . 12 1.3.3 Online media and advertising . 15 1.4 Media psychology perspectives . 18 1.4.1 Advert saliency and visual attention . 18 1.4.2 Children’s cognitive development . 21 1.4.3 Task-orientation and advert distraction . 23 1.5 Research questions and hypotheses . 26 2 Methods 29 2.1 Participants and data collections . 29 2.1.1 Researching children . 30 2.1.2 Eye-tracking recordings . 32 2.1.3 Screen recordings . 35 2.2 Gaze control measures . 35 2.2.1 Anti-saccade tasks . 36 2.3 Free internet usage . 37 2.3.1 Study 1: Undirected website interaction .