Visuals misleading consumers? Testing the visual superiority effect in advertising

Purpose The purpose of this study is to test the visual superiority effect in a verisimilar scenario that an industry association seeks to manipulate consumers using a visual element in its ad while providing an ostensibly balanced claim about the potential health effects of stevia. Design/methodology/approach Two experiments were conducted. In Study 1, an online experiment was conducted with a sample of 112 adult consumers using a two-group (headline frame type: gain vs loss), post-test only design with additional planned analysis of an individual difference (i.e. regulatory focus). In Study 2, another online experiment was implemented with a sample of 175 adults using a 2 (headline frame type: gain vs loss) × 2 (image valence: positive vs negative) between-subjects design with additional planned analysis of regulatory focus. The hypotheses were tested by running the PROCESS macro on SPSS. Findings The results showed that when exposed to the advertising message designed to elicit uncertainty, participants relied more on the visual than the textual content (i.e. framed headline and body text) in forming attitude toward the behavior (i.e. consuming stevia). Analysis of cognitive responses also revealed that those who received the stimulus ad with an image added (Study 2) generated significantly fewer thoughts related to the textual content of the ad than those who received the ad with no image (Study 1). Originality/value This study represents one of the earliest experimental inquiries into the visual superiority effect in an advertising context. While earlier studies have tended to rely on dual-processing models to test the effects of advertising stimuli featuring both textual and visual elements, the findings of this study (e.g. visual content overwhelmed its textual counterpart in producing persuasive effects) somewhat contradict the premise of dual-processing models.

IS DIGIT SUPERIORITY INDISPENSABLE WITH REGARD TO SHORT TERM MEMORY SPAN?

It is known that digits have a positive effect on the performance of short term memory (STM) span and it is called the digit superiority effect. This study aims to examine the effect of familiar stimuli (digits, colors, digit names, color names, and words) on STM span. In order to measure STM capacity, a memory span task was used including the digit, word, and color span lists. 91 participants (44 female, 47 male) aged between 18-27 (M = 21,43, SD = 1.50) participated in the study that consisted of three different experiments. Results of Experiment 1 revealed that there was a significant difference between the digit name and word with regard to span size and total span. In Experiment 2 and 3, the main effect of familiar stimulus type on total span and span size was significant, and also the difference between all types of stimuli was significant (Experiment II, digit name>word=color name; Experiment III, digit>digit name>color name>color). The common result obtained from all experiments is that digits are superior with regard to STM span than other familiar stimuli types such as words, color names, colors. This study confirmed that digit superiority effect is indispensable on verbal and visual STM span. Keywords Digit superiority, short term memory, memory span

Visual Memory Scan Slopes: Their Changes over the First Two Seconds of Processing

Using the prime–probe comparison paradigm, Jacob, Breitmeyer, and Treviño (2013) demonstrated that information processing in visual short-term memory (VSTM) proceeds through three stages: sensory visible persistence (SVP), nonvisible informational persistence (NIP), and visual working memory (VWM). To investigate the effect of increasing the memory load on these stages by using 1, 3, and 5 display items, measures of VSTM performance, including storage, storage-slopes, and scan-slopes, were obtained. Results again revealed three stages of VSTM processing, but with the NIP stage increasing in duration as memory load increased, suggesting a need, during the NIP stage, for transfer and encoding delays of information into VWM. Consistent with this, VSTM scan-slopes, in ms/item, were lowest during the first NIP stage, highest during the second NIP stage, and intermediate during the third, non-sensory VWM stage. The results also demonstrated a color-superiority effect, as all VSTM scan-slopes for color were lower than those for shape and as all VSTM storages for color are greater than those for shape, and the existence of systematic pair-wise correlations between all three measures of VSTM performance. These findings and their implications are related to other paradigms and methods used to investigate post-stimulus processing in VSTM.

The contribution of semantics to the sentence superiority effect

When a sequence of written words is presented briefly and participants are asked to report the identity of one of the words, identification accuracy is higher when the words form a correct sentence. Here we examined the extent to which this sentence superiority effect can be modulated by semantic content. The central hypothesis guiding this study is that the sentence superiority effect is primarily a syntactic effect. We therefore predicted little or no modulation of the effect by semantics. The influence of semantic content was measured by comparing the sentence superiority effect obtained with semantically regular sentences (e.g., son amie danse bien [her friend dances well]) and semantically anomalous but syntactically correct sentences (e.g., votre sac boit gros [your bag drinks big]), with effects being measured against ungrammatical scrambled versions of the same words in both cases. We found sentence superiority effects with both types of sentences, and a significant interaction, such that the effects were greater with semantically regular sentences compared with semantically anomalous sentences. We conclude that sentence-level semantic information can constrain word identities under parallel word processing, albeit with less impact than that exerted by syntax.

DLPFC controls the rapid neural response to visual threat: An ERP and rTMS study

Individuals are faster at detecting threatening stimuli than neutral stimuli. While generally considered a rapid bottom-up response, this threat superiority effect is also modulated by top-down mechanisms known to rely on the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). What remains unclear is whether the response is modulated only at later stages of processing, or whether rapid attention to threat itself is controlled in a top-down manner. To test this, we used repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to inhibit activity in the DLPFC, and measured EEG to index the immediate neural response to threat. Participants attended two sessions where they performed a visual search task with threatening or neutral targets. Prior to this, they received 15 minutes of 1 Hz inhibitory or sham rTMS targeting the right DLPFC. We measured the impact of rTMS on the P1, a rapid visually-evoked potential that is modulated by attention. We found that threatening targets increased the amplitude of the P1 in the sham condition, but inhibition of the DLPFC abolished this increase. These results suggest that the neural signature of rapid attentional detection of threat, even at its earliest stage, is influenced in a top-down fashion by the right DLPFC.

Differential Eye Movements in Verbal and Nonverbal Search

In addition to “nonverbal search” for objects, modern life also necessitates “verbal search” for written words in variable configurations. We know less about how we locate words in novel spatial arrangements, as occurs on websites and menus, than when words are located in passages. In this study we leveraged eye tracking technology to examine the hypothesis that objects are simultaneously screened in parallel while words can only be found when each are directly foveated in serial fashion. Participants were provided with a cue (e.g. rabbit) and tasked with finding a thematically-related target (e.g. carrot) embedded within an array including a dozen distractors. The cues and arrays were comprised of object pictures on nonverbal trials, and of written words on verbal trials. In keeping with the well-established “picture superiority effect,” picture targets were identified more rapidly than word targets. Eye movement analysis showed that picture superiority was promoted by parallel viewing of objects, while words were viewed serially. Different factors influenced performance in each stimulus modality; lexical characteristics such as word frequency modulated viewing times during verbal search, while taxonomic category affected viewing times during nonverbal search. In addition to within-platform task conditions, performance was examined in cross-platform conditions where picture cues were followed by word arrays, and vice versa. Although taxonomically-related words did not capture gaze on verbal trials, they were viewed disproportionately when preceded by cross-platform picture cues. Our findings suggest that verbal and nonverbal search are associated with qualitatively different search strategies and forms of distraction, and cross-platform search incorporates characteristics of both.

Rapport building and witness memory: Actions may ‘speak’ louder than words

Building rapport during police interviews is argued as important for improving on the completeness and accuracy of information provided by witnesses and victims. However, little experimental research has clearly operationalised rapport and investigated the impact of rapport behaviours on episodic memory. Eighty adults watched a video of a mock crime event and 24-hours later were randomly allocated to an interview condition where verbal and/or behavioural (non-verbal) rapport techniques were manipulated. Memorial performance measures revealed significantly more correct information, without a concomitant increase in errors, was elicited when behavioural rapport was present, a superiority effect found in both the free and probed recall phase of interviews. The presence of verbal rapport was found to reduce recall accuracy in the free recall phase of interviews. Post-interview feedback revealed significant multivariate effects for the presence of behavioural (only) rapport and combined (behavioural + verbal) rapport. Participants rated their interview experience far more positively when these types of rapport were present compared to when verbal (only) rapport or no rapport was present. These findings add weight to the importance of rapport in supporting eyewitness cognition, highlighting the potential consequences of impoverished social behaviours for building rapport during dyadic interactions, suggesting ‘doing’ rather than simply ‘saying’ may be more beneficial.

Encoding and Encoding–Retrieval Interactions

Topics covered include the notion that there are no dedicated memory encoding processes as such; rather, encoding is equated with perception and comprehension. Studies by Craik, Moscovitch, and McDowd (1994), and by Challis, Velichkovsky, and Craik (1996) are described and their implications discussed. The differential sensitivity of retrieval tests (e.g., implicit/explicit) to different encoding operations is discussed in terms of test requirements for different types of information rather than as reflecting different memory systems. General principles of encoding are proposed; these include depth, elaboration, congruity, and distinctiveness. Memory-boosting procedures such as rehearsal, organization, retrieval as encoding, the generation effect, and subject-performed tasks are discussed and evaluated. Other topics described, illustrated, and discussed include the picture superiority effect, the self-reference effect, the effect of task difficulty on later memory, differential effects of divided attention at encoding and retrieval, and the concept of consolidation.

Configural sensitivity to inter-letter spacing in visual word perception

The word superiority effect refers to the phenomenon that people have better recognition of letters presented within words as compared to recognition of isolated letters. Although many previous research on how the spatial relations between letters in words affect the perceptual processing through the inversion paradigm, a significant amount of effort goes into setting the default inter-letter spacing when designing new fonts. Our current research examines the effect of manipulating letter spacing on the processing efficiency, as a measure of the word superiority effect. First, we tested multiple different words instead of fixed word stimuli to show that measures of efficiency can be generalized; second, we disrupted default inter-letter spacing by increasing, decreasing, and randomizing letter spacing to explore the extent to which the efficiency was sustained with the assessment functions. Our results indicate that participants are limited capacity only in the extreme spacing scenario. Additionally, the principle component (PC) analysis shows that highest PC values occur at normal spacing with degradation with increased disruption—spreading or narrowing. These results appear to confirm the configural nature of perceptual processing with normally-spaced words between identifiable tracking and kerning boundaries, and agree well with the ideas about optimal spacing by type designers and typographers implicit in general notion of "rhythmic spacing''. This work is also notable in that we demonstrate the use of assessment functions as a standardized tool for assessing the capacity benefits and efficiency of configural processing.