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The Role of Perceptual Load in Banner Blindness

Student: Gorbatova Kseniya

Supervisor: Elena S. Gorbunova

Faculty: Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience

Educational Programme: Cognitive Sciences and Technologies: From Neuron to Cognition (Master)

Year of Graduation: 2021

Perceptual load theory claims that processing of task-irrelevant information can be predicted by the level of perceptual load. If a particular task places high demands on attention, distractors processing is prevented: the subjects in a high load condition are more likely to ignore the distractors, while in a low load condition, task-irrelevant information is processed. The study represents an application of load theory to the real-world internet users' behavior and contributes to the dispute whether banner blindness — a tendency to ignore the banners on web pages — is a special case of inattentional blindness or a separate phenomenon. In 4 experiments, participants were divided into low and high load groups and asked to find items on a shopping website. In the critical trial, an advertising banner appeared. The subjects under the high load condition were expected to notice the banner less often as compared to the low load condition. Contrary to inattentional blindness studies, we found no significant effect of perceptual load on banner blindness. The results were reproduced in 4 experiments with explicit and implicit testings. Thus, banner blindness seems to be a result of attentional filters adjustment that adapts to the abundance of information on the web pages.

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