The Psychology of Attention Nick Kolenda

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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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