The Effect of Technology on Human Social Perception: A Multi-methods NeuroIS Pilot Investigation

Effects of digital communication have been reported, but with only little physiological data backing. The purpose of this pilot study was to use a multi-methods approach to investigate in digital natives the effects of reading from a mobile device, listening to an audio recording and listening to an actual person present, who reads out loud. Self-reported pleasantness and arousal as conscious data, startle reflex modulation, skin conductance and heart rate as non-conscious data were recorded for each condition. The findings indicate that physiological arousal measures tend to match respective self-report measures both indicating higher arousal levels for social conditions. However, physiological valence measures do not match their corresponding self-report measures. Listening to an audio recording and listening to a real person reading were rated as more pleasant than reading alone. However, listening to a present person reading out loud resulted in the most negative subcortical raw affective responses in digital native’s brains.