The Role of Visual Complexity in Affective Reactions to Webpages: Subjective, Eye Movement, and Cardiovascular Responses

In this study, we tested whether the visual complexity (VC) of webpages influences viewer's affective reactions. In a laboratory experiment, 48 students viewed 36 webpages varying in VC while subjective feelings, behavioral, and cardiovascular responses were recorded. Less complex webpages were associated with more positive affect, decreased eye movements (specifically in the first few seconds of viewing), a triphasic heart rate response, and increased finger pulse amplitude. Results suggest that affective responses to webpage viewing differ as a function of VC and that webpage displaying could be made adaptive to the user's emotions.

[1]  Kasper Hornbæk,et al.  Old wine in new bottles or novel challenges: a critical analysis of empirical studies of user experience , 2011, CHI.

[2]  R. Hare,et al.  Autonomic responses to affective visual stimulation. , 1970, Psychophysiology.

[3]  P. Lang.  International affective picture system (IAPS) : affective ratings of pictures and instruction manual , 2005 .

[4]  Peter J. Lang,et al.  Attention and Orienting : Sensory and Motivational Processes , 1997 .

[5]  Rosalind W. Picard,et al.  Non-contact, automated cardiac pulse measurements using video imaging and blind source separation , 2022 .

[6]  D. Berlyne,et al.  COMPLEXITY AND INCONGRUITY VARIABLES AS DETERMINANTS OF EXPLORATORY CHOICE AND EVALUATIVE RATINGS. , 1963, Canadian journal of psychology.

[7]  G H Robinson,et al.  Visual Search by Automobile Drivers , 1972, Human factors.

[8]  P. Silvia.  What is interesting? Exploring the appraisal structure of interest. , 2005, Emotion.

[9]  H. Leder,et al.  A model of aesthetic appreciation and aesthetic judgments. , 2004, British journal of psychology.

[10]  K. Scherer.  The dynamic architecture of emotion: Evidence for the component process model , 2009 .

[11]  T. Freeman,et al.  Eye-movements reduce the vividness, emotional valence and electrodermal arousal associated with negative autobiographical memories , 2004 .

[12]  J. Antes.  The time course of picture viewing. , 1974, Journal of experimental psychology.

[13]  R. Dolan,et al.  Common effects of emotional valence, arousal and attention on neural activation during visual processing of pictures , 1999, Neuropsychologia.

[14]  F. Attneave.  Physical determinants of the judged complexity of shapes. , 1957, Journal of experimental psychology.

[15]  Nancy Millette,et al.  How People Look at Pictures , 1935 .

[16]  R D Hare,et al.  Response requirements and directional fractionation of autonomic responses. , 1972, Psychophysiology.

[17]  John T. Cacioppo,et al.  Microexpressive Facial Actions as a Function of Affective Stimuli: Replication and Extension , 1992 .

[18]  P. Vitz.  Preference for different amounts of visual complexity. , 1966, Behavioral science.

[19]  K. Scherer.  Which Emotions Can be Induced by Music? What Are the Underlying Mechanisms? And How Can We Measure Them? , 2004 .

[20]  M. Bradley,et al.  Emotion and the motivational brain , 2010, Biological Psychology.

[21]  Robert D. Ward,et al.  Affective computing: problems, reactions and intentions , 2004, Interact. Comput..

[22]  John Knight,et al.  Homepage aesthetics: The search for preference factors and the challenges of subjectivity , 2006, Interact. Comput..

[23]  B. Velichkovsky,et al.  Time course of information processing during scene perception: The relationship between saccade amplitude and fixation duration , 2005 .

[24]  Sylvia D. Kreibig,et al.  Autonomic nervous system activity in emotion: A review , 2010, Biological Psychology.

[25]  M. Bradley,et al.  Affective reactions to briefly presented pictures. , 2001, Psychophysiology.

[26]  M. Bradley,et al.  Emotional arousal and activation of the visual cortex: an fMRI analysis. , 1998, Psychophysiology.

[27]  M. Bradley,et al.  Emotion, Motivation, and Anxiety: Brain Mechanisms and Psychophysiology the Motivational Organization of Emotion Patterns of Human Emotion Emotion and Perception the Psychophysiology of Picture Processing Neural Imaging: Motivation in the Visual Cortex Motivational Circuits in the Brain , 2022 .

[28]  Sylvia D. Kreibig,et al.  An affective computing approach to physiological emotion specificity: toward subject-independent and stimulus-independent classification of film-induced emotions. , 2011, Psychophysiology.

[29]  D. Berlyne,et al.  The semantic differential and other measures of reaction to visual complexity. , 1966, Canadian journal of psychology.

[30]  P. Lang.  Behavioral treatment and bio-behavioral assessment: computer applications , 1980 .

[31]  K. Rayner.  Eye movements in reading and information processing: 20 years of research. , 1998, Psychological bulletin.

[32]  F. Wilhelm,et al.  Emotions beyond the laboratory: Theoretical fundaments, study design, and analytic strategies for advanced ambulatory assessment , 2010, Biological Psychology.

[33]  B. C. Lacey,et al.  Pupillary and cardiac activity during visual attention. , 1973, Psychophysiology.

[34]  P. Drummond,et al.  Effects of eye movement versus therapist instructions on the processing of distressing memories. , 2008, Journal of anxiety disorders.

[35]  E. Altenmüller,et al.  Emotions over time: synchronicity and development of subjective, physiological, and facial affective reactions to music. , 2007, Emotion.

[36]  R. Lazarus,et al.  Some parameters of heart rate change: perceptual versus motor task requirements, noxiousness, and uncertainty. , 1970, Psychophysiology.

[37]  Alexandre N. Tuch,et al.  Visual complexity of websites: Effects on users' experience, physiology, performance, and memory , 2009, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Stud..

[38]  Schaefer,et al.  Psychological response patterning in emotion: implications for affective computing , 2010 .

[39]  Don C Donderi,et al.  An Information Theory Analysis of Visual Complexity and Dissimilarity , 2006, Perception.

[40]  Aleksandr R. Luria,et al.  Disturbances of the structure of active perception in lesions of the posterior and anterior regions of the brain , 1968 .

[41]  Anand Kumar,et al.  Web Commercials and Advertising Hierarchy-of-Effects , 2000, Journal of Advertising Research.

[42]  E. N. Solokov.  Perception and the conditioned reflex , 1963 .

[43]  M. Tinker.  How People Look at Pictures. , 1936 .

[44]  K. Ochsner,et al.  Are affective events richly recollected or simply familiar? The experience and process of recognizing feelings past. , 2000, Journal of experimental psychology. General.

[45]  Maria E. Jabon,et al.  Real-time classification of evoked emotions using facial feature tracking and physiological responses , 2008, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Stud..

[46]  M. Bradley,et al.  Emotion and motivation I: defensive and appetitive reactions in picture processing. , 2001, Emotion.

[47]  N. Schwarz,et al.  Processing Fluency and Aesthetic Pleasure: Is Beauty in the Perceiver's Processing Experience? , 2004, Personality and social psychology review : an official journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

[48]  A Ohman,et al.  Heart-rate and electrodermal orienting responses to visual stimuli differing in complexity. , 1979, Scandinavian journal of psychology.

[49]  P. Zimmermann,et al.  Affective Computing—A Rationale for Measuring Mood With Mouse and Keyboard , 2003, International journal of occupational safety and ergonomics : JOSE.

[50]  R. Krauss,et al.  Facial and autonomic manifestations of the dimensional structure of emotion , 1984 .

[51]  Gitte Lindgaard,et al.  Attention web designers: You have 50 milliseconds to make a good first impression! , 2006, Behav. Inf. Technol..

[52]  R. Watson,et al.  The Influence of Home Page Complexity on Consumer Attention, Attitudes, and Purchase Intent , 2006 .

[53]  Gordon C. Bruner,et al.  Webpage Background and Viewer Attitudes , 2000, Journal of Advertising Research.