Full paper : https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-91716-0_25
This research examines attention to distracting products unrelated to the shopping goal and its impact on performance when making online decisions. An experiment was conducted with thirty-eight participants in a laboratory setting. The study used a 2 (product similarity: similar vs. non-similar) × 2 (visual proximity: near vs. far) within-subject design. The attention of participants was measured with eye tracking during an online decision task. The results showed a significant effect of distractors’ visual proximity as participants spent more time on products that were near the target stimulus. In addition, the analysis yielded an interaction between product similarity and visual distance on users’ attention. Finally, distractors that were similar to the focal stimulus positively influenced decisions accuracy. These findings contribute to theory by providing quantitative measures of the Gestalt law of proximity. In addition, the user experience has become a cornerstone for the success of firms and the conclusions have HCI design implications about effective product presentations in online shops.
ICT role in 21st century education and its challenges
Product Web Page Design: A Psychophysiological Investigation of the Influence of Product Similarity, Visual Proximity on Attention and Performance
1. Carolane Juanéda, MSc
HEC Montreal
Pierre-Majorique Léger, Ph.D.
Sylvain Sénécal, Ph.D.
Co-directors, Tech3Lab
HEC Montreal
Product Web Page Design:
A Psychophysiological
Investigation of the Influence of
Product Similarity, Visual
Proximity on Attention and
Performance
July 15th- 20th 2018, Las Vegas
HCI International 2018
2. It is your friend’s birthday.
Need to buy a birthday cake.
Go online.
2
Copyright Carolane Juanéda
4. Should you buy this cake for your friend ?
4
Copyright Carolane Juanéda
5. RESEARCH OBJECTIVE
Explore how stimuli affect individuals’
attention and decisions in an online
context.
Copyright Carolane Juanéda
6. GESTALT PRINCIPLES
The mind has an innate disposition to
structure the elements that the eye
perceives.
Copyright Carolane Juanéda
7. CATEGORIZATION PROCESS
Product category schemas are organized
prior knowledge structures stored in
memory where a product matches a
pattern.
Copyright Carolane Juanéda
9. MEASURED VARIABLES
1. Attention: time spent on distractors was
assessed and the milliseconds of net dwell
time on distractors.
2. Online decision-making: response time and
accuracy of the answer given were
monitored.
Copyright Carolane Juanéda
10. METHODOLOGY
2 (similarity between the focal product and
distractors: similar vs. non-similar) x 2
(proximity between the focal product and
distractors: close vs. far) within-subject design
38 participants
64 decisions
(2 online shopping tasks separated between
Scenario 1 and Scenario 2 )
Products screen was displayed for 4 seconds
Unlimited time to make a decision
Total: 2,432 decisions were collected
Copyright Carolane Juanéda
11. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
Similar, Near Similar, Far
Non-Similar, Near Non-Similar, Far
11
Scenario 1
Each slide (32 in total) included one focal
product and three distractors.
96 distractors per participant
Scenario 2
Each slide (32 in total) included one focal
product and four distractors.
128 distractors per participant
Copyright Carolane Juanéda
13. The significant effect showed that participants spent more time on distractors that were near the
focal product.
Interaction: Similar distractors that are near the focal product generated more attention than non-
similar distractors that are far from the focal product
13
RESULTS
Copyright Carolane Juanéda
14. 14
For Scenario 1, the answer is
more likely to be accurate with
similar stimuli rather than non-
similar distractors.
RESULTS
Copyright Carolane Juanéda
15. CONCLUSION
Attentional bias is more pronounced when
distractors are visually near the focal
product.
Implications for practice, findings can guide
developers and web page designers about
how far apart products should be to
capture and keep users’ attention.
Future research: How impulsivity affects
online attention and decisions in a
shopping context ?
Copyright Carolane Juanéda
Editor's Notes
Good afternoon, My name is Carolane, and I’m here to present to you my research on Product Web Page Design.
To start, I want you to close your eyes, and imagine that it is your friend’s birthday.
Don’t have a lot of time
Where did you guys looked ? Were you attracted by something else ?
When shopping online, attention is directed to a myriad of stimuli.
Since electronic commerce industry is highly competitive and continuously expanding, users expect a flawless online experience forcing firms to find new ways to attract consumers.
In order to stay competitive, the scientific literature demonstrated that both the first impression of a webpage and its appearance are crucial in capturing users’ attention.
The mechanism of attention has been the subject of many scientific studies, yet, to the best of our knowledge, online attention in a shopping context has not been investigated in depth.
Is to understand
More precisely: The research posits that individuals’ attention is greater towards distractors that are visually near and conceptually similar to the target stimulus, impacting online decision-making
Distractors close to the target stimulus attract more attention than distractors farther from the target stimulus.
One principle is the law of proximity, which suggests that individuals first group together the points closest to each other in such a way that they tend to perceive objects close to one another as a single group with a relationship, while objects that are farther apart are placed in different groups.
Studies in e-commerce showed that the Gestalt principles strongly influence web page design.
Distractors similar to the target stimulus attract more attention than distractors that are less similar to the target stimulus.
Through the activation in memory of objects associated with the target stimulus, attention is drawn to similar stimuli by information held in the working memory.
In the literature, the definition of decision-making performance.
It was shown the stronger the activation of the attentional-control circuit, the better the decision (Laureiro-Martinez and al., 2015).
During a search task, attention is directed to objects associated with the target stimulus based on external similarities (Soto et al., 2005).
Therefore, in presence of similar stimuli, better should be the decision-making performance.
To measure the allocation of attention, time spent on distractors was assessed and the milliseconds of net dwell time on distractors were used. As for decisions analysis performance, response time and accuracy of the answer given were monitored.
On either of scenario, 4 possible group of products.
Was able to measure the attention with time spent on each distractors, as well as the response time & accuracy of answers given each time they answered a question
Hence, distractors that are similar to the focal product lead to accuracy of the answer.
Brain imaging studies showed that food-related stimuli are strongly represented in the working memory, thereby, be easier to remember the focal product for the food industry.
Analysing online attention is a cornerstone for executives considering that enhancing webpage design has the potential to grow business revenues. Therefore, there is a reason to pursue research on this topic.