By EurekAlert
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Nearly 73 percent of all American adults use the
Internet on a daily basis, according to a 2009 Pew Internet and
American Life Project survey. Half of these adults use the Web to
find information via search engines, while 38 percent use it to
pass the time. In a recent study, University of Missouri
researchers found that readers were better able to understand,
remember and emotionally respond to material found through
"searching" compared to content found while "surfing."
"If, as these data suggest, the cognitive and emotional impact
of online content is greatest when acquired by searching, then Web
site sponsors might consider increasing their advertising on pages
that tend to be accessed via search engines," said Kevin Wise,
assistant professor of strategic communication and co-director of
the Psychological Research on Information and Media Effects (PRIME)
Lab at the University of Missouri.
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In the study, the researchers examined how methods for acquiring
news — searching for specific content versus surfing a news
Web site — affected readers' emotional responses while
reading news stories. They monitored participants' heart rate, skin
conductance and facial musculature to gauge their emotional
responses to unpleasant news. The researchers found that unpleasant
content triggered greater emotional responses when readers sought
the information by searching rather than surfing. In future
studies, Wise will study the effects of acquiring pleasant content
on readers' emotional responses.
"How readers acquire messages online has ramifications for their
cognitive and emotional response to those messages," Wise said.
"Messages that meet readers' existing informational needs elicit
stronger emotional reactions."
The researchers also found that information was better
understood and remembered when individuals conducted specific
searches for information. In a previous study, Wise tested the
effects of searching and surfing on readers' responses to images
and found similar results.
SOURCE
