Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:08:3
Ayinde O. Chase - AHN Editor
Columbia, MO (AHN) - According to a recent survey 73 percent of all American adults use the Internet on a daily basis. In a recent study of Internet users researchers found that readers were better able to understand, remember and emotionally respond to material found through "searching" compared to content found while "surfing."
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 says, "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."
Half of the adults surveyed use the Web to find information via search engines, while 38 percent use it simply to pass the time. Internet analysts went further in their behiorial search engine analysis and examined how methods for acquiring news - searching for specific content versus surfing a news Web site - affected readers' emotional responses while reading news stories. Researchers in the study monitored participants' heart rate, skin conductance and facial musculature to gauge their emotional responses to unpleasant news. They found that unpleasant content triggered greater emotional responses when readers sought the information by searching rather than surfing.
"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.
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