The Effect of Searching Versus Surfing on Cognitive and Emotional Responses to Online News
Abstract
A mixed-design experiment was conducted to explore differences between searching and surfing on cognitive and emotional responses to online news. Ninety-two participants read three unpleasant news stories from a website. Half of the participants acquired their stories by searching, meaning they had a previous information need in mind. The other half of the participants acquired their stories by surfing, with no previous information need in mind. Heart rate, skin conductance, and corrugator activation were collected as measures of resource allocation, motivational activation, and unpleasantness, respectively, while participants read each story. Self-report valence and recognition accuracy were also measured. Stories acquired by searching elicited greater heart rate acceleration, skin conductance level, and corrugator activation during reading. These stories were rated as more unpleasant, and their details were recognized more accurately than similar stories that were acquired by surfing. Implications of these results for understanding how people process online media are discussed.
References
(2002). I can hear you, but can I see you? The use of visual cognition during exposure to high-imagery radio advertisements. Communication Research, 29, 537–563.
(2000). Emotion and motivation. In , Handbook of psychophysiology (pp. 602–642). New York: Cambridge University Press.
(1994). Measuring emotion: The Self-Assessment Manikin and the semantic differential. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 25, 49–59.
(2001). The international affective picture system: Digitized photographs. Gainesville, FL: The Center for Research in Psychophysiology, University of Florida.
(1980). Heuristic versus systematic information processing and the use of source versus message cues in persuasion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39, 752–766.
(1992). Muscle tension patterns during auditory attention. Biological Psychology, 33(2–3), 133–156.
(1987). Stimulus control and data acquisition for IBM PCs and compatibles. Psychophysiology, 2, 726–727.
(2008). The skin conductance orienting response to semantic stimuli: Significance can be independent of arousal. Psychophysiology, 45, 111–118.
(2005). Information encountering. In , Theories of information behavior (pp. 179–184). Medford, NJ: Information Today, Inc.
(1978). How uses and gratifications affect recall of television news. Journalism Quarterly, 55, 664–672.
(2003). Imagery effects on the selective reading of Internet newsmagazines: A cross-cultural examination. Communication Research, 30, 3–29.
(1991). Response strategies for coping with the cognitive demands of attitude measures in surveys. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 5, 213–236.
(1963). The visceral level: Situational determinants and behavioral correlates of autonomic response patterns. In , Expression of the emotions in man (pp. 161–196). New York: International Universities Press.
(1994). What can the heart tell us about thinking?. In , Measuring psychological responses to media (pp. 99–113). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
(2006). Using the limited capacity model of motivated mediated message processing to design effective cancer communication messages. Journal of Communication, 56, 57–80.
(2005). It’s the product: Do risky products compel attention and elicit arousal in media users?. Health Communication, 17, 283–300.
(1995). The emotion probe: Studies of motivation and attention. American Psychologist, 50, 372–385.
(1996). Attitudes and persuasion: Classic and contemporary approaches. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
(2007, 6 11). Daily internet activities. Retrieved December 21, 2007, from www.pewinternet.org/trends/Daily_Internet_Activities_8.28.07.htm..
(2006). The role of mood in the processing of media messages from a small screen: Effects on subjective and physiological responses. Media Psychology, 8, 239–265.
(1994). Media uses and effects: A uses-and-gratifications perspective. In , Media effects: Advances in theory and research (pp. 417–427). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
(1987). Audience activity and television news gratifications. Communication Research, 14(1), 58–84.
(1996). Hardwired for news: Using biological and cultural evolution to explain the surveillance function. Journal of Communication, 46, 32–47.
(1963). Perception and the conditioned reflex. Oxford: Pergamon.
(2008). Choosing and reading online news: How available choice affects cognitive processing. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 52, 69–85.
(2008). Searching versus surfing: How different ways of acquiring content online affect cognitive processing. CyberPsychology and Behavior, 11, 360–362.
(2008). The effect of available choice on the cognitive processing of pictures. Computers in Human Behavior, 24, 388–402.
(2007). The effect of user control on the cognitive and emotional processing of pictures. Media Psychology, 9, 549–566.
(1980). Feeling and thinking: Preferences need no inferences. American Psychologist, 35, 151–175.
