2 。1。2。 Emotion and memory

Studies on memory and its relationship to  emotion  have  tended to focus on memory along the pleasant-unpleasant dimension (e。g。 sad, happy, traumatic)。  Other  studies  have  found evidence of increased memory capability  associated with pleasant materials。 One such study    attempted to bridge this gap。  In  this  study, incidental memory performance for pictures that varied along the affective dimensions of  pleasantness and arousal was assessed。 

3 Interface design and hypotheses development

Recently, research in human–computer interaction has seen a shift in focus from transaction efficiency  and effectiveness, to user engagement。 Whereas in the past the emphasis was on a friendly and flexible interface, today the demand is for all this and  more—providing an interface that is personalized,  intelligent, and capable of catering to the emotions  and senses—making needs of the particular users  involved 。 In this context, Reeves and  Nass identify features that are important to human–computer interaction。 We  examined  three of the features  from  Reeves and Nass’ work, namely image size, visual fidelity (clarity of an image), and motion。

The other features identified by Reeves and Nass (synchrony, scene changes, and subliminal images)  were omitted from our study for the following  reasons。 First, synchrony  is  omitted because audio–video synchrony is relatively  uncommon in EC web sites nowadays, although this  type of feature is gaining popularity in web site  design, e。g。 for music and movie videos。  Secondly, scene changes  are excluded because of their similarity to motion。  Therefore, motion was chosen over scene changes。 Finally, subliminal  images  are  disregarded due to the controversy surrounding their  use, especially in a commercial setting。 For  example,  the use of subliminal images in broadcast television  has been banned by the Federal Communication  Commission since the 1970s。

We argue that the three features chosen have the most practical implications for real-life e-commerce websites。 Size is manipulated on common e-commerce websites。 For example, on Amazon。com, users are  given the option to view images of products in  enlarged version。 Motion is another feature that  is  commonly  used as a tool in websites to capture  users’ attention。 Timex。com, Swatch。com, and Aritzia。com are examples of e-commerce websites that utilize this feature。 Visual fidelity on the other hand  is not usually manipulated on websites。 However, there are differences in the quality of product images across e-commerce websites。 It is interesting to find out whether a difference in the quality of these images would influence online shoppers’ attention  and memory in e-commerce websites。

3 。1。 Hypothesis development

The focus of this study is not directly on emotions but on two constructs that are influenced by emotions  as  described in Section 2。1, namely memory and  attention。 These two constructs are more  closely  associated  with buying behavior: how closely does the customer remember the details of the products  later on (memory) and how closely does the consumer pay attention to the products shown on the  screen?

Size is one of the most primitive cues we  have about  the environment。 It tells us whether objects and people in the environment are safe or dangerous。  As mentioned before, size is manipulated on common e-commerce websites。 Further, in  accordance  with the theory and findings of Reeves and Nass, image size is hypothesized to have the same effect in  the web medium as it does in other media。 Their prediction is that larger size enhances both attention  and memory。 Thus, we hypothesize that: