Byron Reeves

Attention to Television: Intrastimulus Effects of Movement and Scene Changes on Alpha Variation Over Time

Central and occipital EEG alpha were used as an on-line measure of momentary changes in covert attention during television viewing. Alpha was recorded during nine 30-second commercials shown embedded in a half-hour situation comedy. Two time series were constructed for data analysis. A stimulus series consisted of codes representing the presence or absence of scene changes or person and object movement for each half-second interval of the commercials. The alpha series consisted of median alpha scores for each half-second interval, aggregated across 26 subjects. The alpha series was regressed on the movement and scene change series, both of which produced significant increments in R, even after autocorrelational effects inherent in the alpha series were removed. As a validity check on the attentional interpretation of alpha, it was shown that mean alpha for each commercial was significantly (negatively) correlated with recall and recognition of commercial contents. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for further use of continuously-recorded alpha in research on factors that influence attention to television.

MESSAGE COMPLEXITY AND ATTENTION TO TELEVISION

Three experiments investigated the processing costs of watching television messages. Processing costs were indexed with a secondary task reaction time measure in which subjects were asked to pay attention to commercial messages while responding with button presses to randomly occuring tones or flashes. Response time to the secondary tasks was used as a measure of attention to the primary task (watching the messages). Audio and video complexity of the messages were within-subject variables, and the channels presented to subjects (audio-only, video-only, or both) was a between-subjects variable. Results indicated that: (1) for a tone secondary task, multiple-channel presentations demanded more capacity than single-channel presentations (video or audio channel only); (2) more capacity was required to process simple video and auditory information than complex information; and (3) complexity of information in an absent channel (e.g., visual information in the audio-only condition) produced the same slowed reaction times as those occurring when the channel was present.

Investigating the Assumptions of Uses and Gratifications Research

This study attempted to determine empirically the gratifications sought from communication channels and to test the assumption that individuals differentiate channels based on gratifications. Age-related changes in the dimensions adolescents use to differentiate channels were also investigated Results indicated that three dimensions were operative across three age levels, although the importance of the dimensions varied with age. The three dimensions were surveillance/entertainment, affective guidance, and behavioral guidance.

The Effects of Scene Changes and Semantic Relatedness on Attention to Television

Two laboratory experiments tested the proposition that attention to television is the product of an interaction between message structure and content. Cuts (structure) were hypothesized to affect attention differently, depending on whether they linked related or unrelated content. Subjects viewed six semantically related and six semantically unrelated sequences of television. In Experiment 1, attention was measured using reaction times to a secondary task at one video frame, 1 second and 2 seconds following a cut. Unrelated sequences required more attention 1 second after the cut. Attention to related sequences decreased over the course of the entire sequence, whereas attention to unrelated sequences remained constant over time. Experiment 2 assessed attention during the first second after the cut. Related sequences produced longer reaction times immediately following the cut at 10 and 20 frames; unrelated sequences produced longer reaction times further from the cut, at 20 frames, and 1 second. This pattern of results is explained using a dual process model of attention to television.

Influence of Story Schema Development on Children's Attention to Television

In an experiment, the influence of story schema development on childrens attention to television was examined. A factorial design was used: story schema development (low, high) × story content (central, incidental) × story structure (story, nonstory), requiring two separate testing sessions. In the first, children (5 to 8 years old) watched two stories on television and completed story schema assessment tasks; performance was used to assign children to high or low story schema groups. In the second session, children were randomly assigned to view a television program structured like a story or a program with no underlying story structure. Dependent variables were attention (measured with a secondary task) and recognition memory. Advanced story schema skills were related to reduced processing effort, increased memory of central story content, greater flexibility of allocation strategies, and better coordination between attention and memory.

Hemispherically Lateralized EEG as a Response to Television Commercials

EEG was recorded from 21 right-handed women as they watched commercial television. A significant amount of variance in hemispheric dominance shifts of lateralized EEG was explained as a function of the onset of easily identifiable variables in the stimulus. There were hemispheric differences in EEG due to the verbal and nonverbal components of the stimulus. Lags between stimulus onset and change in EEG also were observable. The data were found to be reliable within this study, between this study and a prior one, and between this study and others in the EEG literature that uses less complex stimuli.

Perceived TV Reality as a Predictor of Children's Social Behavior:

Perception of pro-social reality on TV improvedprediction of childrens social behavior.

EEG ACTIVITY AND THE PROCESSING OF TELEVISION COMMERCIALS

This article introduces the reader to the EEG via a literature review and then presents data from a study that uses television commercials to modify EEG. Data show correlations between level of EEG activity and several measures of learning and affect. Further analysis presents a method to evaluate EEG change across half-second increments of the commercial. Speculations are made as to meaning and value of the EEG method.

Combining, Distinguishing, and Generating Theories in Communication A Domains of Analysis Framework

The rubric levels of analysis is a popular organizing theme for communication research, and there are arguments for both separating and combining levels. This article replaces the notion of levels, traditionally defined along a biopsycho-social continuum, with that of domains, a specification of any class of entities or things to which research can apply. Domains provide four advantages for communication research: (a) Domains define the set of entities to which theories and operations can refer; (b) domains are consistent with traditional levels but permit partial inclusion and exclusion of entities from multiple levels; (c) domains differentiate and link theories and operations; and (d) domains explain when theories can and cannot “cross” levels, and specify how to adjust inappropriate “cross-level” theories. Domains are defined and discussed separately in relation to theory and data collection.