| This study tested the hypothesis that blinking banner ads on Web pages cause a performance decrement in a search result selection task due to their attention-capturing effect. A repeated measures design was employed with banner ad blink rate (0 Hz, 2 Hz and 5 Hz) and color (black & white, and red) as the independent variables. A dual-task methodology with a primary task of selecting search results, and a secondary task of monitoring a stock ticker was utilized to ensure experimental sensitivity.;Overall results of this experiment were not significant, however analysis of the post-study participant questionnaire uncovered a significant Blink x Noticed Ad interaction showing that there is a task time performance decrement for those participants who noticed the blinking ad. These results could be explained by an entraining effect of blink rate. Further testing with Internet users who notice blinking ads should be performed to substantiate these findings. |
