Information and sensory overload. Information and sensory overload in psychology and marketing

Malhotra, Naresh K.

doi:10.1002/mar.4220010304

Cited by 57 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…In another study, conducted by Morrin and Chebat (2005), adding scent and sound in the setting of a North American Mall reduced unplanned purchases as compared to either of the unisensory interventions amongst almost 800 shoppers. Although they provide no evidence to support their claim, Morrin and Chebat (2005, p. 188) suggested that the suppression of unplanned sales in their multisensory condition might have reflected the consequences of sensory overload (Malhotra, 1984). However, an alternative possibility is that the combination of lowtempo relaxing music (60 beats per minute) with a complex citrus scent (comprising three citrus notes, that was likely alerting) may have been perceived by shoppers as incongruent, and hence lacking in processing fluency (Reber, 2012;Herrmann et al, 2013;Winkielman et al, 2015).…”

Section: Smell In the Multisensory Built Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Ambient Scent to Enhance Well-Being in the Multisensory Built Environment

Spence

2020

Front. Psychol.

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The majority of the world's population now lives an urban existence, spending as much as 95% of their lives indoors. The olfactory atmosphere in the built environment has been shown to exert a profound, if often unrecognized, influence over our mood and well-being. While the traditionally malodorous stench to be found indoors (i.e., prior to the invention of modern sanitation) has largely been eliminated in recent centuries, many of the outbreaks of sick-building syndrome that have been reported over the last half century have been linked to the presence of a strange smell in the environment. At the same time, however, there is also growing evidence that consumer behavior can be manipulated by the presence of pleasant ambient odors, while various aromatherapy scents are said to improve our mood and well-being. This Anglophone review focuses primarily on indoor western urban developed spaces. Importantly, the olfactory ambience constitutes but one component of the multisensory atmosphere and ambient odors interact with the visual, auditory, and haptic aspects of the built environment. Surprisingly, the majority of published studies that have deliberately chosen to combine ambient scent with other sensory interventions, such as, for example, music, have failed to increase store sales, or to enhance people's mood and/or well-being, as might have been expected. Such negative findings therefore stress the importance of considering multisensory congruency while, at the same time, also highlighting the potential dangers that may be associated with sensory overload when thinking about the effect of ambient smell on our well-being.

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Section: Smell In the Multisensory Built Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Ambient Scent to Enhance Well-Being in the Multisensory Built Environment

Spence

2020

Front. Psychol.

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“…For a history of the concept of information overload seeRosenberg (2003); for reviews on literature seeJacoby (1984),Eppler and Mengis (2004),Edmunds and Morris (2000),Hall and Walton (2004),Bawden et al (1999). It was identified under different names such as cognitive overload(Kirsh 2000), sensory overload(Malhotra 1984), communication overload(Miller 1964), knowledge overload(Coates 2009) and information fatigue syndrome(Lincoln 2011). 4 The views equating cognition with computers are, strictly speaking, metaphors(Floridi 2011, 35-42).…”

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confidence: 99%

The Internet as Cognitive Enhancement

et al. 2020

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The Internet has been identified in human enhancement scholarship as a powerful cognitive enhancement technology. It offers instant access to almost any type of information, along with the ability to share that information with others. The aim of this paper is to critically assess the enhancement potential of the Internet. We argue that unconditional access to information does not lead to cognitive enhancement. The Internet is not a simple, uniform technology, either in its composition, or in its use. We will look into why the Internet as an informational resource currently fails to enhance cognition. We analyze some of the phenomena that emerge from vast, continual fluxes of information-information overload, misinformation and persuasive design-and show how they could negatively impact users' cognition. Methods for mitigating these negative impacts are then advanced: individual empowerment, better collaborative systems for sorting and categorizing information, and the use of artificial intelligence assistants that could guide users through the informational space of today's Internet.

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“…When the scent and music were congruent in terms of their arousal potential, the customers rated the store environment more positively, exhibited higher levels of approach and impulse-buying behaviour, and expressed more satisfaction. There is, though, always a very real danger of sensory overload if the combined multisensory input becomes too stimulating (see Malhotra, 1984 ; Simmel, 1995 ).…”

Section: Designing For the Multisensory Mind: Architectural Design Fomentioning

confidence: 99%

Senses of place: architectural design for the multisensory mind

Spence

2020

Cogn. Research

149

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Traditionally, architectural practice has been dominated by the eye/sight. In recent decades, though, architects and designers have increasingly started to consider the other senses, namely sound, touch (including proprioception, kinesthesis, and the vestibular sense), smell, and on rare occasions, even taste in their work. As yet, there has been little recognition of the growing understanding of the multisensory nature of the human mind that has emerged from the field of cognitive neuroscience research. This review therefore provides a summary of the role of the human senses in architectural design practice, both when considered individually and, more importantly, when studied collectively. For it is only by recognizing the fundamentally multisensory nature of perception that one can really hope to explain a number of surprising crossmodal environmental or atmospheric interactions, such as between lighting colour and thermal comfort and between sound and the perceived safety of public space. At the same time, however, the contemporary focus on synaesthetic design needs to be reframed in terms of the crossmodal correspondences and multisensory integration, at least if the most is to be made of multisensory interactions and synergies that have been uncovered in recent years. Looking to the future, the hope is that architectural design practice will increasingly incorporate our growing understanding of the human senses, and how they influence one another. Such a multisensory approach will hopefully lead to the development of buildings and urban spaces that do a better job of promoting our social, cognitive, and emotional development, rather than hindering it, as has too often been the case previously.

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Information and sensory overload. Information and sensory overload in psychology and marketing

Abstract: This paper presents an overview of the research in sensory and information overload in psychology and marketing. Several implications of this research for public policy, managerial decision making and for the behavior of consumers are discussed.

Cited by 57 publications

References 70 publications

Using Ambient Scent to Enhance Well-Being in the Multisensory Built Environment

Using Ambient Scent to Enhance Well-Being in the Multisensory Built Environment

The Internet as Cognitive Enhancement

Senses of place: architectural design for the multisensory mind

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