Subliminal semantic number processing on smartphones

Abstract

One potential method of improving the efficiency of human-computer interaction is to display information subliminally. Such information cannot be recalled consciously, but has some impact on the perceiver. However, it is not yet clear whether people can extract meaning from subliminal presentation of information in mobile contexts. We therefore explored subliminal semantic priming on smartphones. This builds on mixed evidence for subliminal priming across HCI in general, and mixed evidence for the effect of subliminal affective priming on smartphones. Our semi-controlled experiment (n=103) investigated subliminal processing of numerical information on smartphones. We found evidence that concealed transfer of information is possible to a very limited extent, but little evidence of a semantic effect. Overall, the impact is effectively negligible for practical applications. We discuss the implications of our results for real-world deployments and outline future research themes as HCI moves beyond mobile.

Guidelines on Conducting Online Experiments with Repeated Measures and Using Smartphone Applications

“…Research in the fields of cognitive, health, clinical, and social psychology has integrated the use of smartphone applications (Piwek al., 2016). Examples include studies on priming that utilize the sensitivity feature in smartphones by Pinder et al (2015), Pinder et al (2017), andPinder et al (2018). Researchers' decision to integrate smartphone applications in research is because the research may have an advantage to the ones conducted in laboratories (Purves et al, 2019).…”

“…Peneliti di bidang psikologi kognitif, kesehatan, klinis, dan sosial telah mengintegrasikan penggunaan aplikasi ponsel dalam penelitian (Piwek et al, 2016). Sebagai contoh adalah penelitian tentang priming yang memanfaatkan fitur sensitivitas layar sentuh pada ponsel, seperti yang dilakukan oleh Pinder et al (2015), Pinder et al (2017), dan Pinder et al (2018). Keputusan peneliti mengintegrasikan aplikasi ponsel dalam penelitian adalah karena penelitian akan menjadi lebih unggul dibandingkan dengan yang dilakukan dalam laboratorium (Purves et al, 2019).…”