Using thermal stimuli to influence affect in different picture display sizes

Abstract

The ability of images to evoke emotions in people has been well documented in previous research, as well as the differences in the emotional perception of images when viewed on different-sized screens and device types. The ability of thermal stimuli to evoke emotions in people when used for media augmentation has also been examined. However, little is known about how thermal stimuli can be used to enhance or reduce affect in images with varying emotional properties displayed in different sizes or on different devices. To the best of our knowledge, no work has been conducted to investigate whether there is any difference in the effect thermal augmentation has on images displayed in different sizes on different device types. This paper presents two user studies to address this research gap. Study 1 explored the effect thermal stimulation has on images displayed in different sizes. Images were displayed in sizes corresponding to the full screen display of a laptop, tablet and mobile phone. In study 2, we examined whether the actual presentation device (tablet and mobile) plays a role in the emotional perception of images displayed on mobile devices. Results showed that thermal augmentation was most effective in modulating emotions in small-sized pictures (427 × 240 pixels display size) and pictures displayed on a mobile phone. Thermal stimuli also reduced emotions in medium display sizes (corresponding to the full screen display of a tablet).