Eyes on VR: Unpacking the Causal Chain Between Exposure, Reception, and Retention for Emotional Billboard Messages

Abstract

The causal chain from message exposure to reception to effects is widely accepted as the basic explanatory model for communication outcomes. Problematically, the chains links are often studied in isolation, leaving measurement gaps that compromise the ecological validity and practical utility of experimental research. Here we introduce a VR-based paradigm that encompasses a realistic message reception context, i.e., a simulated car ride on a highway flanked by billboards. We varied attentional message factors (emotional content) as well as contextual task distractions (trash-counting). VR-integrated eye trackers were used to capture participants incidental message exposure dependent on their actual gaze behavior. Consistent with our predictions, results show that 1. exposure gates all subsequent effects; 2. distraction impacts likelihood of exposure; 3. both the manipulation of emotional content and distraction affect retention. This comprehensive analysis of the exposure-reception-retention chain can be broadly applied to a variety of message reception contexts that will be discussed.