Brief-ANT as a tool for measuring the influence of roadside advertisements content on the drivers’ attentional processes

Abstract

The question of roadside advertisement’s influence on road safety is complex and multi-faceted. The list of advertisements characteristics which may play significant role for road safety includes: the size, colours, shape, luminance, contrast, localization, and many more. One of the aspects is advertisement’s content. Advertising industry uses emotional and cognitive mechanisms which are likely to engage the addressees’ attention and therefore make the brand/product more salient for their minds. As far as such a strategy might be effective for advertisers, it may be dangerous for road safety, when used in roadside advertisement. Cognitive, especially attentional, resources play key role in vehicle driving, which requires constant maintenance of situational awareness. Attention distraction, both visual and cognitive, is a proven safety-decreasing factor in vehicle driving. A method for measuring the influence of different advertisement content on attentional resources management - a short, version of the ANT, Brief-ANT, was developed. The results of a nationwide study conducted, revealed that reaction time in Brief-ANT differed significantly depending on the type of content used as the fixation cue, which leads us to a conclusion that Brief-ANT might be a good measure of the content’s influence on attentional resources management.