Interrelations among response frequency, looking time and rated interest with visual stimuli

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The present study examined interrelations among looking time (LT), response frequency (RF) where each response exposed the stimulus for 0.5 sec, and rated interest in 21 visual stimuli (slides). Subjects in the LT treatment looked at each slide for as long as they liked, and subjects in the RF treatment looked at each slide as often as they liked. In addition, all subjects rated the slides for ambiguity, complexity, novelty, pleasantness and interest on 7‐point scales. The LT, RF and interest scores were postulated as different measures of the level of specific curiosity aroused by the stimuli. The three measures were highly correlated. Further, subjective ambiguity, complexity and novelty were found to be positively related to LT, RF and rated interest. It was concluded that within a given situation and with a constant set of visual stimuli, the latter three measures reflect a construct which may be called the level of specific curiosity.