新興媒體心理學研究

One of the key issues in communication research is concerned with the interaction between the mediated message and the human mind. Especially, how mental processes interact with structural and content features of messages in the context is of critical importance. The conventional stimulus-response model, which attempts to answer only what message features produce what effects, cannot fully explain and predict the causal relationship, because "the black box" of the human mind is ignored. "Understanding how individuals process messages is central to any comprehensive theory of communication" (Geiger & Newhagen, 1993, p. 42). Exploring "the black box" requires new theories, which propose possible theoretical frameworks of mental processes and explain how mediated messages are processed. In order to respond to this challenge, cognitive science, psychophysiology, and neuroscience are integrated into communication research, and a new area of research is emerging. Moreover, exploring "the black box" also requires new methods. Mental processes are inside the human brain and hard to measure. How to index the operation of mental processes becomes an important research topic. Scholars not only use a wide variety of measures to reflect mental processes, such as physiological indices and eye movements, but also examine the causality between structural, process, and outcome variables. The purpose of this course is to introduce you to a broad range of topics that are tied together by communication research, cognitive science, and psychophysiology. This course is designed to critically examine the cutting edge theories and methods used to uncover the black box. New work executed over the past twenty years is of particular interest. This course will start with an overview of cognitive approaches to media. Next, core concepts and prominent theories will be discussed. Finally, psychophysiological measures (e.g., eye movements, heart rate, skin conductance, facial EMG, etc.) used to investigate the black box and measurement issues will be reviewed.

Assignment Percent of grade Due date Weekly reflections 20% 9 am on the day of the class Expert discussion leaders 30% Research paper 50%

Holmqvist, K., Nystrom, M., Andersson, R., Dewhurst, R., Jarodzka, H., & van de Weijer, J. (2011). Eye Tracking: A comprehensive guide to methods and measures. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Jackson, S. (1992). Message effects research: Principles of design and analysis. New York, NY: Guilford Press. Assigned readings are available online. Students are expected to read all assigned material prior to the class in which it is discussed .

地點

HK222

時間

Tuesday 4:30-6:30 pm, or by appointment

聯絡方式

Email: taoc@mail.nctu.edu.tw Office Phone: 31540