[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":310},["ShallowReactive",2],{"\u002Fresearch\u002Finsights\u002Fphysiology-of-engagement-with-creative":3},{"_path":4,"_dir":5,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":8,"description":9,"date":10,"author":11,"readTime":12,"category":13,"area":14,"body":15,"_type":304,"_id":305,"_source":306,"_file":307,"_stem":308,"_extension":309},"\u002Fresearch\u002Finsights\u002Fphysiology-of-engagement-with-creative","insights",false,"","Methodology spotlight: separating curiosity from understanding from liking","Recent research shows that distinct physiological signatures track different stages of engagement with creative work — far richer than a 'did you like it' score.","2026-04-05","Pagegazer team","7 min","Methodology spotlight","Ad & Video",{"type":16,"children":17,"toc":295},"root",[18,26,31,38,51,56,62,74,79,85,112,117,123,135,141,146,171,176,182,282],{"type":19,"tag":20,"props":21,"children":22},"element","p",{},[23],{"type":24,"value":25},"text","Ad pre-testing usually ends with a likability score and some recall questions. The scores are easy to read and easy to defend — but they collapse a complex mental process (\"I noticed it… I'm trying to figure it out… I get it now… I like it\") into a single number measured at the wrong moment.",{"type":19,"tag":20,"props":27,"children":28},{},[29],{"type":24,"value":30},"Recent peer-reviewed work — run on the platform that powers Pagegazer — demonstrates that the underlying experience can be pulled apart, in real time, using readily available signals: gaze, pupillometry, heart rate, and continuous response.",{"type":19,"tag":32,"props":33,"children":35},"h2",{"id":34},"curiosity-insight-understanding-and-liking-are-different-states",[36],{"type":24,"value":37},"Curiosity, insight, understanding, and liking are different states",{"type":19,"tag":20,"props":39,"children":40},{},[41,43,49],{"type":24,"value":42},"Welke and Vessel (2025) tracked viewers continuously during interactions with visual art and identified ",{"type":19,"tag":44,"props":45,"children":46},"em",{},[47],{"type":24,"value":48},"distinct physiological signatures",{"type":24,"value":50}," for four stages of an aesthetic encounter: curiosity (the moment of approach), insight (the moment of \"getting it\"), understanding (sustained comprehension), and liking (evaluative response). Heart-rate dynamics, pupil dilation, and gaze patterns each contributed differently to identifying which stage the viewer was in at any given moment.",{"type":19,"tag":20,"props":52,"children":53},{},[54],{"type":24,"value":55},"In a commercial creative context — a TV spot, a social video, a long-form ad — these stages happen in seconds, often in the same order. A viewer can be highly curious about an ad, never reach insight, and rate it as \"fine\" at the end. The likability score reads as flat. The physiological time-series shows exactly where the experience broke down.",{"type":19,"tag":32,"props":57,"children":59},{"id":58},"music-and-visuals-dont-combine-the-way-intuition-suggests",[60],{"type":24,"value":61},"Music and visuals don't combine the way intuition suggests",{"type":19,"tag":20,"props":63,"children":64},{},[65,67,72],{"type":24,"value":66},"Fink, Fiehn, and Wald-Fuhrmann (2024), in ",{"type":19,"tag":44,"props":68,"children":69},{},[70],{"type":24,"value":71},"Scientific Reports",{"type":24,"value":73},", measured what happens when music is paired with visual art — congruent versus incongruent matches. The aesthetic effect of audiovisual pairing was not a simple sum of the two channels' separate effects. Match quality changed how the visuals were processed, including where attention went and how engaged viewers were.",{"type":19,"tag":20,"props":75,"children":76},{},[77],{"type":24,"value":78},"For ad and video research, this finding maps directly: the music bed, voiceover tone, and sound design are not background; they actively shape how the visuals are received. A re-edit that swaps the audio while leaving the cut intact can change attention patterns measurably.",{"type":19,"tag":32,"props":80,"children":82},{"id":81},"voice-carries-more-than-people-realise",[83],{"type":24,"value":84},"Voice carries more than people realise",{"type":19,"tag":20,"props":86,"children":87},{},[88,90,95,97,103,105,110],{"type":24,"value":89},"Two related studies extend the finding into voice. Bruder, Frieler, and Larrouy-Maestri (2024), in ",{"type":19,"tag":44,"props":91,"children":92},{},[93],{"type":24,"value":94},"Royal Society Open Science",{"type":24,"value":96},", showed that appreciation of singing and speaking voices is ",{"type":19,"tag":98,"props":99,"children":100},"strong",{},[101],{"type":24,"value":102},"highly idiosyncratic",{"type":24,"value":104}," — a much smaller share of voice preference is shared across listeners than industry assumptions suggest. Bruder, Breda, and Larrouy-Maestri (2025) extended the work to synthetic voices in ",{"type":19,"tag":44,"props":106,"children":107},{},[108],{"type":24,"value":109},"Computers in Human Behavior: Artificial Humans",{"type":24,"value":111},", with implications for any brand using AI-generated narration.",{"type":19,"tag":20,"props":113,"children":114},{},[115],{"type":24,"value":116},"For a marketer, the practical takeaway is that \"we tested the voice and people liked it\" is a weaker claim than it sounds. Voice preference has a large individual-difference component; segment-level analysis is required, and a voice that wins on average can lose decisively in important sub-populations.",{"type":19,"tag":32,"props":118,"children":120},{"id":119},"attention-to-the-brand-reveal-at-pnas-level-rigour",[121],{"type":24,"value":122},"Attention to the brand reveal — at PNAS-level rigour",{"type":19,"tag":20,"props":124,"children":125},{},[126,128,133],{"type":24,"value":127},"A recent study at the highest tier of the literature illustrates how robustly these methods can resolve subtle effects. Canessa-Pollard, Anikin, and Reby (2025), in ",{"type":19,"tag":44,"props":129,"children":130},{},[131],{"type":24,"value":132},"Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences",{"type":24,"value":134},", identified shared acoustic features across chant traditions from seven cultures that consistently produce subjective relaxation. The methodology — controlled stimulus presentation, continuous physiological measurement, and structured response collection in the participant's own browser — is the same instrumentation used to test whether an ad's audio bed lands the intended emotional effect.",{"type":19,"tag":32,"props":136,"children":138},{"id":137},"what-this-means-for-ad-and-video-research",[139],{"type":24,"value":140},"What this means for ad and video research",{"type":19,"tag":20,"props":142,"children":143},{},[144],{"type":24,"value":145},"The methodology behind these studies — eye tracking, heart-rate measurement (via webcam rPPG), facial-expression analysis, all in the participant's own browser — is what Pagegazer runs for ad pre-testing. The questions it answers, in commercial terms:",{"type":19,"tag":147,"props":148,"children":149},"ul",{},[150,156,161,166],{"type":19,"tag":151,"props":152,"children":153},"li",{},[154],{"type":24,"value":155},"Where in the cut does attention drop, and is the brand reveal inside or outside the high-attention window?",{"type":19,"tag":151,"props":157,"children":158},{},[159],{"type":24,"value":160},"Does the music edit support or fight the intended emotional arc?",{"type":19,"tag":151,"props":162,"children":163},{},[164],{"type":24,"value":165},"Are viewers reaching \"understanding\" before the call-to-action, or is the spot landing the message after they have disengaged?",{"type":19,"tag":151,"props":167,"children":168},{},[169],{"type":24,"value":170},"Does a voice-over choice work across audience segments, or only in some?",{"type":19,"tag":20,"props":172,"children":173},{},[174],{"type":24,"value":175},"A likability score is a single readout. Continuous physiology and attention provide the timeline.",{"type":19,"tag":32,"props":177,"children":179},{"id":178},"citations",[180],{"type":24,"value":181},"Citations",{"type":19,"tag":147,"props":183,"children":184},{},[185,206,225,244,263],{"type":19,"tag":151,"props":186,"children":187},{},[188,190,195,197],{"type":24,"value":189},"Welke, D., & Vessel, E. A. (2025). ",{"type":19,"tag":44,"props":191,"children":192},{},[193],{"type":24,"value":194},"Tracing the Epistemic Arc: Distinct Physiological Signatures for Curiosity, Insight, Understanding and Liking during Interactions with Visual Art.",{"type":24,"value":196}," bioRxiv. ",{"type":19,"tag":198,"props":199,"children":203},"a",{"href":200,"rel":201},"https:\u002F\u002Fdoi.org\u002F10.1101\u002F2025.05.15.654230",[202],"nofollow",[204],{"type":24,"value":205},"doi.org\u002F10.1101\u002F2025.05.15.654230",{"type":19,"tag":151,"props":207,"children":208},{},[209,211,216,218],{"type":24,"value":210},"Fink, L., Fiehn, H., & Wald-Fuhrmann, M. (2024). ",{"type":19,"tag":44,"props":212,"children":213},{},[214],{"type":24,"value":215},"The role of audiovisual congruence in perception and aesthetic appreciation of contemporary music and visual art.",{"type":24,"value":217}," Scientific Reports. ",{"type":19,"tag":198,"props":219,"children":222},{"href":220,"rel":221},"https:\u002F\u002Fdoi.org\u002F10.1038\u002Fs41598-024-71399-y",[202],[223],{"type":24,"value":224},"doi.org\u002F10.1038\u002Fs41598-024-71399-y",{"type":19,"tag":151,"props":226,"children":227},{},[228,230,235,237],{"type":24,"value":229},"Bruder, C., Frieler, K., & Larrouy-Maestri, P. (2024). ",{"type":19,"tag":44,"props":231,"children":232},{},[233],{"type":24,"value":234},"Appreciation of singing and speaking voices is highly idiosyncratic.",{"type":24,"value":236}," Royal Society Open Science. ",{"type":19,"tag":198,"props":238,"children":241},{"href":239,"rel":240},"https:\u002F\u002Fdoi.org\u002F10.1098\u002Frsos.241623",[202],[242],{"type":24,"value":243},"doi.org\u002F10.1098\u002Frsos.241623",{"type":19,"tag":151,"props":245,"children":246},{},[247,249,254,256],{"type":24,"value":248},"Bruder, C., Breda, P., & Larrouy-Maestri, P. (2025). ",{"type":19,"tag":44,"props":250,"children":251},{},[252],{"type":24,"value":253},"Attractive synthetic voices.",{"type":24,"value":255}," Computers in Human Behavior: Artificial Humans. ",{"type":19,"tag":198,"props":257,"children":260},{"href":258,"rel":259},"https:\u002F\u002Fdoi.org\u002F10.1016\u002Fj.chbah.2025.100211",[202],[261],{"type":24,"value":262},"doi.org\u002F10.1016\u002Fj.chbah.2025.100211",{"type":19,"tag":151,"props":264,"children":265},{},[266,268,273,275],{"type":24,"value":267},"Canessa-Pollard, V., Anikin, A., & Reby, D. (2025). ",{"type":19,"tag":44,"props":269,"children":270},{},[271],{"type":24,"value":272},"Chants across seven traditions share acoustic traits that enhance subjective relaxation.",{"type":24,"value":274}," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. ",{"type":19,"tag":198,"props":276,"children":279},{"href":277,"rel":278},"https:\u002F\u002Fdoi.org\u002F10.1073\u002Fpnas.2506480122",[202],[280],{"type":24,"value":281},"doi.org\u002F10.1073\u002Fpnas.2506480122",{"type":19,"tag":20,"props":283,"children":284},{},[285,287,293],{"type":24,"value":286},"For the full list of peer-reviewed work using the Pagegazer measurement platform, see ",{"type":19,"tag":198,"props":288,"children":290},{"href":289},"\u002Fresearch\u002Fpublished",[291],{"type":24,"value":292},"published research",{"type":24,"value":294},".",{"title":7,"searchDepth":296,"depth":296,"links":297},2,[298,299,300,301,302,303],{"id":34,"depth":296,"text":37},{"id":58,"depth":296,"text":61},{"id":81,"depth":296,"text":84},{"id":119,"depth":296,"text":122},{"id":137,"depth":296,"text":140},{"id":178,"depth":296,"text":181},"markdown","content:research:insights:physiology-of-engagement-with-creative.md","content","research\u002Finsights\u002Fphysiology-of-engagement-with-creative.md","research\u002Finsights\u002Fphysiology-of-engagement-with-creative","md",1780554430158]