Consumers Prefer Abstract Design in Digital Signage: An Application of Fuzzy-Trace Theory in NeuroIS

Visual designs of digital signage (DS) content shape and influence consumers’ decisions. Understanding the effect of DS design on consumer behavior requires a fundamental understanding of human reasoning and decision-making. This research explores the effect of different visual design cues of DS on a neural level and through the lens of Fuzzy-Trace Theory (FTT). The FTT suggests
that humans have both a verbatim-based and a gist-based information processing. To explore the effect of FTT-based visual design, an experiment using functional near-infrared spectroscopy is conducted. DS are tested on three design levels: (1) verbatim: text, (2) verbatim: photographs, and (3) gist-based. Results show that only the gist-based design resulted in significantly higher self-reported results and activated brain areas in the medial prefrontal cortex, which are associated with emotional and rewarding processing. These results challenge the manifest differentiation only between image and text elements.