The Role of Screen Size in Viewer Responses to Television Fare

Transcription

1 COMMUNICATION REPORTS, Volume 10, No. 1, Winter 1997 The Role of Screen Size in Viewer Responses to Television Fare MATTHEW LOMBARD, THERESA B, DITTON, MARIA EUZABETH GRABE and ROBERT D, REICH Consumer demand for large screen television sets is on the rise, with sales of 27 inch and larger sets exceeding the most optimistic industry expectations. One reason for this demand may be that a large screen television delivers a different, more enjoyable, more intense viewing experience than a small screen model. This greater intensity may also indicate that large screen viewers experience a sense of presence, a feeling that they are in the environment portrayed on the screen. Eighty undergraduate students viewed 17 brief segments of a variety of current television programs on a consumer-model television with either a small screen (12 inches, measured diagonally) or a large screen (46 inches). Subjects' evaluative responses were measured via a questionnaire. Although they did not report greater enjoyment when watching the large screen, when differences between the perceived quality of the sets was controlled viewers reported a variety of more intense responses to the images on the large screen, 'Projection TVfigures show continuing trend to larger sizes, [with] top category (55" and over) rising 71.7%." TV Digest, August 1993 "Explosive growth of projection TV this year isn't a one shot anomaly but is the beginning of major take off." TV Digest, August 1994 These headlines indicate that consumer demand for large screen television sets is surprising even the industry experts. Sales could reach an annual rate of 1-1,5 million or higher by the year 2005, In fact, projection TVs and large direct-view television sets are currently the only profitable segments of the color TV market itv Digest, 1994), Furniture designers are marketing entertainment cabinets to hold the new "mega-screens" (Fleeson, 1995) and wall-sized, flat-screen televisions will likely enter the market in the next decade (Mannes, 1992; Neuman, 1990). Why the dramatic growth in sales of larger screen televisions? Industry experts agree that changing TV viewing habits, including more viewing of movies and sports and the use of television for video games, are partly responsible. Anticipation of developments such as Video on Demand (which Matthew Lombard (Ph,D,, Stanford University 1993), is an Assistant Professor, and Theresa B, Ditton is a Doctoral Candidate in the Department of Broadcasting, Telecommunications, and Mass Media, Program in Mass Media & Communication, Temple University, Maria Elizabeth Grabe (Ph,D,, Temple University, 1996) is an Assistant Professor, School of Journalism, Indiana University, Robert D, Reich (Ph,D,, Temple University, 1995) is an Assistant Professor, Department of Communications, Mary Baldwin College,

2 96 COMMUNICATION REPORTS allows the viewer to select from an electronic video library), and Direct Satellite Television (which dramatically increases the selection of programs), may contribute to the growth (TVDigest, 1994), Perhaps the desire for bigger screens has always been there, but until recently the quality ofthe technology was too low and/or its cost too high for most consumers. Perhaps the desire of many Americans to own the "latest" technology, or their belief that "bigger is better," has helped spur the sales growth. Although each of these factors might help explain the growing demand for larger screens, consumers may want a television with a larger image because it provides a different, more intense and enjoyable viewing experience than a small screen television. An investigation of this possibility has benefits beyond explaining a consumer behavior phenomenon, A number of scholars (Heeter, 1992,1995; Held & Durlach, 1992; Kim, 1996; Reeves, 1991; Reeves & Nass, 1996; Sheridan, 1992; Steuer, 1995) are interested in whether and to what extent media users experience a sense of presencethe illusion that their experience is not mediated, a "feeling like you are present in the environment generated by the [medium]" (Sheridan, 1992, p. 120), a feeling of "being there" (Reeves, 1991). This perception is generated not only by virtual reality systems (e,g,, flight simulators) and simulation rides (e,g,, the Star Tours attraction at Disney theme parks) but also by sophisticated film presentations: It's hard to beat the thrills of 'Grand Canyon: The Hidden Secrets,' the IMAX film that rides the Colorado River rapids slicing through nature's most majestic chasm,,, So effective are the film's "you are there" perspectives that you wipe away imagined white-water from your brow when you're not holding on to your armrest for dear life, (Rickey, 1994) Audiences also have life-like encounters with "Jurrasic Park" dinosaurs, extraterrestrial "Aliens", and terrifying "Twister"s (the film "brings screen fiction unnervingly close to virtual reality" [Ryan, 1996], Some scholars (Detenber& Reeves, 1996; Ditton, 1996; Kim, 1997; Lombard, 1995; Lombard, Reich, Grabe, Campanella, & Ditton, 1994; Reeves, Lombard, & Melwani, 1992) have argued that advances in production techniques and presentation technology mean that even television viewers at times experience a sense of presence, and that regardless of the medium, a large viewing screen (or one that fills a greater proportion ofthe user's visual field) is an important factor in creating a sense of presence. Presence means feeling and acting like you are having a nonmediated experiencethe media user therefore responds (directly) to objects, events, and people in that environment rather than (indirectly) to what seem to be only symbolic representations or recreations of objects, events, and people that (if they exist at all) are in fact somewhere else. A finding that television viewers report more intense responses to content they view on a large screen (especially content that appeals to the senses and emotions, as in the examples above) would provide tentative support for claims that larger images encourage presence and that even television can produce a sense of presence for viewers. Previous studies of screen size have involved atypical viewing experiences and very specific types of media content. This study examines the possibility that viewers find watching a variety of television programs on a

3 WINTER large-screen, consumer-model television set a more intense and enjoyable experience than watching the same programs on a small television screen. Studies of Screen Size Researchers have examined the influence of screen size' on a number of viewer responses, including those related to attention, arousal, memory, evaluation, and presence. Reeves et al, (1992) made video recordings of individual people and used a video projector and a large film screen to present some ofthe video segments in a small (24 inch) image and others in a large (68 inch) image. Subjects paid more attention (measured via secondary task reaction time) to people who appeared in the larger images. Reeves, Detenber, and Steuer (1993) showed subjects short clips from four actionoriented entertainment films. The images were projected on a film screen and were small (35 inches) or large (70 inches). This manipulation again influenced attention, but in the opposite direction,^ Detenber and Reeves (1996) examined viewers' emotional responses to and memory for a brief (six second) exposure to large (90 inch) and small (22 inch) pictures. The images were displayed on a wall-sized screen and were either still or moving. Both types of images were more arousing (as measured via the Self-Assessment Manikin paper-and-pencil measure [Lang, 1980]) and better remembered when viewed in the large screen condition than when viewed in the small screen condition. In an investigation of consumer preferences regarding advanced television systems such as HDTV, Neuman (1990) manipulated screen size (28, 35, and 180 inches), resolution (525,1125, and 3000 lines), and viewing distance. For high resolution television images (1125 and 3000 lines), subjects preferred larger displays, Ohtani and Mitshuhashi (1973) also found a preference for larger displays, but only when subjects viewed dramatic programs (subjects became dizzy and fatigued when they watched motionintensive content on the large screen), Lombard (1995) collected stimuli from actual television broadcasts (news anchorpersons reading parts of stories while looking at the camera/viewer), and measured evaluative and behavioral responses. In this study three screen sizes were usedsmall (a 10 inch monitor), medium (a 26 inch monitor), and large (a 42 inch image projected on a film screen). Subjects had a significantly more favorable evaluation of both the people on the screen and the viewing environment (which also was judged to be larger and more lively) in the large screen condition. Only two studies have found a relationship between screen size and viewing enjoyment. While Lombard (1995) and Neuman (1990) found greater enjoyment for a large screfen, in several studies (Duncanson & Williams, 1973; Hatada, Sakata, & Kusaka, 1980; Lund, 1993; Reeves et al,, 1992; Westerink & Roufs, 1989) enjoyment is not assessed (or at least reported), and in others no difference is found (Reeves et al,, 1993), A few studies have explored the relationship between screen size and a sense of presence. Lund (1993) presented the movie Top Gun (without

4 98 COMMUNICATION REPORTS audio) to subjects who viewed it on 12, 19, and 32 inch television monitors and a 60 inch rear-projection television set. He found that the ratio of preferred viewing distance to screen size decreased as image height increased, and suggested that people choose viewing distances not based on perceived quality of the image but a desire "to optimize a sense of presence or reality" (p, 415) (see also Hatada et al,, 1980), In Neuman's (1990) study of advanced television systems, at the highest level of resolution (3000 lines) the wall-sized (180 inch) display yielded reports of a dramatically increased sense of "realism" over the 35 inch display. And in a series of evaluative measures used by Reeves et al, (1993), subjects reported feeling more "a part of the action" in the larger screen condition than in the smaller screen condition. Although the differences were not statistically significant, subjects also reported that the film clips were more exciting, featured faster action, were more realistic, and evoked stronger reactions when they watched the larger images. In sum, a small number of studies suggest that the size of a viewing screen can influence several types of media user responses. Large images are more likely to be arousing and to be remembered, to produce positive evaluations, and, possibly, to increase a sense of presence; in each case the large screen seems to provoke responses of greater intensity. The present research was conducted to expand the results of these studies in two important ways, both related to the external validity of research on the impact of screen size. First, material from a variety of current television programs was used instead of narrowly sampled or created content. The objective was to discover what types and characteristics of television programs might generate more intense responses when viewed on a large screen. Second, several ofthe earlier studies used a video projector to manipulate screen size. In many cases this resulted in an unusual viewing experience for the subjects, one in which the screen (a standard white film screen) was larger than the image itself In some cases images meant to mimic television pictures were considerably larger than is common outside of the laboratory. In the present study screen size was manipulated by using television sets that resemble those found in viewers' homes. The likelihood of finding significant effects of screen size here was reduced by two factors. First, viewers are likely to respond in a great variety of ways, based on previous experience, needs, interests, etc, to familiar television programs (or at least types of programs) that are presented in a familiar way. Second, while large differences in screen size (e.g,, an IMAX film versus a 2-inch mini-tv) are very likely to generate different viewer responses, compared to the studies reviewed above this study examined the impact of a small difference in screen size. Based on the results of the earlier studies two hypotheses were developed: H1: Viewers will evaluate a variety of characteristics of the content of some television programs differently when they view the programs on a television with a relatively large screen than when they view the programs on a television with a relatively small screen.

5 WINTER H2r Viewer evaluations will indicate greater intensity and greater overall enjoyment of the viewing experience when programs are viewed on a television with a relatively large screen, Overview METHOD The experiment consisted of 80 viewers each watching 17 short scenes from current television programming. The primary independent variable was screen size (large and small); a variable of secondary interest was subject gender. The large screen television was a rear-projection television with a 46 inch screen. The small screen television was a cathode-ray tube, direct-view television with a 12 inch screen. The experimental design was between subject: Half of the subjects watched the large screen television (Male = 20; Female = 20) and half of the subjects watched the small screen television (Male = 20; Female = 20). Stimulus Preparation and Description Broad television genres were identified, and during a three week period (August 23 to September 13, 1993) approximately thirty hours of television programming were recorded from national broadcast and cable networks, as well as local (Philadelphia area) independent television stations. Seventeen segments from this material were selected as stimuli for the experiment. To gauge the intensity of viewer perceptions and responses, segments of programs which had the potential to elicit responses of varying intensity were selected. Two specific types of content were used. The first type featured characteristics likely to appeal to the viewers' senses. This included fast or unusual movement as manifested in point-of-view camera angles and fast-paced editing, sounds of thunder or gunshots, pictures that suggested extremes in humidity or temperature, and pictures of objects with distinctive odors (e,g,, perfume) or taste. The second type of content featured characteristics likely to evoke psychological arousal, such as physically attractive or unattractive people and environments, portrayals of violence, pain, exhaustion, strong emotion, danger, sensuality, and sexuality. Two stimulus tapes were individually assembled. For the first tape the order of the selected scenes was detennined using a random assignment procedure. This order was reversed for the second tape to control for the effects of order. Scenes were separated from each other by 75 seconds of tape containing a black picture and no sound, A short tone was inserted 5 seconds before each scene (this was used to alert subjects that the scene was about to begin). The genre, program, content, and length of each scene are presented in Table 1, Dependent Measures The dependent variables in this study were various evaluative responses to the program segments, measured via a questionnaire. The subjects

6 100 COMMUNICATION REPORTS TABLE 1 Description of Stimuli Genre Program/ Commercial Description of Content Length Source Average No, of Shots" Duration in Sees" Action-adventure Advertising Animation Drama: Human drama Suspense/ thriller Game show Music video News Reality Sports Situation comedy Talk show: Entertainment Social issues Sweating Bullets Friendlys Coors Lite Mobilink Nike Disney's Raw Toonage Melrose Place Through the Eyes of a Killer QAzde (or TV movie) Wheel of Fortune Cheruh Rock by Smashing Pumpkins NBC Nightly News Rescue 911 ABC College Football NBC Gymnastics Fresh Prince of Bel Air Late Show with David Letterman Oprah Physical confrontation between two male characters Spicy food and a creamy dessert Beautiful people enjoying the beverage on a beach Fast moving point of view camera shots of urban and rural landscapes Group of women working out in a dimly lit gym Evil chef trying to hit a crab with a mallet Confrontation between a wife and her husband's mistress Suspenseful shower scene Male contestant resolving the final puzzle Altemative music video Report on Israeli/PLO conflict Re-enactments of a snake attack on a toddler A touchdown play Female gymnast doing a routine on uneven bars Male character begging a teacher for an opportunity to improve his grades Opening comedy monologue Emotional monologue of a troubled mother 0:47 0:30 0:30 0:30 0:30 0:52 1:29 1:27 0:55 0:47 0:50 0:47 0:35 0:45 1:30 1:20 1:02 WGBS (Ind,) WCAU (CBS) WTXF(FOX) WCAU (CBS) WPVI (ABC) MTV (Cable) KYW(NBC) WCAU (CBS) WPVI (ABC) KYW (NBC) KYW (NBC) WCAU (CBS) WPVI (ABC) ,5 2,0 1,6 2,0 2,5 2,3 3,6 4,0 11,0 0,6 4,5 2, ,9 16,0 4,1 "See discussion section.

7 ^X^NTER answered questions about each scene immediately after viewing it. All of the questions were 10-point semantic differential items. Nine to 12 questions were asked regarding each scene. The first group of questions for each segment, typically no more than four items, concerned subjects' responses to sensory or perceptual features of the program (e.g., "How hot was the fire?" and "How clear was the water?"). The second group of questions, typically no more than eight items, involved responses to psychological characteristics of the programs (e.g., "How upset was the woman?" and "How enthusiastic was the audience?"). Whenever appropriate, subjects were asked for an evaluation of the attractiveness of a character and the level of suspense and excitement in the sqene. Three questions were asked for all 17 of the television segments: (1) "How much did you like watching this?," (2) "Have you seen this program before?" (general familiarity with the segment), and (3) "Have you seen this episode before?" (specific familiarity with the segment).^ The last page of the questionnaire asked for subjects' overall evaluation of the viewing experience and of the quality of the television picture. Subjects also reported the screen size of the television they watch most often, the distance from which they typically watch that television, and their age, race, and gender. Sample A total of 80 undergraduate students (40 male, 40 female) enrolled in introductory level Communication courses at a large university participated in the experiment. Students were offered extra credit as an incentive for participation. Student ages ranged from 18 to 28 years of age (M = 20). Sixty-five percent (n = 52) of the subjects were Caucasian, 27.5 percent (n = 22) were African American, and the remainder were Asian or Hispanic. Procedure Subjects were met by the experimenter and escorted into a carpeted, 11 by 22 foot room that contained a television, a video cassette recorder, and a comfortable chair which faced the television screen. Various amenities, such as a decorative table lamp and pictures on the walls, made the environment similar to a living room. In both screen size conditions the chair was 6 feet 2 inches from the screen (a viewing distance from which it was comfortable and natural to view both televisions). The experimenter explained that the subject would be viewing several short scenes from television programs, that each scene would be followed by a one-minute pause during which the screen would be dark, and that during this time the subject was to answer the page of questions on the questionnaire regarding what had just been seen. The subject was told that a tone would sound five seconds before the beginning of each scene. The experimenter then gave the subject a clipboard, questionnaire, and pen.

8 102 COMMUNICATION REPORTS turned on a small reading light attached to the clipboard, darkened the room, started the presentation, and left the room, fhe entire procedure took approximately 45 minutes. RESULTS To determine whether subjects evaluated television content differently when they viewed the content on relatively, large and small television screens, responses to all of the questionnaire items were combined into one additive index (Cronbach's alpha =.95). A two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with values of this index as the dependent variable revealed no significant difference for screen size and a near-significant (p <.08) difference for subject gender, with female subjects reporting more intense responses. Further analysis showed that the subjects had judged the picture quality of the small screen television to be superior to that of the large screen television (K\, 78) = 2.12, p <.002). Because of this, and since the image quality on large screen televisions is likely to improve in the near future, an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was conducted in which means on the dependent variable were adjusted to remove the effect of perceived picture quality. In this analysis a main effect was found for screen size (Kl,75) = 3.39, p <.07) (no main effect was found for subject gender). As predicted, viewers of the large television screen reported responses of greater intensity than viewers who watched the same content on the small screen. To determine what types and characteristics of programs generated more intense responses when viewed on the large screen, the sign test (a less powerful but in this case more illustrative technique) was used to assess patterns in the responses to each segment. The sign test evaluates patterns in the direction of mean differences in a set of items, in this case all items corresponding to a given video segment. As indicated in Table 2, for 6 of the 17 scenes a significant or near significant (p <.07) pattern was found. For 5 of these scenes (action-adventure, animation, and reality programs, and commercials for Coors Lite beer and Mobilink telephone services), the pattern of responses favored the large screen. For the remaining scene (the commercial for Nike shoes), the pattern favored the small screen. An adjustment of the means for perceived picture quality increased the consistency of the results, with all significant patterns (p < ) indicating that the large screen evoked more intense responses than the small one. Because not all characteristics of television content are captured by distinctions between program genres represented by the different video segments, a principal component factor analysis with oblique rotation was conducted on questionnaire items across all the video segments. Since this analysis failed to reveal stable and meaningful dimensions underlying subject responses, three unweighted indices were built from subsets of items based on intuitively logical groupings of variables. The first of these indices (Cronbach's alpha =.62) contained items concerning elements in the

9 WINTER TABLE 2 Sign Tests Conducted on Means for Screen Size and Subject Gender for Questions Regarding Each Television Segment Screen Size Subject Gender Genre/segment # Ques. L>S'' Sig. # Ques." L>S'' Sig. # Ques. F>M'= Sig. Action-adventure Advertising: Coors Lite Advertising: Friendlys Advertising: Mobilink Advertising: Nike shoes Animation Drama (Human drama) Drama (Suspense/thriller) Game show Music video News Reality Situation comedy Sports (Football) Sports (Gymnastics) Talk show (Entertainment) Talk show (Social issues) 5 of 7 Iof9 7 of 9 2 of 8 2 of 9 4 of 10 5 of 9 7 of 9 5 of 8 Iof8 4 of 10 4 of 10 2 of of 7 5 of 9 5 of 8 3 of 9 7 of 10 6 of 9 6 of 8 5 of 8 6 of 10 6 of 10 2 of 8 6 of 9 5 of 7 7 of 9 7 of 8 5 of 9 4 of 10 3 of 9 7 of 8 4 of 8 9 of 10 Oof 10 6 of 8, ''Means adjusted for picture quality. ''L = Large screen size; S = Small screen size. ^M = Male subject gender; F = Female subject gender. segments that appealed to the senses (e.g., "How soft was the orange cake?," "How hot was the water?,"). The second index (Cronbach's alpha =.65) contained items about elements in the segments that featured sudden movement and/or physical impact (e.g., "How fast was the movement in the [Nike] commercial?," "How hard was the bad guy hit with an elbow to the face?"). The final index (Cronbach's alpha =.85) was created from items that involved some type of emotion (e.g., "How happy were the people?," "How angry was the wife?"). The direction of differences between means is consistent for all three indices: the large screen yields more intense responses than the small screen. For the movement/impact index this difference is statistically significant (Kl, 76) = 4.67,/»<.03). An additional index was constructed from responses to the question, "How much did you like watching this?," which was asked following each video segment. Surprisingly, there was no significant difference between reported enjoyment for the two screen sizes. DISCUSSION Based on previous research, it was hypothesized that even when subjects viewed familiar programs or types of programs in a familiar or natural

10 104 COMMUNICATION REPORTS viewing experience, they would evaluate the programs differently depending on the size of the screen used for the presentation. Further, it was hypothesized that the direction of the differences would favor the larger screen size, with subjects reporting more intense responses to the large images. The results were consistent with these hypotheses. Although the stimuli chosen to represent the different genres may not be prototypical, the results seem to suggest that large screen televisions elicit more intense responses for some genres but not others. The genres that yielded the most consistent results for screen size included commercials, action-adventure, and reality, while the talk shows and drama programs produced no effect. The commercials and programs which evoked more intense responses in viewers of the large screen television contained more and shorter shots, sudden movement, especially from point-of-view camera angles, and impact. This abrupt change, novelty, and movement (interestingly all formal features) may have particularly strong impact on the large screen. Although the results provide general support for the hypotheses, there was one notable anomaly: Subjects who watched the large screen television reported no greater enjoyment of the experience than subjects who watched the small screen. Although it seems reasonable to expect viewers to enjoy watching a larger image as noted above, there is scant empirical evidence that this is the case. Interestingly, Neuman (1990) reported differences in enjoyment favoring larger screens, but only for high resolution images, which suggests that a difference may become pronounced with the arrival of advanced TV systems. In any case it appears that while viewers may respond with more intensity to larger television images, they don't necessarily enjoy them more.. The findings reported here have two important implications. First, there is currently a trend toward the increased use of images and editing techniques designed to elicit visceral responses in viewers; this is evident from even a short time spent watching MTV or contemporary television commercials. It seems likely that as the size (and quality) of televisions purchased and watched by consumers increases, watching this material will become an increasingly more engaging and intense experience, perhaps even too intense. Second, the more intense responses to sensory (and other) elements of the segments on the large screen in this study are at least consistent with the notion that viewers were responding to what seemed to be nonmediated objects, events, and people. While it may not be surprising that watching an IMAX film produces a sense of "being there," the idea that television viewers experience at least some of the same sense of presence is provocative. If larger screens do in fact contribute to presence among television viewers, and if the trend in sales of larger screen television sets continues, this perceptual illusion is likely to become increasingly common. The possible effects include everything from dizziness and dysphoria during media use to memory confusions in distinguishing between nonmediated and mediated experiences.

11 WINTER Future research concerning the impact of screen size should examine the interaction of this formal feature of television with other formal features and with different types of media content. Are scenes that feature point-of-view movement more exhilarating, persuasive appeals more persuasive, entertainment programs more entertaining, portrayals of violence more shocking, and news more credible, when viewed on a larger television screen? ENDNOTES 1. Studies of screen size are distinct from studies in which "image size" is manipulated through shot "scale," "length," or "type" (i.e., close-up, long shot), but the size of the displayed image is held constant (e.g.. Acker & Tiemens, 1981; Bonnet, Gurlekian, & Harris, 1992). 2. Note that although the large screen size in both studies was comparable, in the Reeves et al. (1992) study (in which home-made video of individual people was used), the smaller screen was 24 inches, while in the Reeves et al. (1993) study (in which scenes from action-oriented films were used), the smaller screen was 35 inches. 3. For the advertisements, these questions were, "Have you seen this commercial before?" and "Have you used (the product advertised in the commercial) before?" REFERENCES Acker, S. R., & Tiemens, R. K. (1981). Children's perception of changes in size of televised images. Human Communication Research, 7, Bonnet, C, Gurlekian, J. & Harris, P. (1992). Reaction time and visual area: Searching for the determinants. Bulletin of the Psychonomics Society, 30, Detenber, B., & Reeves, B. (1996). A bio-informational theory of emotion: Motion and image size effects on viewers. Journal of Communication, 46(.3J, Ditton, T. B. (1997). The unintentional blending of direct experience and mediated experience: The role of enhanced versus limited television presentations in inducing sourcemonitoring errors. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Temple University, Philadelphia, PA. Duncanson, J. P., & Williams, A. D. (1973). Video conferencing: Reactions of users^ Human Factors, 15, Fleeson, L. (1995, February). The focus of decor in America? The TV. The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. El, Ell. Hatada, T., Sakata, H., & Kusaka, H. (1980). Psychophysical analysis of the perception of reality induced by a visual wide field display. SMPT^Journal, 89, Heeter, C. (1992). Being There: The subjective experience of presence. Presence, 1, Heeter, C. (1995). Communication research on consumer VR. In F. Biocca & M. R. Levy (Eds.), Communication in the age of virtual reality (pp ). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Eribaum Associates. Held, R. M., & Durlach, N. L (1992). Telepresence. Presence, 1, 109^112. Kim, T. (1996). The memory and persuasion effects of presence in television advertisement processing. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Lang, P. J. (1980). Behavioral treatment and bio-informational assessment: Computer applications. In J. B. Sidowski, J. H. Johnson, & T. W. Williams (Eds.), Technology in mental health care delivery systems (.pp ). Norwood, NJ: Ablex. Lombard, M. (1995). Direct responses to people on the screen: Television and personal space. Communication Research, 22(3'), Lombard, M., Reich, R., Grabe, M. E., Campanella, C. M. & Ditton, T. B. (1994, May). Big TVs, little TVs: The role of screen size in viewer responses to point-of-view movement. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Albuquerque, NM. Lund, A. M. (1993). The influence of video image size and resolution on viewing-distance preferences, SMPTEJoumal, 102,

12 106 COMMUNICATION REPORTS Neuman, W. R. (1990, July). Beyond HDTV: Exploring subjective responses to very high definition television: h Research Report for GTE Labs and the TVOT Consortium. MIT, Cambridge, MA. Mannes, G. (1992, December). Flat screen express: The $1 billion race to invent video's most elusive productbig, thin, hang-on-the-wall TV. Video Magazine, pp Ohtani, T, & Mitshuhashi, T. (1973). Picture quality of a high definition television system. TEBS, 3-4. Reeves, B. (1991). "Being there:" Television as symbolic versus natural experience. Unpublished manuscript, Stariford University, Institute for Communication Research, Stanford, CA. Reeves, B., Detenber, B., & Steuer, J. (1993, May). New televisions: The effects of big pictures and big sound on viewer responses to the screen. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Washington, D.C. Reeves, B., Lombard, M., & Melwani, G. (1992, May). Faces on the screen: Pictures or natural experience? Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Miami, FL. Reeves, B., & Nass, C. (1996). The media equation: How people treat computers, television, and new media like real people and places. Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications. Rickey, C. (1994, June 10). Visual majesty in 'Grand Canyon' tour [Review of "Grand Canyon: The Hidden Secrets"]. Philadelphia Inquirer, p. W3, W14. Ryan, D. (1996, May 10). Hold onto your hats: It's a whirlwind of a ride [Review of the film "Twister"]. Philadelphia Inquirer, p. 3 Weedend section. Sheridan, T. B. (1992). Musings on telepresence and virtual presence. Presence, 7(1), Staff. (1994, August 29). Consumer Electronics. TV Digest, p. 8. Staff. (1993, August 9). Consumer Electronics. TV Digest, pp Steuer, J. (1995). Defining virtual reality: Dimensions determining telepresence. In F. Biocca & M. R. Levy (Eds.), Communication in tbe age of virtual reality (pp ). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Eribaum Associates. Westerink, J. H. D. M., & Roufs, J. A. J. (1989). Subjective image quality as a function of viewing distance, resolution and picture size. SMPTEJoumal, 98,

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