The vampire effect of smartphone swiping: how atypical motor actions increase ad attention but impair brand recall

Figures & data

Figure 1. Taxonomy of motoric human–smartphone interactions.

Table 1. Think-aloud statements related to typical and atypical motoric human–smartphone interactions.

Participants	Statement related to Typical and Atypical Smartphone Interaction	Human–Smartphone Interactions
P 02, female, age 19	I am left-handed. I always hold it in my left hand and swipe and write with my [left] thumb.	Holding grip, one hand, left hand
P 15, female, age 38	I do everything [on the phone] with one hand only. I actually hold it all the time like this. I thought again today of my poor right hand. So, I actually tried it briefly in my left hand, but immediately I switched back to my right hand. I’m just through and through right-handed there.	Holding grip, one hand, right hand
P 03, male, age 36	Yes, I am left-handed. I hold it in my left hand. For the moment, I also hold it with my right hand for support. I would say it’s heavier, but larger. I actually hold it with two hands now.	Holding grip, two hands, dominant left hand holding
P 30, female, age 22	This is now my fourth generation iPhone. It only used to be like that with the narrower ones [holding it only in the right hand]. Since I have the larger one, because I just have small hands, I have to support with my left hand as well. And I also notice after a certain time it gets heavy.	Holding grip, two hands, dominant right hand holding
P 16, female, age 19	When I write, I always take the other hand to it and then I sort of hold it like that with both hands. Also, if I were to comment, then I would write like this [with both thumbs].	Holding grip, two hands, equally holding
P 03, male, age 36	The left thumb, yes. The left thumb is the thumb to control.	Input finger, one finger, left thumb
P 13, male, age 24	I always keep it this way. I never use the apps in landscape mode from the beginning. Always with the right hand. Even in bed, always in portrait mode with the right hand. And always with the right thumb.	Input finger, one finger, right thumb
P 22, female, age 29	Exactly, and also through the newsfeed. I actually scroll down most of the time. Now that wasn’t unnatural, it’s actually always like that, always with the [left] index finger no matter where I am.	Input finger, one finger, left index finger
P 09, male, age 41	Yes, that’s how I prefer to do it. I hold it in my left hand and use my right finger [for input]. Because one-handed operation is always a bit uncomfortable with today’s smartphone sizes. And that’s why I try to use both hands whenever possible.	Input finger, one finger, right index finger
P 19 male, age 43	Yes, with the [right] middle finger. I do that everywhere, too. It’s very, very typical. I think also because the middle finger is perhaps my longest finger. That’s the most comfortable way. That’s actually the most comfortable position.	Input finger, one finger, right middle finger
P 29, female, age 61	So, truth be told, it looks like my children told me I had to learn to text with both thumbs. Because I like my keyboard very fast, so they’re like, no, you’ll have to use two thumbs.	Input finger, two fingers, both thumbs, equally inputting
P 26, female, age 69	I usually do this with my middle finger [and index finger]. Like this from bottom to top.	Input finger, two fingers, right middle finger

All interviews were translated into English using a back-translation approach.

Figure 2. Experimental setup in participants’ homes (left: thumb swiping; right: index swiping).

Figure 3. Effect of typicality on gaze duration and number of fixations.

Figure 4. Effect of typicality on brand recall.

Data availability statement

Due to its proprietary nature, the dataset used in this study cannot be made openly available.