I must admit that I don't remember ever coming across the term "old
brain" in my studies. Perhaps it was active when I was being
lectured about it and I was too busy watching for tigers ;-) 

In terms of stimuli that make us nervous, I don't think animated
banner ads count, otherwise net heads would be in a constant state of
anxiety until banners disappeared. The idea you mentioned is a little
simplistic and I'm not sure it's a part of proper psychology though
I could be wrong. Besides, organic systems habituate (ie, get used to
and then ignore) repetitive stimuli eventually unless they are
overwhelming (it's hard to sleep at a loud rave).

For responses to threat-inducing stimuli, you can read about the
sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems for a start. There is
lots of work about anxiety, PTSD and the like, but I know of nothing
covering anxiety disorders and banner ads.

Psychology has played an important role in this field. Many of the
first HCI researchers were cognitive psychologists. I think Alan Dix
wrote a paper about the history of HCI somewhere. It might be on his
website.



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Posted from the new ixda.org
http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=31782


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