Welcome to MAd Lab

How do media and advertising influence us? Why do people pay more attention to some media than others? What are the pros and cons of media multitasking? When does immersing yourself in media lead to positive vs. negative consequences?
Located in Department of Advertising, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the Media and Advertising (MAd) Lab seeks to understand the psychology behind media and advertising effects- how media and advertising impact our cognitive processes, affect, and behavior. If you are interested in joining us, please get in touch.

People

Kevin Wise (Ph.D., Stanford University) is a Professor in the Charles H. Sandage Department of Advertising at Illinois. His research explores the psychology underlying interactive media use. In other words, how do different attributes of medium, message, person, and situation influence the processes and outcomes of media use? He primarily addresses this question through experiments that measure physiological, behavioral, and self-report indicators of cognition, emotion, and motivation.

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Xiaohan (Catherine) Hu is a Ph.D. candidate in Charles H. Sandage Department of Advertising at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She earned her M.S. in Advertising at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and B.A. in Advertising at Wuhan University in Wuhan, China. Her research centers on the question: What psychological mechanisms are associated with information processing on digital media? More specifically, her research focuses on the role of people’s perception of controlin explaining digital advertising effectiveness.

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ResearchGate

Giang Pham is a Ph.D. candidate whose research focuses on psychological factors that drive user engagement with media. She received an M.S. in Advertising from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a B.A. in Advertising and Public Relations from Hallym University in South Korea. Her dissertation examines the experience of flow in media use and its potential costs on the user’s goal performance and gratification.

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Anna is a Phd student (2021 cohort) in the Institute of Communications Research. She got her Master in Social Science degree from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, majoring in advertising. Before that, she got her BA in communication from Renmin University of China. Prior to joining ICR, Anna was a Senior Research Manager in a marketing research company, Ipsos (China) Co. Ltd. Her research interest is exploring how social-psychological factors influence people’s cognitive, attitudinal and behavioral responses to information in the digital environment, specifically, the influence of social ties and position in social network structure.

Ethan is an undergraduate student majoring in computer science and advertising. He uses computational methods, including NLP and data science, for research in media psychology. He is currently  investigating how algorithms affect how we receive and process news.

GitHub

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Research Website

Chen Chen (Crystal) is a fourth-year Ph.D. student with interests focusing on how an immersive environment modulates individuals’ information processing and consequently influences their cognitive performance and decision making. It turns into three interrelated areas: 1) Identifying the underlying mechanisms of an immersive experience; 2) Understanding these mechanisms’ cognitive and persuasion outcomes; 3) Exploring how the characteristics of the immersive environment modify these processes.

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ResearchGate

Jacob (Ph.D -Communication, UC Santa Barbara) is an assistant professor in the Department of Advertising in the College of Media at UIUC and is an affiliate of the Illinois Informatics Program. His research lies at the intersection of cognitive neuroscience and media psychology, using brain imaging, behavioral, and digital trace data to investigate how digital media influence how we direct our attention and pursue our goals.

Personal Website

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Twitter

GitHub

Yilin (Coco) Ren is a Ph.D. candidate in Communication and Media with a focus on Media Psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Duringher Ph.D., she also pursued an M.S. in Applied Statistics. Her research focuses on how human-device interactions affect the psychological processing of media content.

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Recent Research

2021

Fisher, J.T., & Hamilton, K. (2021) Integrating media selection and media effects using decision theory. Journal of Media Psychology. Published online ahead of print.
 

Parry, D.A., Davidson, B., Sewall, C.J.R., Fisher, J.T., Mieczkowski, H., Quintana, D. (2021). Measurement discrepancies between logged and self–reported digital media use: A systematic review and meta–analysis. Nature Human Behaviour. Published online ahead of print.

Hu, X., & Wise, K.(2021). How playable ads influence consumer attitude: Exploring themediation effects of perceived control and freedom threat. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, 15(2), 295–315,DOI: 10.1108/JRIM–12–2020–0269.

Hu, X., & Chen, C.(2021). Visual or textual superiority effect? Investigating the effect of presentation format and individual processing propensity on mental imagery of online product information. In American Academy of Advertising. Conference. Proceedings (Online).

2020

Fisher, J.T., Hopp, F.R., Weber, R. (2021). Network neuroscience: a practical introduction for communication researchers. Communication Methods & Measures. 15, 60-71

Hu, X., & Wise, K. (2020). Perceived control or haptic sensation? Exploring the effect of image interactivity on consumer responses to online product displays. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 20(1), 60-75, DOI: 10.1080/15252019.2019.1707729..

Pham, G. V.(2020). Overly Immersed: Understanding the Two Sides of Flow and their Implications for Mediated Work Environments. Microsoft Research New Future of Work. Available at https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/overly-immersed-understanding-the-two-sides-of-flow-and-their-implications-for-mediated-work-environments/