Animation Distraction Cost
Peripheral / off-axis animation playing while a user is reading prose reduces reading speed by roughly 38% and lowers comprehension scores, because the human visual system's motion-detection pathway involuntarily command…
$ aoe install @community/fact-animation-distraction-costProjection
Always in _index.xml · the agent never has to ask for this.
AnimationDistractionCost [fact] v1.0.0
Peripheral animation in a reading context measurably degrades reading speed and comprehension. Empirical work on animated banner ads adjacent to prose found reading speed drops by roughly a third when peripheral motion is present.
Peripheral / off-axis animation playing while a user is reading prose reduces reading speed by roughly 38% and lowers comprehension scores, because the human visual system's motion-detection pathway involuntarily commands attention to moving stimuli.
Loaded when retrieval picks the atom as adjacent / supporting.
AnimationDistractionCost [fact] v1.0.0
Peripheral animation in a reading context measurably degrades reading speed and comprehension. Empirical work on animated banner ads adjacent to prose found reading speed drops by roughly a third when peripheral motion is present.
Peripheral / off-axis animation playing while a user is reading prose reduces reading speed by roughly 38% and lowers comprehension scores, because the human visual system's motion-detection pathway involuntarily commands attention to moving stimuli.
Meta
- License: Apache-2.0
- License Provenance: package-authorship-claim
Confidence
strong
Applies To
- long-form reading interfaces (decision: zero peripheral motion)
- documentation / docs sites
- ad placement adjacent to prose
- auto-playing carousels / hero videos near reading flow
- decision to disable cursor / hover animations during sustained reading
Quantitative
- Reading Speed Reduction: ~38% (Burke et al. 2005, similar magnitude reported across the literature)
- Comprehension Score Reduction: consistent decrease across studies (~10–15% on follow-up recall tests)
Counter Conditions
- Animation that is the content (a video, a chart transition the user opted into) does not bear this cost.
- Animation that conveys system state (a save indicator pulsing) is functional, not decorative — measured cost is lower.
- Periphery effect collapses on small screens where there is no 'periphery' relative to the reading column.
Loaded when retrieval picks the atom as a focal / direct hit.
AnimationDistractionCost [fact] v1.0.0
Peripheral animation in a reading context measurably degrades reading speed and comprehension. Empirical work on animated banner ads adjacent to prose found reading speed drops by roughly a third when peripheral motion is present.
Peripheral / off-axis animation playing while a user is reading prose reduces reading speed by roughly 38% and lowers comprehension scores, because the human visual system's motion-detection pathway involuntarily commands attention to moving stimuli.
Meta
- License: Apache-2.0
- License Provenance: package-authorship-claim
Confidence
strong
Applies To
- long-form reading interfaces (decision: zero peripheral motion)
- documentation / docs sites
- ad placement adjacent to prose
- auto-playing carousels / hero videos near reading flow
- decision to disable cursor / hover animations during sustained reading
Quantitative
- Reading Speed Reduction: ~38% (Burke et al. 2005, similar magnitude reported across the literature)
- Comprehension Score Reduction: consistent decrease across studies (~10–15% on follow-up recall tests)
Counter Conditions
- Animation that is the content (a video, a chart transition the user opted into) does not bear this cost.
- Animation that conveys system state (a save indicator pulsing) is functional, not decorative — measured cost is lower.
- Periphery effect collapses on small screens where there is no 'periphery' relative to the reading column.
Sources
Relations
related: [@community/fact-motion-as-feedback, @community/fact-reduced-motion-priority, @community/constraint-animation-pref-respected]
Meta
- License: Apache-2.0
- License Provenance: package-authorship-claim
Confidence
strong
Source
- Burke, M. et al., 'High-cost banner blindness: Ads increase perceived workload, hinder visual search, and are forgotten', ACM ToCHI (2005)
- Diao, F. & Sundar, S. S., 'Orienting Response and Memory for Web Advertisements', Communication Research (2004)
- Hervet, G. et al., 'Is banner blindness genuine? Eye tracking internet text advertising', Applied Cognitive Psychology (2011)
Applies To
- long-form reading interfaces (decision: zero peripheral motion)
- documentation / docs sites
- ad placement adjacent to prose
- auto-playing carousels / hero videos near reading flow
- decision to disable cursor / hover animations during sustained reading
Quantitative
- Reading Speed Reduction: ~38% (Burke et al. 2005, similar magnitude reported across the literature)
- Comprehension Score Reduction: consistent decrease across studies (~10–15% on follow-up recall tests)
Counter Conditions
- Animation that is the content (a video, a chart transition the user opted into) does not bear this cost.
- Animation that conveys system state (a save indicator pulsing) is functional, not decorative — measured cost is lower.
- Periphery effect collapses on small screens where there is no 'periphery' relative to the reading column.
Source
aoe-engine/examples/frontend-design/primes/compiled/@community/fact-animation-distraction-cost/atom.yaml