Abstract
To examine the effects of subjective interest on eyeblink rate and occurences of body movements, thirty male and female undergraduates were instructed to watch the VTR programs under two different levels of subjective interest. Before conducting an experimental session, each subject was given twelve short scenes of the sample stimuli which were sampled from twelve 8-minute experimental stimuli, and asked to give ratings as to the degree of interest, enjoyment, and liking to each sample stimulus. The most and the least interesting stimuli reported by each subject were used in the high and low interest conditions, respectively. It was found that the eyeblink rate and the frequency of occurences of body movements were significantly less in the high interest condition than in the low interest condition. The results showed that the control of interest by the sample-prerating method produced clear relationship between subjective interest and the eyeblink rate.
