Contact Information
Research and Creative Interests
Audio, Music, Psychophysiology, Social Neuroscience, Emotion, Media Industries, Advertising, Radio, Biometrics, Research Methods,Biography
Potter's research focuses on the impact of auditory elements on information processing of media, psychophysiological measures as indicators of cognitive and emotional responses to media, and the concept of advertising clutter and its influence on information processing. His work has been published in Media Psychology, Communication Research, Communication Monographs, and Journal of Advertising, among others.
Potter recently co-edited the International Encyclopedia of Communication Research Methods.
Potter's first book Psychophysiological Measurement and Meaning: Cognitive and Emotional Responses to Media (with Paul Bolls) was published in 2012 by Routledge.
He is past Chair of the Information Systems Division of the International Communication Association and serves on the editorial board of Communication Research, Media Psychology, Journal of Media Psychology: Theories, Methods, and Applications, and Communication Methods and Measures. More than a decade of experience in the radio industry as a promotions director, research director, and program director, guides both his teaching and research.
Dr. Potter is the Director of the Institute for Communication Research at The Media School.
Select Journal Articles
Audio in Media:
Potter, R.F., Sites, J., Jamison-Koenig, E., Zheng, X. (accepted).The Impact of Cognitive Load on the Cardiac Orienting Response to Auditory Structural Features during Natural Radio Listening Situations. Journal of Cognition. https://doi.org/10.5334/joc.43
Lee, S. & Potter, R.F. (in press). The impact of emotional words on listeners’ cognitive and emotional responses in the context of advertising. Communication Research. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0093650218765523.
Rodero, E., Potter, R.F., Prieto, P., (2017) Pitch Range Variations Improves Cognitive Processing of Audio Messages. Human Communication Research (43): 397-413. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/hcre.12109/full
Potter, R.F., Jamison-Koenig, E., Lynch, T, & Sites, J. (accepted). Effect of Vocal Tonal Difference on Automatic Attention to Voice Changes in Audio Messages. Communication Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650215623835
Potter, R.F., Lynch, T., Krause, A. (2015) I've heard that before: Habituation of the Orienting Response Follows Repeated Presentation of Audio Structural Features in Radio. Communication Monographs (82), pp. 359-378. DOI: 10.1080/03637751.2015.1019529
Potter, R. F., Lang, A., & Bolls, P. D. (2008). Identifying structural features of audio: Orienting responses during radio messages and their impact on recognition. Journal of Media Psychology: Theories, Methods, and Applications, 20(4), 168-177. DOI: 10.1027/1864-1105.20.4.168
Potter, R.F. & Choi, J. (2006). The Effects of Auditory Structural Complexity on Attitudes, Attention, Arousal & Memory. Media Psychology. 8 (4), 395-419. DOI: 10.1207/s1532785xmep0804_4
Advertising Research:
Lee, S. & Potter, R.F. (in press). The impact of emotional words on listeners’ cognitive and emotional responses in the context of advertising. Communication Research. http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0093650218765523.
Read, G., van Driel, I., & Potter, R.F. (2018) Bias level matters: Advertisements featuring same-sex couples affect physiological but not self-reported responses. Journal of Advertising 47, p. 182-197. https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.2018.1452653
Bellman, S.; Potter, R.F., Treleaven-Hassard, S.; Robinson, J.A.; Varan, D (2011). The Effectiveness of Branded Mobile Phone Apps. Journal of Interactive Marketing 25 191-200. DOI: 10.1016/j.intmar.2011.06.001
Potter, R. F. (2009). Double the Units: How Increasing the Number of Advertisements while Keeping the Overall Duration of Commercial Breaks Constant Affects Radio Listeners. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 53 (4), 584-598. DOI: 10.1080/08838150903332991
Potter, R.F., Callison, C., Chambers, T., Edison, A. (2008). Radio’s Clutter Conundrum: Better Memory for Ads, Worse Attitudes Toward Stations. International Journal of Media Management (10), 139-147. DOI: 10.1080/14241270802426667