An article in Nature this week suggests that we make up our minds about websites within 50 milliseconds of viewing them. These brief glimpses can have a lasting impact known as the "halo effect" whereby minor faults are thereafter overlooked. As we tend to enjoy being right, it's natural that we persevere with a website that delivered a positive first impression.

This research evidence complements that of Jane Raymond, a consumer psychologist at the University of Wales in Bangor. According to the New Scientist her team used a camera embedded in a pair of specs to record people's gaze as they glanced at adverts while shopping or commuting. They found that hardly any ads made an impression at all: only around 1 per cent could be recalled without prompting. We may be exposed to brand messages all day long, but most of the time we're just not taking them in.

Rayond blames this on the "attentional blink" whereby our awareness tends to plummet as we focus our attention on one thing in particular: So if something catches your attention, your brain is blind to anything else for a short period afterwards. Researchers have also found that if people are distracted by an image or brand when performing an intellectually demanding task, they tend to instantly dislike it, regardless of its emotional value. (Bad news for banners!)

The conclusion Raymond has reached is that in these times of attention overload, brand messages should be presented in a more absorbable way.