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1. 1
A PRELIMINARY STUDY OF APPLYING ERP
ON USERS’ REACTIONS TO WEB PAGES
WITH DIFFERENT PRESENTATION FORMATS
Ming-Huang Lin *, Yu-Min Fang **,***, Ching-Yi Wang****
* Institute of Applied Arts, National Chiao Tung University, 1001 Ta-Hsueh Road, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan
** Graduate School of Design, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, 43 Kee-lung Road, Section 4, Taipei 106, Taiwan,
*** Department of Industrial Design, First International Computer Corporation, 300 Yang-Guang Street, Nei-Hu, Taipei 114, Taiwan
**** Institute of Applied Arts, National Chiao Tung University, 1001 Ta-Hsueh Road, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan
Abstract: Instead of text, usually web design experts suggest more proper images, especially human faces or
figures, will evoke the viewers’ sympathy and increase the attractiveness of the web pages. To investigate
this design principle, this research introduced the ERP (Event-related potential) method to analyze viewers’
brainwave component P300, N170, and N400 to compare the different visual stimuli - brief description (text),
product photos, human face images, and body images. The result showed that the photos and human figures
were confirmed positively for increasing attractiveness, diminishing the time of communication. But experts’
suggestion is not always valid since sometimes the proper word impresses viewers more in the first glance,
comparing to visual images.
Key words: design cognition; interface design; information design; event-related potential (ERP)
1. Introduction
Globally accessible web site enables corporations to
communicate with a wide variety of constituencies. World
Wide Web also represents a resource for any organization
seeking a broad audience. For successful communication,
designing a commercial web page with appropriate
responses from viewers is the crucial key [1].
With limited available time, viewers surf a large
number of web sites to search for product information. Thus,
the commercial sites, especially the homepages, need to
catch the attention and let them be satisfied of what they are
staring. Otherwise, viewers can tend to leave the sites in a
matter of seconds. But what kind of web pages will satisfy
this communication? What kind of design guidelines will
help to evoke viewers' appropriate responses?
One of the critical attributes of the web page is the
diversity of the presentation formats. For designing a web,
designers need to select the formats: textual contents or
different visual images. From the viewpoint of information
processing theory, usually texts and images can be
considered as two of the different types of information input.
Imagery theorists emphasized the distinction between the
codes used for images versus textual information. The
dual-code model stated that the two types of information are
encoded in working memory by separate subsystems, one
specialized for sensory images and the other specialized for
verbal language [2-4]. It is thought that the images contain
information that is encoded from a sensory event after
perceptual analysis and pattern recognition, and are
organized into subunits at the time of perception [5-8].

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Peracchio and Meyers-Levy indicated that researchers have
long posited that visual images can communicate ideas
beyond those that are depicted literally [9]. Scott and Batra
also indicated that images can convey semantically
meaningful, descriptive concepts via their stylistic
properties [10]. These claims correspond to the phrase “A
picture is worth a thousand words”, and web design experts
adopt the same principles. Instead of textual contents,
usually experts suggest that more proper images, especially
human faces or figures, will evoke viewers’ sympathy and
increase the attractiveness of the web pages [11-12].
Although these guidelines are widely acknowledged, few
scientific analyses and confirmations have been carried out
to verify these common rules. Accordingly this research
tries to explore the following questions: 1) Do viewers
respond to images more positively than to the commercial
texts as the specialists’ claim? 2) Do human figures or
face images attract more attention? 3) If the improper or
unrelated images will obstruct communication and invoke
confusion? 4) Can we apply scientific instrument to
examine these design guidelines?
2. Research Method
2.1 The Measurement Methods
In the design studies, the popular method of measuring
subjects’ reactions to the objects or images is applying
adjective descriptions of the semantic differences (SD) and
further to the multidimensional scale (MDS), for example,
the numerous researches into Kansei Engineering in Japan
[13], and multidimensional space [14-15]. They use
questionnaires with Liker Scale, mostly based on the
Semantics Analysis developed by Osgood in 1957, to
acquire the subject’s subjective responses to the stimuli.
Though fruitful results have been achieved, skeptical
criticism to this measurement arises since that: 1) the
subjects’ respond might be misguided by questionnaire
design, 2) the insufficient reliability and accuracy, and 3)
the distrust about subjects’ patience with answering all
questions [16]. As the process of acquiring the raw data is
not well-controlled, therefore the further analysis might be
invalid.
To supplement the insufficiency of the current
measurement method, objective scientific instrument might
be useful for examining the subjects’ responses. Through
the development in science and technology in recent years,
the objective psychological responses can be measured by
the ERP (Event-related potential) signal, utilizing the
scientific instrument without causing any negative influence
on the mankind. The ERP method can be borrowed as a
new tool for design assessment. Different from the
questionnaires, ERP can detect subjects’ initial and earliest
responses. By asking subjects to watch the different
presentation formats of web pages, brainwave variations
can be recorded. The data of inattentive subjects or false
response can be excluded via examining the waveform. The
subjects’ behavioral response data can be designed to
collect precise information, accumulated by the subjects’
repeatedly and continuous reactions by clicking the mouse
(right/left button).
2.2 The ERP Research on the Mental Processing of Visual
Stimuli
ERPs are associated in time with some physical or
mental occurrence, and can provide important information
about how the human brain normally processes information
[17]. These potentials can be recorded from the human scalp
and extracted from the ongoing electroencephalogram (EEG)
by means of filtering and signal averaging. As the EEG
reflects thousands of simultaneously ongoing brain processes,
the brain response to a single stimulus or event of interest is
not usually visible in the EEG recording of a single trial. To
see the brain response to the stimulus, the experimenter must
conduct many trials and average the results together, causing
random brain activity to be averaged out and the relevant
ERP to remain [8].
Generally ERP recording instrument includes an elastic
fabric head cap with sintered electrodes, a monopolar digital
amplifier, and an acquisition and analysis software for
processing and analyzing ERP data. The stimuli are put in the
visual image display software, and the display time, interval,
and sequence are determined.
In this study, the different visual stimuli of web page
were manipulated, therefore analysis was carried out to the
specific ERP components, related to image processing
(P300), facial recognition (N170), and confusion (N400).
The first study utilizing the ERP on the mental processing
of visual stimuli was by Johnston and co-workers. They

3. 3
established that some late components of ERP could reflect
the emotional processing of different visual stimuli [18-19].
Several research groups have also reported that the positive
ERP component P300 is evoked specifically by emotional
pictures [20-22]. The P300 is the classic index of attention,
recognition, and stimulus probability [23]. And the
emotionally positive and negative stimuli evoked greater
P300 amplitudes than neutral ones [24]. The N170 is the
index of facial recognition, and the visual encoding of this
cognition processing has been reported at around 170 ms
[25-26]. In this case, texts, product images, faces, and nude
bodies on web pages were compared, to examine weather
there is any specific activity associated with N170 and
P300.
The N400 is associated with the emotion of confusion.
ERP studies have elicited a large negative component
peaking around 400 ms (N400 effect) by presenting
incongruent (relative to congruent) word pairs, or unrelated
pictures [27-28]. In this research, incongruent visual stimuli
(e.g., presenting male’s face with female’s shaver, or
presenting female’s nude body with male’s shaver) were
manipulated to evoke N400.
3. Experiment Procedure
3.1 Subject
Twelve of the graduate and undergraduate students of
National Taiwan University of Science and Technology
were selected for the experiment. Among them, we rejected
two subjects who contributed insufficient trials in any group
(were smaller than 16 trials). And the remaining ten subjects
(six males and four females, Mean = 23 years old) were
used as subjects for further analysis. None of the subjects
has neural disease of visual illness or brain injury.
3.2. Stimuli
The stimuli of this experiment included 7 groups of
web pages (Table 1), illustrating seven formats of
presenting products, and each group presented four different
electrical home appliances products, including men’s face
shaver, women’s shaver, toasters, and irons (Table 2). The
seven formats of presenting products were the combination
results of the different visual stimuli - brief descriptions
(texts), product photos, human faces, and bodies. The seven
groups of web pages were: Group 1 (brief description of the
Table 1. Seven groups of web pages.
Group Group 1 Group 2
Descrip-
tion
brief description of the
product
brief description of the
product plus the product
photo
Web
Pages
Example
Group Group 3 Group 4
Descrip-
tion
the product photo along the photo of product and
human face with strong
relation
Web
Pages
Example
Group Group 5 Group 6
Descrip-
tion
the photo of product
and human body with
strong relation
the photo of product and
human face with less
relation
Web
Pages
Example
Group Group 7
Descrip-
tion
the photo of product
and human body with
less relation
Web
Pages
Example
Table 2. Four different types of electrical appliances products as
stimuli.
Product Men’s Face Shaver Women’s Shaver
Web
Pages
Example
Product Toaster Iron
Web
Pages
Example

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product), Group 2 (brief description of the product plus the
product photo), Group 3 (the product photo along), Group 4
(the photo of product and human face with strong relation),
Group 5 (the photo of product and human body with strong
relation), Group 6 (the photo of product and human face
with less relation), and Group 7 (the photo of product and
human body with less relation). In this experiment design,
the following groups were compared: 1) Group 3, 4, and 5,
controlling the proportion of appearing human face (none,
large, and small) with the same product image, were
manipulated to examine if human figures or face images
were more attractive than product images; 2) Groups 1, 2,
and 3, the combinations of text and product image, were
manipulated to test if viewers respond to images more
positively than to the commercial texts; 3) Groups 4, 5, 6,
and 7, the combinations of two images with strong/weak
relation, were manipulated to simulate the incongruent
situation to see if the improper or unrelated images will
obstruct communication and invoke confusion.
In order to exclude the extraneous interference, a
typical background of the commercial web page was chosen.
All stimuli shared the same background.
3.3 Procedure
After short briefing, the subject sat and wore the
electrode cap. Then the subject was instructed to watch the
web page images and answer question (“Is this web page
attractive?”) by clicking the mouse. If the subject agreed
with this question, they clicked left-button, if not, the
right-button. These mouse-clicking actions also help
subjects to concentrate their attention. The stimuli were
presented one by one for 1.5 seconds, and inter-trial interval
was 0.5 seconds. To avoid Oddball Effect, which is usually
evoked by the infrequent presentation of incongruent
stimuli versus frequently displayed congruent stimuli, we
need to make sure the equal probability of presenting for the
different formats. Usually infrequent presentation of
specific stimuli group will evoke greater P300 amplitude,
simply due to the imbalanced presentation of stimuli in the
improper experiment design.
We assumed that the photos of products with male or
female human faces can be regarded as the same group
(Group 4 & 6), and the photos of products with male or
female human bodies (Group 5 & 7) as well. Accordingly
each stimulus in Group 1, 2, 3 randomly presented 20 times,
and web pages in Group 4, 5, 6, 7 presented 10 times. There
were totally 400 trials each person. An experiment lasted
about 13 minutes.
3.4 Recording
EEG was recorded by 32 electrodes Ag/AgCl sintered
electrode cap (Quick cap, Compumedics Neuroscan, USA,).
Electrode positions included the standard 10-20 system
locations and additional intermediate positions. Horizontal
and vertical EOG were monitored using four facial
electrodes laces on the outer canthi of the eyes and in the
inferior and superior areas of the orbit. To construct this
experiment, the Quick-Cap should be connected to the
amplifier (NuAmps, Compumedics Neuroscan, USA), and
to the computer with installed acquisition and analysis
software SCAN 4.3 for processing and analyzing ERP data.
Visual Image Display System (STIM2
), displayed by a
laptop computer monitor, is a browser interface which
presents digital images for custom stimulus and task design.
Through STIM2
, the stimuli were put in, and the display
time, interval, and sequence were determined. The
researcher can observe the ongoing experiment through
another monitor (see figure 1). The STIM2
controlled time
setting and provided the time signal to the SCAN 4.3 while
recording the data. The mixed data can be analyzed later by
the analysis software.
Figure 1. The ongoing experiment
Epoch continuous EEG data were segmented from 200
ms prior to stimulus to 1000 ms. And a band pass digital
filter was between 0.1-40 Hz and later applied to remove

5. 5
unwanted frequency components. The average re-reference
were transformed into the M1 and M2 sites and
baseline-corrected relative to the interval -100 to 0 ms.
After VEOG channel was subjected to an artifact rejection
of ± 75 μV to reject trial with excessive EMG or other noise
transients and linear trends were rectified. The ERP data at
least 16 trials free were further average proceeded directly
for the identified conditions separately whether didn’t
achieve the value were rejected.
3.5 Data reduction and analysis
The subjects’ data, recorded by ERP record system,
was then processed by statistic operation and examined by
the analysis software (SCAN 4.3). According to the
above-mentioned ERP studies[20-28], three possible earlier
components were investigated as following: 1) N170,
identified with the interval between 130-180 ms at T5 and
T6 electrodes, generally found to be largest over temporal
scalp sites ; 2) P300, identified with the interval between
270-450 ms at Cz and Pz electrodes, relative to reference
electrodes placed on the parietal and positive scalp; and 3)
N400, identified with the interval between 380-500 ms at Fz
and Cz electrodes, the largest over anterior and parietal
scalp sites (see figure 2). Many researchers [29-32]
mentioned that though there is a typical range for the
components, specific interval need to be adjusted and
determined according to the variety of different ERP
waveform for each different case. In this study, the interval
for each component was adjusted and determined in
accordance with the suggestion and observation that if the
peak of amplitude shown in the appropriate range.
Figure 2. The selected 6 electrodes for ERP included medial
part scalp sites (Fz, Cz, Pz and Cpz) and temporal scalp sites (T5
and T6).
In order to correctly obtain the ERP data for peak of
amplitude and latency in each component, we defined the
rules as following: First, set the parameter of the
investigated interval in the analysis software (e.g., set the
interval range for P300 around the 270-450 ms time
window). Secondly, make sure the peak of amplitude was
located on the setting range. If not, the range of time
window should be adjusted to get the modified interval
with effective peak of amplitude. Thirdly, after adjusting
and identifying that each component exhibited peak of
amplitude in defined interval, the value of peak of
amplitude and the related latency can be obtained and
further calculated.
ANOVA were used to calculate the behavioral and ERP
data in these three components. The ANOVA was
performed on two with-subject factors for each time
window: Group 1-7 and Electrode (Fz, Cz, Pz, Cpz, T5 and
T6, see figure 2). Post-hoc comparison was conducted when
there were significant effects involving group of interest.
The Turkey’s two-factor HSD (p<0.05) was applied when
necessary.
4. Result
The subjects’ ERP waveform and data were analyzed
and summarized as following:
4.1. Behavioral Result
The subjects were instructed to watch the stimuli and
answer the question about the attractiveness of the web
pages by clicking the mouse. On the users’ click, the
subjects’ response data were recorded by ERP record
system, and were integrated and summarized. The result
showed that the attractiveness of the web pages was
significantly different (p<0.05) between all groups of
presentation style (see table 3). The subjects’ preference of
the web pages was that: 1) Group 1 (text along) was less
attractive; 2) The web pages presenting the photos of
products were more attractive. The first two results
confirmed the experts’ claim; 3) However, these behavioral
data showed no significant difference in the attractiveness
between the product images, human faces, and figures.

6. 6
Table 3 Behavioral result in all groups for the attractiveness of
web pages (standard deviation of means in parentheses). Value of
attractive=1 and unattractive=2.
Group Mean
1 1.81 (0.39)
2 1.27 (0.44)
3 1.24 (0.43)
4 1.29 (0.45)
5 1.26 (0.44)
6 1.31 (0.45)
7 1.32 (0.46)
4.2. ERP Result
4.2.1. N170 epoch (130–180 ms)
The negative ERP component N170 is usually
associated with the face recognition processes [18-19]. This
study was attended to evoke N170 by presenting human
faces on the controlled web pages. In the experiment design,
three groups of stimuli related to the presentation of human
faces were manipulated: 1) Group 3, the controlled group,
with product photo but without any human face; 2) Group 4,
the product photo with largest proportion of human face; 3)
Group 5, product photo with human body (with smaller
proportion of face).
The table 4 and figure 3 illustrates the average of N170
for Group 3, 4 and 5 under the T5 electrode (the largest
amplitudes for N170 in this case, corresponding to the left
temporal lobe). After the onset of a stimulus beginning
around 130-180 ms, we noted that the negative waveforms
reached peaks at the 150.8 ms, 147.3 ms and 153.0 ms for
Group 3, 4 and 5 separately (see figure 3 A, the marked
peaks in these groups).
Table 4. The mean of peak amplitude and latency of Group 3, 4,
and 5 for N170 at T5 site (standard deviation of means in
parentheses).
Item peak amplitude (µV) latency (ms)
T5 Group 3 0.97 (1.34) 150.80 (9.99)
Group 4 -2.30 (1.29) 147.30 (9.50)
Group 5 -0.08 (1.92) 153.00 (8.08)
Figure 3. (A) The top figure displays the waveform of Group 3, 4,
and 5 for N170 at the T5 electrode, and (B) the scalp topography
of bottom figure clearly shows the scalp distributions of the N170
differences in these groups between 4 and -3.5 amplitudes.
ANOVA restricted to Group 3, 4 and 5 revealed that
the peak amplitude of N170 was significantly different
(F(2, 27)＝11.72, p＝0.000) at the T5 electrode. In this case,
the post hoc tests indicated that the ERPs effect of Group 4
was more negative-going than Group 3 and 5. The results
suggested that the appearance of human faces (Group 4) on
web pages did evoke N170 at the T5 electrode, and
confirmed the activation of face recognition mechanism for
inducing the view’s attention.
4.2.2 P300 epoch (270–450 ms)
The main purpose of this study was to investigate
whether the subjects respond to the product photos more
positively than to commercial texts. P300 was confirmed to
be associated with the attention and emotional stimulus
[20-24]. If a picture is worth a thousand words, that is,
design experts’ preference for the images rather than the
texts on web page is valid, larger amplitude and less latency
of P300 by images should be evoked. In order to test this
assumption, we examined three groups of stimuli related to
the presentation of product photos and texts in this
experimental design: 1) Group 1, text only, 2) Group 2, the
combination of product photo and text, 3) Group3, the
product photo.

7. 7
The table 5 and figure 4 illustrates the average of P300
at the Cz and Pz electrodes. In figure 4 (A), the clear
waveforms of LPC (Late Positive Component), usually
elicited largest amplitudes around 400-500 ms at
central-parietal scalps in response to affective or
incongruent pictures [33-35], was observed at the Pz site
about 480 ms in Group 1-3 groups. This finding helped us
to identify the time windows of P300. After that, we set the
time windows of P300 between 270 ms and 450ms just
before the onset of the LPC. According to the results of
peak amplitudes for P300 (see table 5), in this time window,
Table 5. The mean of peak amplitude and latency for P300 in
Group 1, 2, and 3 at Cz and Pz sites (standard deviation of means
in parentheses).
Item peak amplitude (µV) latency (ms)
Cz Group 1 3.45 (6.24) 405.10 (42.72)
Group 2 -0.04 (5.49) 375.10 (59.02)
Group 3 0.11 (6.18) 336.10 (44.60)
Pz Group 1 7.76 (5.99) 409.60 (40.49)
Group 2 5.13 (5.18) 361.30 (52.64)
Group 3 5.90 (6.26) 327.90 (38.79)
Figure 4. (A) The top figure showed the waveform of Group
1, 2, and 3 for P300 at the representative Pz site, and (B) the
bottom figure was illustrated the scalp topography for P300
between 4 and -6 amplitudes.
we detected that the Group 3 was appeared obviously
positive-going around 327.90 ms (see figure 4 A) and then
begun negative-going, whereas the P300 effects of Group 1
and 2 were less obvious around 409.60 ms and 361.30 ms.
ANOVA restricted to Group 1, 2 and 3 revealed that
the latency at the Cz and Pz sites was significantly different
(CZ: F(2, 27)＝4.92, p＝0.015; PZ: F(2, 27)＝8.56,
p＝0.001). The post hoc tests showed that despite the fact
that the latency of Group 2 was not different from Group 1
and 3, Group 1 was significantly longer than Group 3 at Cz
and Pz electrodes. It indicated that that the brief description
(text along) on the web page consumed more time period
for the subjects to react to the messages. Since the viewers
browse the large number of web sites with limited time and
tend to leave the site in a matter of seconds, the
time-consuming communication will exceed viewers’
patience and can be regarded as the negative design. This
result matched the experts’ claim.
Our preliminary assumption was that the viewer might
get more impression on the image than the text as the
experts’ claim. Therefore, more amplitude of P300
stimulated by images should be evoked. But comparing the
peak amplitude of P300, there was no significant difference
(p>0.05) between Group 1, 2, and 3. Examining the figure 4,
the amplitudes of Group 1 (text only) showed even greater
than others. Therefore we should modify our assumption
and conclude that in our study, contrary to the web design
principle, product photos did not evoke greater cognition
processing than text.
In addition, there were no significant difference
(p>0.05) between Group 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. It meant that
presenting varied photos (products, human faces, or human
body images) on web page might be not differential enough
to evoke significant different waveform of the P300. This
result corresponded with the previous behavioral result for
P300, showing no significant difference among Group 3~7.
4.2.3. N400 epoch (380–500 ms)
The negative ERP component N400 is usually
associated with the subjects’ emotional confusion in
incongruent situation [27-28]. Comparing Group 4 and 5
(reasonable combinations of product photos and human
faces or bodies) with group 6 and 7 (unreasonable situation),

8. 8
the result showed that there was no specific N400 induced
by group 6 and 7, and no evidence of viewers’ confusing
response to unreasonable situation in this experiment.
In the previous reports with successful inducing for
N400, the chosen stimuli were purposefully contrasted to
each other. But regarding our stimuli selection, the
assumption that subjects will consider the selected images
to be the incongruent condition might be not convincing.
Furthermore in our stimuli arrangement, presenting two
pictures simultaneous might cause the subject’s
back-and-forth cognitive process for perceptual analysis and
pattern recognition [5-6] and decrease the incongruent effect.
Since ERP tracks the time course of processing activity in
milliseconds, the subjects’ complicated information
processing might exceed the ERP recording range, and
cannot be controlled in our experiment design. Therefore we
suggested that, referred to previous study, these stimuli
should be presented sequentially to evoke N400 (e.g.,
present the first picture, then show the second incongruent
picture and start the ERP recording). Through this failure of
evoking N400, we experienced the limitation of ERP
method. Some design issues could be not suitable for ERP
method, and the experiment design need to be carefully
manipulated to induce the interpretable component.
5. Conclusions
In design practice, experts try to generalize the
simplified principle from sophisticated experience.
Therefore, investigation into this well-accepted principle
can reveal more profound insight. In addition to its
superficial meanings, the simplified principle “more images
will help” has been revealed further useful conclusions by
this study.
The behavioral results showed that photos of products
were more attractive than texts. By analyzing N170, it
showed that the appearance of human faces or figures on
web page did evoke N170 effect, activate the face
recognition processing, and arouse the viewers’ attention.
The analysis of ERP component P300 showed that
providing the textual description of products consumes
subjects more time to react to the messages. These results
evidenced that experts’ suggestion to add photos and human
figures could be effective to increase attractiveness, and
diminish the time of communication. Therefore we can
confirm the following expected conclusions: 1) adding
human faces on the web pages will attract viewers for
further reading; 2) avoiding large amount of texts on the
web page will help to communicate the target audiences
before they lose their patience.
But a picture is not always worth a thousand words.
Contrary to the web design principle, the result of this
experiment showed that images did not generate greater
amounts of P300 amplitude. It meant that, in some case,
product photos did not evoke greater cognition processing
than texts do. Therefore, we can concluded that the
presentation formats and images for web page should be
carefully well-planned and selected, since that the
meaningful words can possibly impress viewers more in the
first glance in comparison with uninteresting images.
Though the knowledge of Neuroscience and the
application of ERP are rather new in design field, this
experiment has successfully evoked viewers’ varied ERP
latency and amplitude by presenting the web pages with
different presentation formats. This study has justified
experts’ suggestion, and demonstrated that utilizing the
ERP method can explore the fact beyond the reach of
traditional methods. We acquired the precious experience in
this new tool, acknowledged the limitation of ERP, and
recognized that there is still more knowledge to learn. We
hope that the results of this study can inspire other
researchers to develop the examinations for their own
design topics applying this new tool in the future.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Robert Liao from
NeuroScan for the technical support, the National Science
Council for the financial support (under grant number NSC
94-2411-H-011-011), and the First International Computer,
Inc..
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