Highlight Regions and Display Control in Stimulus Sections¶

Setting Up Image and Video Stimulus Testing covers the basics of a Stimulus section - one image or video, paired with questions. Two features go further than that basic setup: Highlight regions direct a respondent's attention to a specific part of the image depending on which question they're answering, and Display Control decides exactly when the stimulus itself appears.

Highlight Regions: Calling Out Part of the Image¶

When you're asking multiple questions about different parts of the same image - a package design's logo, then its ingredient list, then its color scheme - Highlight regions let you draw and label a specific area on the image at build time, then link that region to a specific question. When a respondent reaches the linked question, the relevant region is automatically called out on the image, directing their attention to exactly the part you're asking about.

Respondents don't draw these regions themselves - the highlighting is entirely something you set up in advance as the survey creator. From the respondent's side, it simply looks like the right part of the image gets emphasized at the right moment, without needing to be told "look at the logo in the top left."

Setting Up a Highlight Region¶

From the Stimulus section builder, draw a region directly on your uploaded image, give it a label, and link it to the specific question it corresponds to. You can set up multiple regions on the same image, each linked to a different question, so the emphasis shifts automatically as the respondent moves through your questions.

When to Use This¶

Highlight regions are most useful when a single image has multiple distinct elements you're asking about separately - a packaging design, a multi-element ad, a webpage screenshot. For a question asking about the image as a whole, a highlight region isn't necessary since there's no specific area to direct attention to.

Display Control: Scoping When the Stimulus Appears¶

By default, a Stimulus section's image or video stays visible for the whole section, alongside every question. Display Control lets you scope the stimulus to appear only for specific questions within the section instead of the entire time - useful if some questions in the section genuinely need the image visible and others don't (a demographic question tucked into the same section, for instance, that has nothing to do with the image itself).

Setting Up Display Control¶

From the Stimulus section builder, configure which questions the stimulus should be visible for - the image or video only appears for the questions you've scoped it to, rather than remaining on screen for the entire section by default.

Using Both Together¶

Highlight regions and Display Control solve related but different problems - Display Control decides whether the stimulus is shown at all for a given question; Highlight regions decide what part of it gets emphasized once it is shown. A well-designed Stimulus section often uses both: showing the image only for the questions that need it, and calling out the right region for each of those.

FAQ¶

Can I use Highlight regions without Display Control, or vice versa?
Yes - they're independent features. Use either on its own, or both together depending on what your section needs.

Does a Highlight region work the same in Chat Interface and Traditional Form?
The underlying linkage between a region and a question works the same regardless of take experience - check your specific survey's rendering in preview for how the highlight appears visually in each.

Is there a limit to how many Highlight regions I can add to one image?
Check your Stimulus section builder for any limit - in practice, the number of regions is usually tied to how many distinct elements your image and questions actually call for.

Can a Highlight region be linked to more than one question?
Check your section builder for whether a single region supports multiple question links, or whether each region maps to one question.

For the basics of setting up a Stimulus section itself, see Setting Up Image and Video Stimulus Testing.