The Price of Attention
Master’s thesis for the double degree in Data Science at UPC and the Università degli Studi di Padova, academic year 2024–2026, graded 110/110. Defended September 2026. Supervisor Michele Rossi. Co-supervisor Ioannis Arapakis (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Telefónica Tech).
Advertising inside a conversation is paid for by the user, in attention, trust, and experience. The thesis asks when that cost shows up, how large it is, and whether the way the ad enters changes it: an implicit mention or an explicit banner, early or late, against an ad-free control. Fifty-four people, eighteen of them with 32-channel EEG, on a locally deployed conversational assistant that keeps the dialogue and the recording on the machine.