[1] Researchers have found a number of physiological mechanisms associated with OR, including changes in phasic and tonic skin conductance response (SCR), electroencephalogram (EEG), and heart rate following a novel or significant stimulus.
[4] When an individual encounters a novel environmental stimulus, such as a bright flash of light or a sudden loud noise, they will pay attention to it even before identifying it.
This orienting reflex seems to be present early in development, as babies will turn their head toward an environmental change (Nelson Cowan, 1995).
[1] When novel stimuli have an associated contextual significance, repeated stimulus will still result in a sequentially decreasing OR, though at a modified rate of decay.
When faced with deciding between two options, subjects in studies by Simion & Shimojo were shown to choose the items they preferentially orient their gaze toward.
Noting this postulated causal link with the irrelevance of a stimulus presence, it is argued that gaze orientation supports decision-making mechanisms in inducing a preferential bias.
Specifically, the emotional significance of a stimulus, defined by its level of pleasantness, can affect the intensity of the orienting response toward focusing attention on a subject.
[6] In his 2007 book The Assault on Reason, Al Gore posited that watching television affects the orienting response, an effect similar to vicarious traumatization.