Attention to repeated images on the World-Wide Web: Another look at scanpath theory

The scanpath theory of visual perception was tested using Web pages as visual stimuli.Scanpaths are repetitive sequences of fixations and saccades that occur upon reexposure to a visual stimulus. Since Internet users are exposed to repeated visual displays, the Web provides ideal stimuli to test this theory. Eye movement data were recorded for subjects’repeated viewings of three Web pages over three sessions. Resemblance of eye path sequences was measured with a string-edit method; multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis were used to group sequences. Support was found for the scanpath theory; some clusters included pairs of sequences from the same subject. A repeated measures analysis of variance revealeda statistically significant main effect for stimulus type, with a text-intensive news story page generating more similar sequences than a graphic-intensive advertising page. There was a statistically significant main effect for cross-viewing comparisons, reflecting a linear trend in which eye paths for the same subject became more alike over time.

[1]  C. Freksa,et al.  “Starkfest” Vision and Clinic Science Special Issue: Short‐Term Adaptation of Eye Movements in Patients with Visual Hemifield Defects Indicates High Level Control of Human Scanpath , 1995, Optometry and vision science : official publication of the American Academy of Optometry.

[2]  Nancy Millette,et al.  How People Look at Pictures , 1935 .

[3]  Michael E. Holmes.  Optimal matching analysis of negotiation phase sequences in simulated and authentic hostage negotiations , 1997 .

[4]  A. L. I︠A︡rbus.  Eye Movements and Vision , 1967 .

[5]  S R Ellis,et al.  Statistical Dependency in Visual Scanning , 1986, Human factors.

[6]  E L Thomas,et al.  Movements of the eye. , 1968, Scientific American.

[7]  R. E. Parker.  Picture processing during recognition. , 1978, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[8]  J. W. Richards,et al.  Recall and eye tracking study of adolescents viewing tobacco advertisements. , 1989, JAMA.

[9]  Á. M. Hernáez.  Borgatti, Stephen; Martin Everett i Lin Freeman. UCINET IV. Network Analysis Software. Version 1.0. Columbia: Analytic Technologies, 1992 , 1995 .

[10]  Lois J. Baron.  Interaction between television and child-related characteristics as demonstrated by eye movement research , 1980 .

[11]  L Stark,et al.  Eye Movements during the Viewing of Necker Cubes , 1978, Perception.

[12]  N. Mackworth,et al.  The gaze selects informative details within pictures , 1967 .

[13]  David Sankoff,et al.  Time Warps, String Edits, and Macromolecules: The Theory and Practice of Sequence Comparison , 1983 .

[14]  John R. Anderson,et al.  Automated Eye-Movement Protocol Analysis , 2001, Hum. Comput. Interact..

[15]  D. F. Fisher,et al.  Eye movements : cognition and visual perception , 1982 .

[16]  R. Pieters,et al.  Visual Attention to Repeated Print Advertising: A Test of Scanpath Theory , 1999 .

[17]  K. Rayner.  Eye movements in reading and information processing. , 1978, Psychological bulletin.

[18]  L. Stark,et al.  Scanpaths in saccadic eye movements while viewing and recognizing patterns. , 1971, Vision research.

[19]  A. Abbott,et al.  Measuring Resemblance in Sequence Data: An Optimal Matching Analysis of Musicians' Careers , 1990, American Journal of Sociology.

[20]  L. Stark,et al.  Spontaneous Eye Movements During Visual Imagery Reflect the Content of the Visual Scene , 1997, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[21]  L. Stark,et al.  Scanpaths in Eye Movements during Pattern Perception , 1971, Science.

[22]  K. Rayner.  Eye Movements and Cognitive Processes in Reading, Visual Search, and Scene Perception , 1995 .

[23]  A. Abbott,et al.  Optimal Matching Methods for Historical Sequences , 1986 .

[24]  Gerald L. Lohse,et al.  A Comparison of Two Process Tracing Methods for Choice Tasks , 1996 .

[25]  J. Antes.  The time course of picture viewing. , 1974, Journal of experimental psychology.

[26]  H. F. Brandt.  Ocular patterns and their psychological implications. , 1940 .