Computer Screen or Real Life?: Comparison of the Allocation of Visual Attention for 2D and 3D Stimuli
Seidi Suurmets, Jesper Clement · 2016
Aims: In many disciplines, including consumer and marketing research, the findings from eyetracking studies in lab settings are often generalized to natural environments. While studies in the real world have become more common with a statement on increased external validity, the degree to which the allocation of visual attention actually depends on the study setting has not been investigated. Methods: In this study we used a withinsubject design where identical stimuli were presented to 60 female participants in two settings: 1) mobile, and 2) stationary. This was done with an interval of one month and the participants were assigned a freeviewing, choice and memorisation task with the manipulation of time pressure. The stimuli included displays of consumer goods and advertisements of different sizes. Results: As expected, the results demonstrated significant differences in gaze behaviour between the two setups. In mobile settings visual salience was less predictive of eye movement selections and the dwell times were longer. The stationary presentation of stimuli resulted in considerable central fixation bias and the locations of redwells were more spread out. The freeviewing condition resulted in highest variability between the two settings, but decreased when tasks and time pressure were introduced. Conclusions: These findings have ramifications for the deployment of eyetracking and help to transfer and generalise future findings acquired in lab settings to natural environments. In the context of marketing and consumer research this study uncovers the distortions in visual attention that result from reducing a threedimensional setting into a twodimensional screen image.