A review of the findings and theories on surface size effects on visual attention
That surface size has an impact on attention has been well-known in advertising research for almost a century; however, theoretical accounts of this effect have been sparse. To address this issue, we review studies on surface size effects on eye movements in this paper. While most studies find that...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2013-12-01
|
| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00902/full |
| _version_ | 1818958144689143808 |
|---|---|
| author | Anne Odile Peschel Jacob L. Orquin |
| author_facet | Anne Odile Peschel Jacob L. Orquin |
| author_sort | Anne Odile Peschel |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | That surface size has an impact on attention has been well-known in advertising research for almost a century; however, theoretical accounts of this effect have been sparse. To address this issue, we review studies on surface size effects on eye movements in this paper. While most studies find that large objects are more likely to be fixated, receive more fixations, and are fixated faster than small objects, a comprehensive explanation of this effect is still lacking. To bridge the theoretical gap, we relate the findings from this review to three theories of surface size effects suggested in the literature: a linear model based on the assumption of random fixations (Lohse, 1997), a theory of surface size as visual saliency (Pieters et al., 2007), and a theory based on competition for attention (Janiszewski, 1998). We furthermore suggest a fourth model – demand for attention –which we derive from the theory of competition for attention by revising the underlying model assumptions. In order to test the models against each other, we reanalyse data from an eye tracking study investigating surface size and saliency effects on attention. The reanalysis revealed little support for the first three theories while the demand for attention model showed a much better alignment with the data. We conclude that surface size effects may best be explained as an increase in object signal strength which depends on object size, number of objects in the visual scene, and object distance to the centre of the scene. Our findings suggest that advertisers should take into account how objects in the visual scene interact in order to optimize attention to, for instance, brands and logos. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T11:21:05Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ff8e952d5af4447bb68bf6510ac3fb2b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T11:21:05Z |
| publishDate | 2013-12-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-ff8e952d5af4447bb68bf6510ac3fb2b2022-12-21T19:42:30ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782013-12-01410.3389/fpsyg.2013.0090270924A review of the findings and theories on surface size effects on visual attentionAnne Odile Peschel0Jacob L. Orquin1Aarhus UniversityAarhus UniversityThat surface size has an impact on attention has been well-known in advertising research for almost a century; however, theoretical accounts of this effect have been sparse. To address this issue, we review studies on surface size effects on eye movements in this paper. While most studies find that large objects are more likely to be fixated, receive more fixations, and are fixated faster than small objects, a comprehensive explanation of this effect is still lacking. To bridge the theoretical gap, we relate the findings from this review to three theories of surface size effects suggested in the literature: a linear model based on the assumption of random fixations (Lohse, 1997), a theory of surface size as visual saliency (Pieters et al., 2007), and a theory based on competition for attention (Janiszewski, 1998). We furthermore suggest a fourth model – demand for attention –which we derive from the theory of competition for attention by revising the underlying model assumptions. In order to test the models against each other, we reanalyse data from an eye tracking study investigating surface size and saliency effects on attention. The reanalysis revealed little support for the first three theories while the demand for attention model showed a much better alignment with the data. We conclude that surface size effects may best be explained as an increase in object signal strength which depends on object size, number of objects in the visual scene, and object distance to the centre of the scene. Our findings suggest that advertisers should take into account how objects in the visual scene interact in order to optimize attention to, for instance, brands and logos.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00902/fullEye Movementsvisual attentionadvertisingsaliencysurface size |
| spellingShingle | Anne Odile Peschel Jacob L. Orquin A review of the findings and theories on surface size effects on visual attention Frontiers in Psychology Eye Movements visual attention advertising saliency surface size |
| title | A review of the findings and theories on surface size effects on visual attention |
| title_full | A review of the findings and theories on surface size effects on visual attention |
| title_fullStr | A review of the findings and theories on surface size effects on visual attention |
| title_full_unstemmed | A review of the findings and theories on surface size effects on visual attention |
| title_short | A review of the findings and theories on surface size effects on visual attention |
| title_sort | review of the findings and theories on surface size effects on visual attention |
| topic | Eye Movements visual attention advertising saliency surface size |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00902/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT anneodilepeschel areviewofthefindingsandtheoriesonsurfacesizeeffectsonvisualattention AT jacoblorquin areviewofthefindingsandtheoriesonsurfacesizeeffectsonvisualattention AT anneodilepeschel reviewofthefindingsandtheoriesonsurfacesizeeffectsonvisualattention AT jacoblorquin reviewofthefindingsandtheoriesonsurfacesizeeffectsonvisualattention |