Читать книгу Eye Tracking the User Experience - Aga Bojko - Страница 14

A great deal of research has established that where you place your gaze is typically associated with what you pay attention to and think about,³ especially when looking at something with a goal in mind. This is called the eye-mind hypothesis.

Yet, there are skeptics out there who do not think that knowing where people look can be meaningful in any way. The argument is usually, “I don’t have to look at something in order to see it,” which tends to be followed by, “I’m looking at your face right now, but I can still see the color of your sweater” or something of that nature.

You certainly could direct your attention to the periphery of your visual field. But if you wanted to see what color sweater someone was wearing, you would look directly at it for two reasons: (1) you can see things much more clearly when looking directly at them; and (2) paying attention to something and trying not to look directly at it is unnatural and requires conscious effort. Humans prefer moving their eyes when shifting visual attention, focusing on what they are trying to see. However, when people do not look at something directly, you cannot say for sure that they did not see it. Eye tracking only captures foveal vision, yielding no information about what was noticed peripherally. This is one of the limitations of eye tracking.

Another argument against eye tracking might be this: “People can look at something but not necessarily ‘see’ it.” Yes, that can happen. Close your eyes after you have been talking to someone face to face for a while and ask that person what color your eyes are. Many people will not know, although they have been looking at you (and presumably glancing at your eyes) for a while, and maybe even have known you for years. This is just one example of how you can look at an object but not necessarily register everything about it. Sometimes, you can even miss the entire object itself.

To sum up this discussion, a lack of fixation does not always mean a lack of attention, and fixation does not always indicate attention, but fixation and attention coincide a whole lot. Attention is actually slightly ahead of the eyes because it plans their next destination. Once the eyes move there, attention helps allocate the processing resources to what is being fixated upon. Knowing where users’ attention is directed helps the researcher evaluate and improve products, which is the focus of Chapter 2, “To Track or Not to Track.”