Directing versus attracting attention: Exploring the effectiveness of central and peripheral cues in panoramic videos

Anastasia Schmitz, Drew MacQuarrie, Simon Julier, Nicola Binetti & Anthony Steed. 2020.

2020 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (VR)

Filmmakers of panoramic videos frequently struggle to guide attention to Regions of Interest (ROIs) due to consumers’ freedom to explore. Some researchers hypothesize that peripheral cues attract reflexive/involuntary attention whereas cues within central vision engage and direct voluntary attention. This mixed-methods study evaluated the effectiveness of using central arrows and peripheral flickers to guide and focus attention in panoramic videos. Twenty-five adults wore a head-mounted display with an eye tracker and were guided to 14 ROIs in two panoramic videos. No significant differences emerged in regard to the number of followed cues, the time taken to reach and observe ROIs, ROI-related memory and user engagement. However, participants’ gaze travelled a significantly greater distance toward ROIs within the first 500 ms after flicker-onsets compared to arrow-onsets. Nevertheless, most users preferred the arrow and perceived it as significantly more rewarding than the flicker. The findings imply that traditional attention paradigms are not entirely applicable to panoramic videos, as peripheral cues appear to engage both involuntary and voluntary attention. Theoretical and practical implications as well as limitations are discussed.

Read the full paper here ›

Citation

Schmitz, A., MacQuarrie, A., Julier, S., Binetti, N., & Steed, A. (2020). Directing versus attracting attention: exploring the effectiveness of central and peripheral cues in panoramic videos. 2020 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (VR) (pp. 63–72).

BibTeX

@inproceedings{schmitz2020directing, title={Directing versus attracting attention: Exploring the effectiveness of central and peripheral cues in panoramic videos}, author={Schmitz, Anastasia and MacQuarrie, Andrew and Julier, Simon and Binetti, Nicola and Steed, Anthony}, booktitle={2020 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (VR)}, pages={63--72}, year={2020}, organization={IEEE} }