Communications of the ACM
Study: People Pay More Attention to the pper Half of Field of Vision
A study by researchers at North Carolina State University and the University of Toronto has found that people focus more on the upper half of their field of vision.
Credit: Jing Feng
People focus more on the upper half of their field of vision, according to a new study from researchers at North Carolina State University (NCSU) and the University of Toronto.
The researchers tested people's ability to quickly identify a target amidst visual clutter. Participants fixed their eyes on the center of a computer screen while researchers flashed a target and distracting symbols for 10 to 80 milliseconds. The team then replaced the screen with an unconnected mask image to disrupt their train of thought and asked participants to indicate where the target had been located on the screen.
The researchers found people were 7 percent better at finding the target when it was located in the upper half of the screen. "A difference of 7 percent could make a significant difference for technologies that are safety-related or that we interact with on a regular basis," says NCSU professor Jing Feng.
He says the research could have an impact on everything from traffic signs to software interface design.
From NCSU News
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