17/09/14
This week I have been researching eye movements attention spans, as it is something I have noticed is a recurring topic in psychological and sociological research with regards to it’s ever-shrinking nature among Generation Y. I realised recently that I am someone who learns a lot better from video content than I do from static tutorials, and I began to wonder if this was because the combination of audio and movement held my attention better than some static step-by-step guide. E-learning and the era of smart technology have shrunk our attention spans, and while many online articles urge us to regain our concentration, I have been thinking about what it might be worth to look at using motion graphics as a way of catering to this statistic. I decided to just get stuck in and begin reading to see what I could find - normally I wouldn’t do this as it’s much better to know what you are looking for. but I know very little on attention spans as it is.
The bulk of my notes on the topic of attention spans thus far are from the book “Attention in Vision: Perception, Communication and Action” by A.H.C van der Heijden, which references many other books in-text. This book is written for those who study the field of psychology, so I found it quite hard going at times. One of the key things I found out which may inform where I go form where is the typical eye movements a person makes when taking in “stimuli”. These are known as saccadic eye movements, during which the eye has two states: “move” (M) and “fixate” (F). According to Bridgeman (1992, p76) who is quoted in-text by der Heijden, “The vast majority of behavioral acts are saccadic jumps of the eyes....Saccades occur several times per second throughout waking life...The fact that we are blissfully unaware of them...speaks to the minor role that consciousness plays in governing and monitoring behavior.” Following on from this, der Heijden quotes from Skinner (1972), who says:
‘A(n) example, a “cognitive activity”, is attention. A person responds only to the small part of the stimuli impinging upon him. The traditional view is that he himself determines which stimuli are to be effective by “paying attention” to them. Some kind of inner gate keeper is said to allow some stimuli to enter and keep all the others out. A sudden or strong stimulus my break through and “attract” attention, but the person himself seems to otherwise be in control.’ (Skinner, 1972, p177)
I found this snippet particularly interesting because it suggests that we may have more control over what we pay attention to, which leads to the question of what content could be defined by a large group of people as “worth” paying attention to?
Looking at saccadic eye jumps is as important regarding the “why” as it is the “what” - der Heijden states that an understanding of the eye movements a person makes while taking in information is a good indicator of how the information is selected and processes. He writes:
‘A(n) example, a “cognitive activity”, is attention. A person responds only to the small part of the stimuli impinging upon him. The traditional view is that he himself determines which stimuli are to be effective by “paying attention” to them. Some kind of inner gate keeper is said to allow some stimuli to enter and keep all the others out. A sudden or strong stimulus my break through and “attract” attention, but the person himself seems to otherwise be in control.’ (Skinner, 1972, p177)
I found this snippet particularly interesting because it suggests that we may have more control over what we pay attention to, which leads to the question of what content could be defined by a large group of people as “worth” paying attention to?
Photos: Patterns of eye movements studying a face
1
2
2Looking at saccadic eye jumps is as important regarding the “why” as it is the “what” - der Heijden states that an understanding of the eye movements a person makes while taking in information is a good indicator of how the information is selected and processes. He writes:
“..when I can adequately handle the cognitive control of saccadic eye movements, I have not only dealt with the vast majority of behavioural acts but also with the acts that are of prime importance in real life visual information processing tasks. Functional models concerned with the generation and control of saccadic eye movements are dealing with the sequences of the form...F M F M FM... After a short stay (F), the eye jumps to a new position (M) and stays there for a while (F), etc...The sequence can be written as ...F >> >> M > F >> >> M > F >> >> M.”
The link between the pattern above and the “where and when” of visual processing is examined. der Heijden explains this as:
“ ...a sequence with >> X > Y >> as the unit of analysis and with X as the ‘sending’ term, in charge of ‘selection’, and Y as the ‘receiving’ term, in charge of ‘reception’.” This sequence, he writes, “...offers great opportunities for explaining the cognitive control of a saccadic eye movement, with >> M > F >> as the unit of analysis. Because two different eye movement parameters have to be accounted for, the where and the when, and because the intentional sequence recognises two different functional states, state X and state Y, an unambiguous relation between international sequence states and eye movements directly suggests itself.”
The link between the pattern above and the “where and when” of visual processing is examined. der Heijden explains this as:
“ ...a sequence with >> X > Y >> as the unit of analysis and with X as the ‘sending’ term, in charge of ‘selection’, and Y as the ‘receiving’ term, in charge of ‘reception’.” This sequence, he writes, “...offers great opportunities for explaining the cognitive control of a saccadic eye movement, with >> M > F >> as the unit of analysis. Because two different eye movement parameters have to be accounted for, the where and the when, and because the intentional sequence recognises two different functional states, state X and state Y, an unambiguous relation between international sequence states and eye movements directly suggests itself.”
So arguably, X the sending term is linked with the “movement” state of the eye and Y the receiving term is linked to the “fixed” state of the saccadic movement. der Heijden sums this up as:
“What is to be expected is that the states X and Y of an intentional sequence
....Y >> >> X > Y >> >> X…
can control the movements and fixations in a saccadic eye movement sequence
...F >> >> M > F >> >> M ...
in such a way that the eye provides the visual information required for task performance at the right moment in time. And the problem we have to be concerned with is: How to conceive that control of F and M by sequence state X and by sequence state Y.”
This poses an interesting and potentially challenging area of research for me, as going forward it makes sense to watch and attempt to create infographics/motion graphics that are designed in a way that leads the eye in a pattern that is best suited to processing information. Of course I have only touched the surface on attention and our visual perception and there is a lot more research that could end up leading me down the path of psychology rather than motion design, so my next steps will likely be to composition principles in art and design itself, such as the Golden Spiral and ratios.
References
Text:
Bridgeman, B. 1992. Consciousness vs. unconscious processes. The case of vision. Theory and Psychology. pp76
van der Heijden, A.H.C, 2003. Attention in Vision: Perception, Communication and Action. Psychology Press: Oxford.
Skinner, BF. 1971. Beyond Freedom and Dignity. Hackett Publishing Co. Cambridge.
Images:
1. Online image, found at: http://people.cs.umass.edu/~mahadeva/papers/book-chapter.htm [Accessed 19 September 2014]
2. Viktora, Simon, 2009. Szakkad. Online image, found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saccade [Accessed 19 September]
“What is to be expected is that the states X and Y of an intentional sequence
can control the movements and fixations in a saccadic eye movement sequence
...F >> >> M > F >> >> M ...
in such a way that the eye provides the visual information required for task performance at the right moment in time. And the problem we have to be concerned with is: How to conceive that control of F and M by sequence state X and by sequence state Y.”
This poses an interesting and potentially challenging area of research for me, as going forward it makes sense to watch and attempt to create infographics/motion graphics that are designed in a way that leads the eye in a pattern that is best suited to processing information. Of course I have only touched the surface on attention and our visual perception and there is a lot more research that could end up leading me down the path of psychology rather than motion design, so my next steps will likely be to composition principles in art and design itself, such as the Golden Spiral and ratios.
References
van der Heijden, A.H.C, 2003. Attention in Vision: Perception, Communication and Action. Psychology Press: Oxford.
Skinner, BF. 1971. Beyond Freedom and Dignity. Hackett Publishing Co. Cambridge.
Images:
1. Online image, found at: http://people.cs.umass.edu/~mahadeva/papers/book-chapter.htm [Accessed 19 September 2014]
2. Viktora, Simon, 2009. Szakkad. Online image, found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saccade [Accessed 19 September]
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