The Attraction of Visual Attention to Texts in Real-World Scenes

Hsueh Cheng Wang, Marc Pomplun

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Intuitively, it seems plausible that in real-world scenes, attention is disproportionately attracted by texts. The present study tested this hypothesis and examined some of the underlying factors. Texts in real-world scenes were compared with paired control regions of similar size, eccentricity, and low-level visual saliency. The greater fixation probability and shorter minimum fixation distance of texts showed their higher attractiveness. These results might be caused by the prominent locations or special visual features of text. In another experiment, texts were removed from the scenes, and the results indicated that the locations that used to contain texts did draw more attention than controls. Finally, texts were placed in unexpected positions in front of homogeneous and inhomogeneous backgrounds. These unconstrained texts were found more attractive than controls, with background noise reducing this difference, which indicates that the attraction by specific visual features of text was superior to typical saliency.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationExpanding the Space of Cognitive Science - Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, CogSci 2011
EditorsLaura Carlson, Christoph Hoelscher, Thomas F. Shipley
PublisherThe Cognitive Science Society
Pages2733-2738
Number of pages6
ISBN (Electronic)9780976831877
StatePublished - 2011
Event33rd Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society: Expanding the Space of Cognitive Science, CogSci 2011 - Boston, United States
Duration: 20 Jul 201123 Jul 2011

Publication series

NameExpanding the Space of Cognitive Science - Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, CogSci 2011

Conference

Conference33rd Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society: Expanding the Space of Cognitive Science, CogSci 2011
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityBoston
Period20/07/1123/07/11

Keywords

  • eye movements
  • LabelMe
  • real-world scenes
  • scene syntax
  • text
  • visual attention

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