Eye Movements While Reading Degraded On-Product Warnings

Abstract

This investigation tested whether heavily degraded warnings affected gaze patterns and resulted in longer viewing times than lightly degraded warnings. The study included sixteen participants who viewed six matched pairs of lightly and heavily degraded warnings. Eye movements were recorded using an eye tracking system while the total time on task for each warning was collected. Fixation times were also collected as participants viewed the various panels of each warning. In the second part of the experiment, legibility and participant comprehension of each warning was tested. Paired t-tests showed that total time on task, total fixation time, and message panel fixation time were consistently significantly different for three of the six pairs of warnings, such that each of the three aforementioned times increased significantly when participants were viewing a highly degraded warning label. Additionally, participants were able to comprehend all warnings presented. This study also provides evidence that eye tracking can be a useful tool in warnings research.