Abstract
To date, there is insufficient knowledge of how visual exploration of outdoor scenes may be influenced by the simultaneous processing of music. Eye movements during viewing various outdoor scenes while listening to music at either a slow or fast tempo or in silence were measured. Significantly shorter fixations were found for viewing urban scenes compared with natural scenes, but there was no interaction between the type of scene and the acoustic conditions. The results revealed shorter fixation durations in the silent control condition in the range 30 ms, compared to both music conditions but, in contrast to previous studies, these differences were non-significant. Moreover, we did not find differences in eye movements between music conditions with a slow or fast tempo. It is supposed that the type of musical stimuli, the specific tempo, the specific experimental procedure, and the engagement of participants in listening to background music while processing visual information may be important factors that influence attentional processes, which are manifested in eye-movement behavior.
Highlights
Music can be listened to during many everyday activities. North, Hargreaves, and Hargreaves (2004) documented that roughly half of participants’ musical experiences occurred within the home, approximately 18% of musical experiences occurred in public spaces
The results showed that the mean fixation duration was significantly longer in the natural scenes than in the urban scenes but did not reveal significant differences among music conditions
Shorter fixations were found for viewing urban scenes compared with natural scenes, but we did not find a significant interaction between the type of scene and music condition
Summary
Music can be listened to during many everyday activities. North, Hargreaves, and Hargreaves (2004) documented that roughly half of participants’ musical experiences occurred within the home, approximately 18% of musical experiences occurred in public spaces. Music can be listened to during many everyday activities. North, Hargreaves, and Hargreaves (2004) documented that roughly half of participants’ musical experiences occurred within the home, approximately 18% of musical experiences occurred in public spaces. Some people listen to music all the time while walking, Received October 26, 2017; Published August 11, 2018. D., Petružálek, J., Mlejnek, R., & van Noorden, L. Eye movements in scene perception while listening to slow and fast music.
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