Information processing under high and low distractions using eye tracking.

Abstract

The previous studies found the differences of eye movements between systematic and heuristic processing were inconsistent. To bridge this gap, we manipulated both systematic and heuristic processings (using high vs. low distractions) and argument quality (using strong vs. weak), and measured both eye movements and self-reported attitude. The results suggested that low distraction induced larger differentiation of post-message attitude between strong and weak arguments compared to high distraction, indicating the successful operation of both processings. More importantly, low distraction enabled more fixations and shorter saccade lengths independent of argument quality. However, no differentiations were found involving fixation duration, regressions, and reading speed. In addition, argument quality influenced eye movements, i.e., less fixation and faster reading speed were found in strong arguments. Our results explain why distractions reduce the efficiency of information processing from an eye tracking perspective and why fixation duration results were inconsistent in the previous studies.