Spatiotemporal Characteristics of 360-Degree Basic Attention

Yuki Harada,Junji Ohyama

doi:10.1038/s41598-019-52313-3

Yuki Harada, Junji Ohyama

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-52313-3

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Abstract

The spatiotemporal characteristics of basic attention are important for understanding attending behaviours in real-life situations, and they are useful for evaluating the accessibility of visual information. However, although people are encircled by their 360-degree surroundings in real life, no study has addressed the general characteristics of attention to 360-degree surroundings. Here, we conducted an experiment using virtual reality technology to examine the spatiotemporal characteristics of attention in a highly controlled basic visual context consisting of a 360-degree surrounding. We measured response times and gaze patterns during the 360-degree search task and examined the spatial distribution of attention and its temporal variations in a 360-degree environment based on the participants’ physical position. Data were collected from both younger adults and older adults to consider age-related differences. The results showed the fundamental spatiotemporal characteristics of 360-degree attention, which can be used as basic criteria to analyse the structure of exogenous effects on attention in complex 360-degree surroundings in real-life situations. For practical purposes, we created spherical criteria maps of 360-degree attention, which are useful for estimating attending behaviours to 360-degree environmental information or for evaluating visual information design in living environments, workspaces, or other real-life contexts.

Highlights

The spatiotemporal characteristics of attention are important for understanding how people access visual information in real-life situations[1,2]
Previous non-laboratory studies have reported the spatiotemporal characteristics of 360-degree attention in specific contexts by measuring gaze patterns while allowing participants to voluntarily pay attention to any direction; these studies are limited in explaining basic attention because the results were confounded by the environmental contexts
To clarify the general spatiotemporal characteristics of 360-degree basic attention regardless of age, we merged all of the data on correct responses, response times (RTs), and gaze patterns across 15 younger adults (YAs) and 19 older adults (OAs)

Summary

Introduction

The spatiotemporal characteristics of attention are important for understanding how people access visual information in real-life situations[1,2]. Many previous studies have typically used a procedure in which a target stimulus was presented on a single display[9] or multiple displays[10], measuring the correct responses and response times (RTs) for the target and the gaze patterns In such procedural conditions, participants can expect the possible locations of targets and choose to pay attention to those locations, and the bezels and joints between multiple displays become visual contexts that can influence attending behaviours. To clarify the spatiotemporal characteristics of attention in specific contexts of real-life situations, it is important to measure the fundamental basic characteristics of how people pay attention to their 360-degree surroundings in simple neutral contexts To address these procedural limitations, we used a new experimental method that involved virtual reality technology to measure the spatiotemporal characteristics of 360-degree basic attention. The visual information of augmented reality should be located in quickly attended to areas in which the information can be acquired

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