Differences In Fixation Duration Research Articles

Eye movements in binary food choice context: assessing the complexity of restaurant menus on virtue vs. vice foods

ABSTRACT This paper explores binary food choices through the lens of information load theory. We conducted two laboratory studies using the eye-tracking approach to understand the influence of the high menu complexity on visual attention for virtue versus vice food options. This paper also examined the moderating effect of time on the initial fixation. Our findings showed that the time duration taken to reach the first fixation influences binary food choices. This was evident when participants were tasked with selecting food options from a high menu complexity. Specifically, fixation duration is greater for virtue food than vice food in a high menu complexity context. However, no differences in fixation duration between vice and virtue foods were observed in low menu complexity. This study provides key insights into understanding how differences in menu complexity impact customers’ binary food choice decisions concerning vice and virtue foods.

Can Stylized Products Generated by AI Better Attract User Attention? Using Eye-Tracking Technology for Research

The emergence of AIGC has significantly improved design efficiency, enriched creativity, and promoted innovation in the design industry. However, whether the content generated from its own database meets the preferences of target users still needs to be determined through further testing. This study investigates the appeal of AI-generated stylized products to users, utilizing 12 images as stimuli in conjunction with eye-tracking technology. The stimulus is composed of top-selling gender-based stylized Bluetooth earphones from the Taobao shopping platform and the gender-based stylized earphones generated by the AIGC software GPT4.0, categorized into three experimental groups. An eye-tracking experiment was conducted in which 44 participants (22 males and 22 females, mean age = 21.75, SD = 2.45, range 18–27 years) observed three stimuli groups. The eye movements of the participants were measured while viewing product images. The results indicated that variations in stimuli category and gender caused differences in fixation durations and counts. When presenting a mix of the two types of earphones, the AIGC-generated earphones and earphones from the Taobao shopping platform, the two gender groups both showed a significant effect in fixation duration with F (2, 284) = 3.942, p = 0.020 < 0.05, and η = 0.164 for the female group and F (2, 302) = 8.824, p < 0.001, and η = 0.235 for the male group. They all had a longer fixation duration for the AI-generated earphones. When presenting exclusively the two types of AI-generated gender-based stylized earphones, there was also a significant effect in fixation duration with F (2, 579) = 4.866, p = 0.008 < 0.05, and η = 0.129. The earphones generated for females had a longer fixation duration. Analyzing this dataset from a gender perspective, there was no significant effect when the male participants observed the earphones, with F (2, 304) = 1.312 and p = 0.271, but there was a significant difference in fixation duration when the female participants observed the earphones (F (2, 272) = 4.666, p = 0.010 < 0.05, and η = 0.182). The female participants had a longer fixation duration towards the earphones that the AI generated for females.

In the Eye of the Beholder-Visual Search Behavior in Equestrian Dressage Judges.

This study investigated the visual search behavior of equestrian dressage judges at different expertise levels during the assessment of Grand Prix horse-rider combinations. Twenty judges (11 foundational level, 9 advanced level) participated in the study, with their eye movements recorded using Tobii Fusion Eyetracker as they evaluated video recordings of dressage tests. Fixation metrics, namely Total Duration of Fixation (TDF), Average Duration of Fixation (ADF), and Total Number of Fixations (TNF), were analyzed across four Areas of Interest (AOIs): front, back, rider, and horse's feet. Statistical analysis utilized linear mixed-effects models. Results demonstrated that judges consistently focused more on the front of the horse, with additional differences in fixation duration and frequency based on judge experience and specific movements. Advanced judges focused more on the horses' feet, suggesting they draw meaning from specific areas indicative of performance quality. Conversely, foundational level judges focused more on the rider, reflecting different evaluative priorities at lower levels of the sport. These findings suggest that judges focus on a limited number of highly relevant areas, differing across movements and expertise levels. The study underscores the necessity of understanding both gaze behavior and subsequent interpretations of visual information to increase judging transparency, fairness, and equine welfare.

Study on the relationship between fixation characteristics and hit rate in psychological procedure training of free throw.

Free throw is an important means of scoring in basketball games. With the improvement of basketball competition level and the enhancement of confrontation degree, the number of free throws in the game gradually increases, so the score of free throw will have an important impact on the result of the game. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between visual attention characteristics and hit rate of basketball players in free throw psychological procedure training, so as to provide scientific basis for basketball teaching and training. Forty players with similar free throw abilities were randomly assigned to the experimental group (10 males, 10 females) and control group (10 males, 10 females). The experimental group was free throw psychological procedure training, while the control group was trained with routine training, Eye movement indices (number of fixations, fixation duration, and pupil dilation) and the free throw hit rate and analyzed before and after the experiment. Group differences were examined using t-tests, while paired sample t-tests were conducted to compare pre- and post-test results within each group. The training time and training times of the two groups were the same. There were significant differences in fixation duration, number of fixations, pupil diameter and free throw hit rate between pre-test and post-test in the experimental group (P < 0.05). Post-test, there were significant differences in number of fixations, fixation duration, pupil diameter and free throw hit rate between the two groups (P < 0.05). There was a significant positive correlation between number of fixations and free throw hit rate in top (P < 0.01), and there was a significant positive correlation between fixation duration and hit rate in front (P < 0.01). The psychological procedure training can improve the visual information search strategy and information processing ability of free throw, and significantly improve the free throw hit rate. There was a positive correlation between the front fixation time and the free throw hit rate, and there was a positive correlation between the top number of fixations and the free throw hit rate.

Evaluation of physiological responses to mental workload in n-back and arithmetic tasks

Working memory tasks, such as n-back and arithmetic tasks, are frequently used in studying mental workload. The present study investigated and compared the sensitivity of several physiological measures at three levels of difficulty of n-back and arithmetic tasks. The results showed significant differences in fixation duration and pupil diameter among three task difficulty levels for both n-back and arithmetic tasks. Pupil diameters increase with increasing mental workload, whereas fixation duration decreases. Blink duration and heart rate (HR) were significantly increased as task difficulty increased in the n-back task, while root mean square of successive differences (RMSSD) and standard deviation of R-R intervals (SDNN) were significantly decreased in the arithmetic task. On the other hand, blink rate and Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) were not sensitive enough to assess the differences in task difficulty for both tasks. All significant physiological measures yielded significant differences between low and high task difficulty except for SDNN. Practitioner summary: This study aimed to assess the sensitivity levels of several physiological measures of mental workload in n-back and arithmetic tasks. It showed that pupil diameter was the most sensitive in both tasks. This study also found that most physiological indices are sensitive to an extreme change in task difficulty levels.

The effect of meaningful stimuli on eye movements in stimulus equivalence class formation

ABSTRACT Meaningful stimuli interspersed with abstract stimuli increase the probability of establishing conditional discriminations and responding according to stimulus equivalence in a matching-to-sample procedure, compared to procedures with only abstract stimuli. Test accuracy and reaction time have been previous experiments’ primary dependent variables. However, contemporary research on stimulus equivalence has also included eye movement measures as a means of a fine-grained analysis of behavior. The present experiment investigates meaningful stimuli’s effect on eye movements. The present experiment was arranged as a group design, with 30 adult participants allocated in three groups. All learned 12 conditional discriminations in a one-to-many training structure before testing to establish three 5-member stimulus equivalence classes. One group was trained with meaningful sample stimuli, one with meaningful comparison stimuli, and one with all abstract stimuli. Results show significant differences in fixation durations and gaze transitions between the groups with meaningful stimuli and those with all abstract stimuli in the test for stimulus equivalence. Hence, measuring eye movements with eye-tracking technology can provide information about behavioral differences between conditions not obtained with accuracy scores.

Human Factors Evaluation of HeartMate 3 Left Ventricular Assist Device Peripherals: An Eye Tracking Supported Simulation Study

BackgroundDespite recent design improvements, human factors issues continue to challenge left ventricular assist device (LVAD) therapy. The aim of this study was to evaluate user experience of former non-HeartMate 3 (HM3) LVAD patients post heart transplantation (HTX) and laypersons (LP) with HM3 LVAD peripherals in simulated everyday and emergency scenarios.MethodsThis single center cohort study included untrained HTX and LP. Seven scenarios, including battery exchanges (without alarm, advisory alarm, dim light, consolidated bag), change of power supply, driveline dis-/reconnection and controller exchange were simulated. Subjects’ gaze behavior was recorded using eye tracking technology. Success rate, pump-off-time, duration to success (DTS), percental fixation duration per areas of interest and post-scenario-survey results were defined as outcome measures.ResultsThirty subjects completed 210 scenarios, initially solving 82.4% (HTX vs. LP, p = 1.00). Changing power supply revealed highest complexity (DTS = 251 ± 93s, p = 0.76): 26.7% succeeded at first attempt (p = 0.68), 56.7% at second attempt, with significantly more LP failing (p = 0.04), resulting in 10 hazards from driveline disconnections (pump-off-time 2-118s, p = 0.25). Comparison on initial success showed differences in fixation durations for seven areas of interest (p < 0.037). Decreasing DTS during battery exchanges (p < 0.001) indicate high learnability. Exchanging batteries within the bag took longer (median DTS = 75.0 (IQR = 45.0)s, p = 0.09), especially in elderly subjects (r = 0.61, p < 0.001). Subjects with less initial success were more afraid of making mistakes (p = 0.048).ConclusionThis eye tracking based human factors study provided insights into user experiences in handling HM3 peripherals. It highlights unintuitive and hazardous characteristics, providing guidance for future user-centered design of LVAD wearables.

The effect of visual attention process and thinking styles on environmental aesthetic preference: An eye-tracking study.

People often form different aesthetic preferences for natural and built environments, which affects their behavioral intention; however, it remains unknown whether this difference in aesthetic preference is due to differences in thinking styles. However, whether tourists' aesthetic preferences differ when using different visual attention processes has not been studied further. This study used eye-tracking and self-reporting to investigate these questions. The results show that natural environment images are more favored visually because they can evoke in tourists larger pupil diameters and longer scan paths, but we found no significant difference in fixation duration and fixation counts. We also found that the scanning path of tourists who predominantly rely on intuitive thinking is modulated by the bottom-up attention process, while the scanning path of tourists who prefer rational thinking is modulated by the top-down attention process. In the bottom-up process, tourists who prefer rational thinking exhibit more positive aesthetic preferences and emotional arousal. In summary, the present study verified that aesthetic preference is more likely to be influenced by both thinking style and visual attention processing. The results of the present work provide preliminary evidence that the aesthetic preference of the environment is not only related to visual attention but also affected by the individual visual attention process and thinking style.

The visual perception of aligned and crowded maxillary lateral incisors when smiling via eye tracking.

This study aimed to investigate whether the alignment of the teeth while smiling alters the visual perception by laypeople using eye tracking. Facial images (two males and two females) were digitally edited to show a smile pattern with aligned teeth and one with crowded teeth. Sixty laypeople were selected to observe the images. The number of fixations, fixation duration, and time until the first fixation were recorded using an eye-tracking system. The results were qualitatively calculated with dot maps. Numerical data were analyzed using an independent Student's t test. There were no significant differences in fixation duration and the number of fixations in the crowded smile, mainly that of the male. The fixation times for the teeth were significantly different when the participants viewed the male subjects with a crowded smile (P<0.05). Dot maps showed greater attention to the smile with crowded teeth in both genders. The crowded maxillary incisor smile attracted more visual attention to males from laypeople.

Early activation of cross-language meaning from phonology during sentence processing.

The current study investigated whether shared phonology across languages activates cross-language meaning when reading in context. Eighty-five bilinguals read English sentences while their eye movements were tracked. Critical sentences contained English members of English-French interlingual homophone pairs (e.g., mow; French homophone mate mot means "word") or they contained spelling control words (e.g., mop). Only the meaning of the unseen French homophone mate fit the context (e.g., Hannah wrote another mow/mop on the blackboard for the spelling test). Differences in fixation durations between homophone errors and spelling control errors provided evidence for cross-language activation that extended to semantic representations. When the unseen French homophone was of high frequency, shorter first fixations and gaze durations were observed on English interlingual homophones than on English control words, providing evidence that the French meaning associated with the shared phonology was activated during early stage word identification. Individual differences analyses showed that these effects were larger when bilinguals were using the nontarget language (i.e., French) more regularly in daily life. Results provide evidence that cross-language activation of phonology can be sufficiently strong to activate corresponding semantic representations during single language sentence processing. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Abstract 199: Gender Identity Alters Gaze: The Use Of Eye Tracking To Assess Outcomes In Gender-Affirming Chest Surgery

Purpose: Outcomes of gender-affirming chest surgery can be variable. Placement of nipple areolar complexes, orientation of scars and amount of tissue removed can drastically affect the aesthetic outcomes of these procedures. Currently, there is limited data on the perception of favorable aesthetic post-operative outcomes. Here, we compared attention and perception of aesthetic outcomes following masculinizing and feminizing gender-affirming chest surgery between people, based on their gender identity. Methods: Thirty-two participants (14 transgender and 18 cisgender) were enrolled and shown sets of post-operative masculinized and feminized chests, along with unlabeled surgery naïve control chest photos for each gender. Each participant was presented with a photo for 12 seconds and attention and gaze were captured using the Tobii X2 60 eye-tracking device. Participants also scored the perceived gender appearance of each photo on a 1-to-5 Likert-type scale ranging from feminine appearing to masculine appearing. Results: Both cohorts consisted of majority female gender identifying participants. On average participants spent 7.03±2.59 seconds fixated on the masculine chest photos and 6.91±2.61 seconds fixated on feminine chest photos. Transgender participants spent more time evaluating the nipples in the masculinized photos (p = 0.004) yet there was no significant difference in fixation duration on the nipples for the feminized photos (p = 0.205). Cisgender participants were more likely to notice scars in both the masculinized (0.607 vs 0.462 sec, p = 0.026) and feminized (0.113 vs 0.056 sec, p = 0.012) photos, spending more time fixated on this feature. Notably, transgender participants on average perceived post-operative chests as more similar in appearance to the control chests for both masculinized (p=0.002) and feminized (p = 0.014) photos. Conclusion: Our results illustrate how gender identity can affect assessment and perception of the gender appearance of chests following gender-affirming top surgery. These demonstrated differences in areas of attention and ratings of chest gender appearance by gender identity indicate that observer characteristics should be considered in the assessment of gender-affirming chest surgery aesthetic outcome. Comparison of total fixation duration (milliseconds) on nipples and scars for cisgender and transgender participants, for female/feminized (A) and male/masculinized (B) chests, demonstrating increased attention on the scars in both feminized and masculinized photos by cisgender participants. *Statistically significant (p<0.05).

Meta-Analysis of Eye Movements Between Children With and Without Dyslexia or Reading Disability

Background: Hundreds of studies have compared eye movement variables in subjects with and without dyslexia or reading disability. Most studied only small sample sizes and the eye movement tasks and targets varied. The aims of this study are to determine which, if any, eye movement variable(s) differ between children with and without dyslexia or reading disability, and, if differences are found, quantify the amount. Methods: Search engines PubMed and Salus/EBSCO Discover Database for key words eye movements OR saccades OR fixation AND dyslexia OR reading disability yielded 728 titles. Following initial study eligibility criteria (objective eye movement variable measures of children age 6-15.5 years in defined case and control groups), 43 studies qualified for in depth review. Eleven studies qualified for data synthesis. Data were extracted, tested for normality by Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistic, standardized, weighted by sample size, tested for homogeneity by Q test, pooled and measured for combined effect. Results: Combined relative risk effect revealed fixation duration, number of fixations, and number of regressions when reading words to be 2.33 (95% CI: 2.12-2.54) times longer, 1.58 (95% CI: 1.52-1.65) times higher, and 1.83 (95% CI: 1.68-1.97) times higher respectively in children with dyslexia or reading disability compared to age normal readers. Differences reading pseudowords were not statistically significant. Conclusions: Significant differences in fixation duration, number of fixations, and number of regressions were found during word reading. Because most reading time is during the fixation duration, children with dyslexia or reading disability need, on average, 2.33 times longer. The results provide objective data to support reading time accommodations for Individual Education Plans. Systematic review suggests that oculomotility ability depends on the amount of cognitive processing rather than purely on extra ocular muscle control.

Research on Control Areas of X-line Style women’s Suit Silhouette Based on Eye-tracking Technology

Up to now, the concept of classification basis that affects garment silhouette in patternmaking is still vague. This paper aims to analyze scientific basis for influence of pattern-making on silhouette classification by taking X-line style women’s suit as research object and using eye tracker as experimental way. Through data of TFD (total fixation duration), VC (visit count) and other indicators in four areas of interest of six X-line style women's suits, multivariate analysis of variance and average comparison were conducted for different styles and areas of interest. The study found that there was no significant difference in fixation duration and fixation count of different styles, but different areas of interest were, and it could be concluded that control areas affecting silhouette of X-line style women’s suit were mainly focused on waist, followed by chest. In this paper, the garment research connected with the machine recognition technology, which offers scientific reference significance for further research on influence of X-line style women’s suit pattern-making on silhouette.

How does drivers’ visual search change as a function of experience? A systematic review and meta-analysis

Novice drivers are statistically over-represented in reported road crashes, with recent evidence suggesting that some of this increased crash involvement may be a result of limitations in their cognitive processing. Such processing has typically been measured by recording drivers’ patterns of eye movements, however, the exact ways in which eye movements are reported and interpreted varies substantially between different studies in the literature. Therefore, the objective of this systematic review was to investigate whether novice drivers and experienced drivers do differ in clear and reproducible ways in their visual search.Studies were identified through searches of Web of Science, Medline, TRID Database, and the TRB Research in Progress Database, with no restrictions on publication status. Studies were included if they compared the visual search of a novice driver group (<3 years driving experience) and an experienced driver group (>3 years driving experience) using an eye tracking method and reported at least one of the following four visual search outcomes: fixation durations, horizontal spread of search, vertical spread of search and number of fixations. Two reviewers independently screened searches and assessed the full texts of potentially included studies.Of the 235 studies initially identified 18 were included in the review, with 13 studies reporting sufficient data to be included in the meta-analysis for at least one outcome measure. Given that the included studies deployed a range of method types, additional sub-group analyses were conducted using this factor. Sensitivity analyses were also conducted by temporarily removing extreme experience groups (e.g. driving instructors and learner drivers) in order to test the effect of different levels of experience and training.The meta-analyses, along with support from results discussed narratively, revealed that novice drivers have a narrower horizontal spread of search compared to experienced drivers, however, there were no overall differences in fixation durations, vertical spread of search or number of fixations when the studies were pooled together. These findings have important primary implications for the development of novice training interventions, with novice drivers needing to develop a broader horizontal spread of visual search, but not to necessarily learn to fixate further down the road. Subgroup analyses also provided considerations for future research studies in terms of the experience of the driver groups, and the method type used.

Fewer fixations of longer duration? Expert gaze behavior revisited

In the current study, we investigated gaze behavior in sports by reviewing expertise-related differences in fixation duration, number of fixations, gaze location, and quiet eye duration. The review was conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and included a total of 101 studies. Applying the vote-counting procedure, differences in gaze variables were aggregated as a function of the total number and the publication year. Moreover, for fixation duration and number of fixations an effect-size analysis was conducted. For gaze location and quiet eye duration, different gaze behavior in experts was found, in particular, when compared to novices. However, for fixation duration and number of fixations the results were less clear. Overall, there were more studies with nonsignificant results than studies with significant (positive and negative) results. These findings were confirmed by the effect-size analysis with average effect sizes in 2017 being small or just above the null effect (fixation duration: d = 0.21; number of fixations: d = 0.01). There was only minor mediation by the factors representativeness of the experimental design, type of sports, and type of task. Overall, the findings suggest that the empirical evidence on expertise-related differences in gaze behavior declined in recent years. Rather, the expert advantage in cognitive and motor tasks might be better explained with an optimal perception–action coupling.

Learning through the Eyes of the Beholder: Using Eye Tracking to Understand How Novices Learn Neuroanatomy

IntroductionDespite student reports of high difficulty and neurophobia, there remains little examination in the literature on what makes neuroanatomy challenging. A preliminary study found that increased grey‐to‐white matter stain contrast marginally improves learning in students with low working memory capacities (WMC) but not those with high WMC. Why this augmentation is beneficial to some but not all students is unknown. Further, evidence suggests competency influences the way images are viewed and interpreted, which may account for some this previously observed difference.AimThis study will use eye tracking to better understand how novice students view and learn neuroanatomy. Specifically, we aim to: 1) assess differences in viewing patterns between high and low contrast brain slices for students with high and low WMC, and 2) to then compare viewing patterns between novices and experts to uncover competency‐related changes as they relate to contrast.MethodsUndergraduate students with no previous anatomical education (n=120) were recruited to complete an eye‐tracking session containing two learning and two testing periods. Each learning period consisted of 4 brain slices (either coronal or transverse planes and high or low contrast) labeled with 12 neuroanatomical structures. The students were given 5 minutes to learn the structures while their viewing patterns were tracked. In the testing periods, students were prompted to click on named structures on a low‐contrast brain slice. Eye tracking data was recorded along with test accuracy. This learning/testing protocol was repeated twice such that the brain image sectioning plane (coronal vs transverse) and the stain contrast (high vs low) order of exposure were counterbalanced. Finally, participants completed the Automated Operation Span Task (OSPAN) to quantify their WMC.ResultsData collection is ongoing. Preliminary results suggest differences in fixation durations, frequency of fixations on irrelevant areas, and time to first fixate on relevant structures between novices and experts. Full data will be subsequently analyzed and presented.Discussion/ConclusionBy better understanding how students learn neuroanatomy, we will be able to gain insight into factors that contribute to the difficulty of the subject and support research on better methods for teaching neuroanatomy.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

Comparison Study of Visual Search on 6 Different Types of Icons

In order to study the similarities and differences of the visual search features on different types of icons in the human-computer interface, using digital icons, English icons, Chinese icons, abstract icons, graphical icons and image icons as experimental materials. Combined with eye tracking devices, a visual search experiment was designed adopting E-Prime programming, and a comparative study was conducted from 3 aspects of reaction time, correct rate, and eye movement characteristics. The results of single factor analysis of variance indicated that: (1) The difference among 6 different types of icons in reaction time of visual search was statistically significant, and the reaction time was ranked as digital icons > English icons > Chinese icons > abstract icons > graphical icons > image icons. (2) In addition to the abstract icons, the other 5 types of icons in the visual search showed no obvious error. (3) As for the eye movement characteristics of 6 different types of icons, there were significant differences in fixation duration, fixation times, saccade amplitude and saccade speed, however, pupil diameter and blink frequency were not significantly different. The research results have reference value for the icon design and usability evaluation in human-computer interface.

Neural correlates of individual differences in fixation duration during natural reading.

Reading requires integration of language and cognitive processes with attention and eye movement control. Individuals differ in their reading ability, but little is known about the neurocognitive processes associated with these individual differences. To investigate this issue, we combined eyetracking and fMRI, simultaneously recording eye movements and BOLD activity while subjects read text passages. We found that the variability and skew of fixation duration distributions across individuals, as assessed by ex-Gaussian analyses, decreased with increasing neural activity in regions associated with the cortical eye movement control network (Left FEF, Left IPS, Left IFG, and Right IFG). The results suggest that individual differences in fixation duration during reading are related to underlying neurocognitive processes associated with the eye movement control system and its relationship to language processing. The results also show that eye movements and fMRI can be combined to investigate the neural correlates of individual differences in natural reading.

The processing of Chinese compound words with ambiguous morphemes in sentence context.

We employed a boundary paradigm to investigate how Chinese two-character compounds (i.e., compound words) are processed during reading. The first character of the compound was an ambiguous morpheme that had a dominant and subordinate meaning. In Experiment 1, there were three previews of the second character: identical to the target character; the preview provided subordinate biasing information (the subordinate condition); the preview provided dominant biasing information (the dominant condition). An invisible boundary was inserted between the two characters. We found that gaze durations and go-past times on the compounds were longer in the subordinate condition than those in the dominant or identical conditions. In Experiment 2, the semantic similarity between target and preview words in the dominant condition was manipulated to determine whether the differences in fixation durations in Experiment 1 resulted from the semantic similarity between the preview and target words. There were significant fixation duration differences on the target word between the dominant and subordinate conditions only when the preview and target words were semantically related. This finding indicated that the whole-word meaning plays an important role in processing Chinese compounds and that the whole-word access route is the principal processing route in reading two-character compounds in Chinese.

Linking the Positivity Effect in Attention with Affective Outcomes: Age Group Differences and the Role of Arousal.

Despite its assumed importance for emotional well-being, studies investigating the positivity effect (PE) in older adults’ information processing rarely tested its relationship with immediate or general affective outcome measures like emotional reactivity or emotional well-being. Moreover, the arousal level of the to-be-processed emotional stimuli has rarely been taken into account as a moderator for the occurrence of the PE and its relationship with affective outcomes. Age group differences (young vs. old) in attention (i.e., fixation durations using eye tracking) and subjective emotional reactions (i.e., pleasantness ratings) were investigated in response to picture stimuli systematically varied in valence (positive vs. negative) and arousal (low vs. high). We examined whether there is a link between age group differences in fixation durations and affective outcomes (i.e., subjective emotional reactions as well as emotional well-being). Older compared to young adults fixated less on the most emotional part in negative but not in positive low-arousing pictures. This age difference did not occur under high arousal. While age group differences in fixation duration did not translate into age group differences in subjective emotional reactions, we found a positive relationship between fixation duration on negative low-arousing pictures and emotional well-being, i.e., negative affect. The present study replicated the well-known PE in attention and emotional reactivity. In line with the idea that the PE reflects top-down-driven processing of affective information, age group differences in fixation durations decreased under high arousal. The present findings are consistent with the idea that age-related changes in the processing of emotional information support older adults’ general emotional well-being.