Tracking Restorative Components: Patterns in Eye Movements as a Consequence of a Restorative Rating Task

Eye tracking was used to investigate the task of assessing how likely it is that one would be able to rest and recover in small urban spaces and how it affects the view pattern. We assess which environmental components, for example, flowers and trees, participants look at when evaluating restoration likelihood. Further, we compare number of fixations in restorative and non-restorative park photos. Photos were selected based on ratings of low and high likelihood of restoration. Participants were asked to imagine themselves in need of restoration. Photos were presented for 10seconds each. In contrast to studies adapting a free viewing approach, the present study shows that image properties such as contrast and colour did not attract attention; instead participants looked at components that were of importance for assessing restoration likelihood. The components participants looked at the most were trees, followed by benches and bushes. This presents new information on people's view patterns in relation to the task of rating restoration likelihood. In addition, relations between the park components at which participants looked the most and the ratings on restoration likelihood were explored. As expected, we found a positive correlation between grass and restoration likelihood. The relations were negative for all other variables, although not significant. The negative relations were rather unexpected, and possible explanations for them are discussed. Finally, we analysed the association between number of fixations and restoration likelihood ratings, and no correlation was found.