Eyetracking and Gender

This picture says it all.

Conyne recommends designers avoid the generic pictures that are often used just for the sake of having a picture.

"For example," she said, "if an article is about a signature meal at a restaurant, say a tuna dish, display a scrumptious-looking picture of the plate of food. Don't show a generic picture of a spoon and fork, as many sites do."

When photos do contain people related to the task at hand, or the content users are exploring, they do get fixations. However, gender makes a distinct difference on what parts of the photo are stared at the longest. Take a look at the hotspot below.

Although both men and women look at the image of George Brett when directed to find out information about his sport and position, men tend to focus on private anatomy as well as the face. For the women, the face is the only place they viewed.

From Online Journalism Review

Comments

[Rene Flores]

The strike zone? But in this photo there's no baseball in the strike zone, so there's nothing in George Brett's strike zone for the men to fix their eyes on except... George Brett. This test demonstrates that men do look at other men's package -- though of course it offers no judgments as to WHY they do. I'd venture the reason is that in a society where "size matters", men are more self-conscious than they let on and do, in fact, compare themselves to others. Especially celebrated figures like professional athletes.

[Matthew Oliphant]

Of course, that private anatomy area is also right in the middle of the strike zone.