Do We Have Your Attention? Tracking Eye Movements and Assessing Viewer Preferences During Television Weather Warnings

Understanding how viewers process severe weather warning messages is crucial for designing alerts that enable viewers to take protective action. We used eye tracking to monitor attention to mock chyrons (i.e., TV graphics displaying warning messages) that systematically varied in visual complexity and carried out qualitative interviews to gather information about participants’ design preferences for the displays. Dwell-based analyses showed that in high complexity displays containing several visual elements typical of real-world alerts---e.g., multiple headlines, radar maps, crawling text---participants spent significantly less time attending to the text crawl than in less complex displays. These findings were corroborated through interview data which suggested that excessive visual complexity may distract the viewer from important text warning information presented within the display. Moreover, we found that stronger emotional reactions, regardless of valence, were associated with lower visual attention to displays. Our results suggest that effective weather alerts should minimize excessive use of graphics that draw attention away from critical information conveyed via text. Additionally, the use of emotional content to engage viewers may reduce attention to relevant display elements such as warning messages.