Visual Attention and Perception of Early Forest Regeneration After Clear-Cutting: An Eye-Tracking Pilot Study of Young Adults

Clear-cutting often causes negative public reactions due to its visual impact, especially in recreational forests. Understanding how people perceive early regeneration stages may support more socially acceptable management practices. This pilot study investigated how young adults visually perceive early forest regeneration after clear-cutting, with a particular focus on gender differences and attention-attracting elements. Field research was conducted in October in central Poland on a 0.97 ha site with Scots pine regeneration. Participants were studied using Tobii Pro Glasses 2. Over 950,000 visual events were recorded, including approx. 9000 fixations and 900 saccades. Analyses included Areas of Interest, heat maps, and fixation and saccade metrics. Women tended to show longer fixation durations than men in this pilot study (602 ms vs. 458 ms; p < 0.001), particularly in clear-cut regeneration areas, where median values were more than 35% higher. They also had shorter and more variable saccades. Visual attention was concentrated on the boundaries between mature forest and regeneration areas, and on elements that reduced the perceived “nakedness” of clear cuts, such as undergrowth and young trees. These patterns suggest that structural and compositional characteristics of regenerating forest landscapes affect visual attention. The results highlight the potential of eye-tracking methods for studying responses to forest management and landscape perception.