Characteristics of fascination: using eye-tracking to explore the impact of spatial frequency on the allocation of attention to nature and urban scenes

Evidence suggests that nature environments capture attention effortlessly and/or are easy to process, but the mechanisms responsible for attention restoration are not fully understood. This study manipulated low-level properties of nature and urban images to measure their impact on gaze behaviour. Stimuli comprised 20 grayscale images (10 nature, 10 urban) shown in their original form, and with low or mid-to-high spatial frequencies filtered out. Eye movements were recorded whilst participants viewed the scenes, rating each one for pleasantness and ease of identifying objects. Participants made fewer, longer fixations to nature scenes, unless mid-to-high spatial frequencies were removed, and explored urban scenes more, unless low spatial frequencies were removed. Nature scenes were rated as more pleasant, providing mid-to-high spatial frequencies were present, and identification of objects was easier in urban scenes, particularly when mid-to-high spatial frequencies were removed. Further analysis revealed important findings to guide future research; gaze behaviour was highly consistent within participants, and differences in eye movements to urban and nature scenes were most prominent in the first 5-6 seconds of viewing. This shows the potential for using eye movements, especially early in viewing, to study individual differences in the perception of, and attention to, nature and urban environments.