Understanding dynamic visual attention of visitors in a forest park via mobile eye-tracking: Insights for forest landscape planning policies

Public preference for forest landscapes is closely related to visual behavior. This study innovatively employs mobile eye-tracking technology to collect real-time eye movement data from 30 visitors in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, China. The findings reveal that landscape type, viewing distance, spatial openness, and distribution density are significantly associated with the allocation of visual attention of visitors. Geological and cultural landscapes attract more fixations, open spaces and distant views elicit longer and more fixation duration, and medium-density landscapes showed relatively higher attentional engagement. Visitors' visual attention exhibits a clear spatial sequence effect, with two groups walking in opposite directions showing distinct peaks of attention at different stages of the route and differing in overall satisfaction. An eye-movement evaluation model based on the proportion of fixation duration, regression count, and average saccade amplitude demonstrates strong consistency with expert assessments, supporting the potential application of eye-movement data as a behavioral indicator. This study elucidates differences in the public's visual perception and responses regarding forest landscapes, providing evidence-based implications for optimizing forest landscape planning and design.