Impact of object salience in physical and digital exhibitions: a visitor attention study

Abstract

More often than not, multiple exhibit objects are displayed, rather than a single exhibit object, in a single exhibition space. This situation might induce a competition for visitor attention between the objects. As an attempt to elucidate the nature of this competition, this study addresses the influence of the salience layout of exhibit objects on the distribution of visitor attention in physical and digital environments. Among various salience parameters previously determined in the literature, size and three-dimensionality are investigated in this thesis. A set of field experiments utilizing unobtrusive observation, and selfadministered questionnaires were employed to collect data. In an alternative approach to the existing visitor studies in Turkey, the empirical design involved a high level of control. The results have revealed the ways visitor attention to individual exhibit objects and exhibitions in overall could be influenced by [1] the presence of a more salient object within a set of less salient objects, [2] ordinal position of exhibit objects with different salience levels, [3] the physical or digital nature of the exhibition space, and [4] size and three-dimensionality as exhibit object parameters.