The influence of weather and level of observer expertise on suburban landscape perception
Marek Półrolniczak, Leszek Kolendowicz
Abstract
Research on landscape perception has a long tradition, whereas attempts to determine the influence of weather conditions on such perception are rare. The objective of this study is to determine if positive or negative weather type can influence the expert and layman's perception of the suburban landscape. Based on fixations and saccades, the chosen eye-tracking metrics were calculated on the basis of the tested landscape scene as a whole as well as established areas of interest (AOIs). Nonparametric tests and the Voronoi cell method were applied to identify the differences among visual approaches. The research results indicate that the landscape perception is influenced by the weather type. The fixation and saccades in positive weather (sunny high-pressure weather) are significantly shorter, while the distribution of gaze intensity is different compared to negative weather. Significant differences between experts and laymen concerning fixations and saccades were found during positive weather, in negative weather type, both groups observe the landscape in a rather similar fashion. Taking into account the division into AOIs, significant differences in the perception of the test landscape mainly concerned centrally located AOIs and the horizon zone. An analysis using Voronoi cells indicates that regardless of weather type, the distribution of gaze intensity for the group of experts is greater than for the group of laymen. Moreover, it can be noted that the weather generally affects the entire gamut of all respondents' gaze, and that experts and laymen observe the landscape differently in both types of weather.