A comparison of product preference and visual behaviour for product representations
Year: 2013
Editor: Udo Lindemann, Srinivasan V, Yong Se Kim, Sang Won Lee, John Clarkson, Gaetano Cascini
Author: Boa, Duncan; Hicks, Ben; Nassehi, Aydin
Series: ICED
Institution: University of Bath, United Kingdom
Page(s): 487-496
ISBN: 978-1-904670-50-6
ISSN: 2220-4334
Abstract
It is critical to understand how the means of representing a product can affect an individual's preference for it. This paper investigates the effect of varying a product's representation on an individual's preference for it. Five buildings, cars and electrical appliances were shown to 20 individuals as sketches, renders and photos. Individuals rated their preference for the product/artefact in the representation after a fixed viewing time. To provide additional context to the participant's preference, and to investigate if they perceived them differently, eye tracking was used to record their gaze as they inspected the representations. One of the 15 groups of representations showed a significant change in preference by the participants across the representations. Ten of the 15 groups of representations showed significant difference in engagement for a limited proportion of the regions in the stimuli images. This suggests that the process of viewing a product is independent of the means of representation and that a sketch is sufficient for an individual to form a consistent opinion of a product.
Keywords: Product preference, representations, eye tracking