Grison, Gyselinck, Burkhardt and Wiener – ROUTE PLANNING WITH TRANSPORTATION NETWORK MAPS 2016

Description

This eye-tracking study examined cognitive processes in route planning on schematic public-transport maps. Twenty participants completed 60 origin–destination tasks while fixations, saccades, pupil size, and region-based attention ratios were recorded. Trials were divided into a search phase (until both origin and destination were first fixated) and a planning/selection phase. Results (81% accuracy) support a two-phase model: search time and early gaze patterns were largely independent of route complexity, while planning time and errors rose with the number of required transfers. Eye metrics showed larger saccades during search and smaller, more focused saccades during planning—especially for two-transfer tasks—along with increased pupil size in planning, indicating higher cognitive load. Gaze exhibited a central bias initially, then shifted toward transfer and connecting stations as complexity increased; destinations received more looks than origins. Unexpected findings included lower accuracy for no-transfer routes due to misleading detours and that stations with more lines were not always prioritized, possibly from sampling biases. The authors conclude route planning involves sequential, interactive phases with distinct visual and cognitive mechanisms.