Eye Movement Patterns in Response to Anti-Binge Drinking Messages

Health message design combines selected visual and textual components that are thought to work in concert to produce a particular intended message effect. Most health message effects research assumes rather than determines that message recipients attend to those visual and textual components. In contrast, the present research mapped viewing patterns of 50 participants in response to a set of anti-binge drinking print messages using eye-tracking methodology. Results showed that participants primarily viewed faces of persons portrayed in the messages, as well as alcohol use cues and cryptic one-liners. Textual components (e.g., information about consequences of heavy drinking) were viewed infrequently and briefly. Viewing patterns were associated with perceptions of message effectiveness, but more so for women than for men. Additionally, men, for whom anti-binge drinking messages were more self-relevant than for women, viewed message components more often and longer than women. These findings suggest that when message recipients view a self-relevant health message, they may attend primarily to a subset of components that do not necessarily convey the full message.