Visual attention allocation between social and navigational cues during wayfinding: An eye-tracking study in virtual...

This study investigates how the presence of people in a built environment influences visual attention and navigational performance. Using immersive virtual reality and eye-tracking, participants navigated an airport terminal featuring either dynamic human avatars (social setting) or no avatars (non-social setting). Fixation durations on signage and human figures were measured to assess attentional allocation, and navigation performance was evaluated through task duration, error count, and spatial knowledge tasks. Participants in the social setting fixated significantly less on signage and more on humans, indicating attentional competition. Human and signage fixation durations were strongly negatively correlated. While overall navigation performance did not differ between conditions, attention to signage significantly predicted lower error counts. Mediation analysis showed that human presence indirectly increased navigation errors by reducing attention to signage. Spatial learning, measured by pointing accuracy and landmark placement, was less clearly affected, though social presence was associated with better landmark placement accuracy. The results highlight how social stimuli capture attention and reduce the processing of task-relevant cues like signage. The findings underscore the perceptual demands of navigating socially complex environments and suggest that maintaining visual attractiveness of signage is critical in crowded public settings.