An Eye Tracking Study of How Pictures Influence Online Reading

We present an eye tracking study to measure if and how including pictures – relevant or irrelevant to the text – affects online reading. In a between-subjects design, 82 subjects read a story on a computer screen. The text was accompanied by either: (a) pictures related to the text, (b) pictures unrelated to the text (advertisements), or (c) no pictures. Reading statistics such as reading speed and regressions were computed, as well as measures of picture gazes. When pictures related to the text were replaced with advertisements, we observed a number of significant differences, including speed, regressions, and re-reading.