Watching TikTok: an eye-tracking study of visual attention paid to short-form videos
Watching TikTok: an eye-tracking study of visual attention paid to short-form videos

Summary/Abstract: The study focuses on how young viewers visually process short-form videos on TikTok and how the distribution of attention between the main image and the platform interface changes in the process. In an exploratory laboratory experiment, 16 participants watched ten videos of four different types of content (lifestyle, educational content, fast-paced potentially risky videos, multi-screen formats), while their eye movements, facial expressions, and electrodermal activity were measured simultaneously. Eye-tracking analysis revealed three recurring modes of visual attention: stable, segmented, and fragmented. The stable mode was mainly associated with lifestyle and reference educational videos, where the gaze focused on one or two dominant areas with low physiological activation. Multi-screen formats elicited a segmented mode with rhythmic switching between multiple streams without signs of attention breakdown. Fast-paced, thematically sensitive videos were characterised by a fragmented, reactive mode with shorter fixations, more frequent shifts between areas of interest, and repeatedly increased electrodermal activity that did not always correspond to visible facial expressions. The results suggest that short videos do not represent a uniform processing format, but that the formal structure and type of content are closely related to how young viewers divide their attention and how they are physiologically engaged in the process.

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