Eye tracking goodness

Jakob Nielsen’s recent eye tracking study contains a lot of interesting data, but none more unusual than the unexpected discovery of excessive fixation on crotches by the males in his sample.

Yep, you read that right. Crotches.

georgeBrettEyeFixation.gif

Although both men and women look at the image of George Brett when directed to find out information about his sport and position, men tend to focus on private anatomy as well as the face. For the women, the face is the only place they viewed.

Coyne [the Nielsen/Norman Group Director of Research] adds that this difference doesn’t just occur with images of people. Men tend to fixate more on areas of private anatomy on animals as well, as evidenced when users were directed to browse the American Kennel Club site.

Oy. Well, that’s kinda humiliating. Gives new meaning to “know your audience,” I guess.

Oh, and did anyone else notice that Coyne went from cognitive function to George Brett to implied bestiality in just two paragraphs? Holy cow that was awesome.

As a bonus exercise, now that I’ve used the “b- word” in a monkeyPi post, we shall sit back, make some popcorn, and watch the Google search strings pour in.

4 Responses to “Eye tracking goodness”


  1. 1 techcommdood Apr 6th, 2007 at 2:39 pm

    Brilliant! A study that reveals men are drawn to the naughty bits. Who would have thunked it…

  2. 2 theMonkey Apr 8th, 2007 at 11:31 am

    Or… who woulda thunk that women were not drawn to them…

    I guess it is all just unicorns and rainbows and sugar and spice after all.

  3. 3 Stacia Apr 10th, 2007 at 3:44 pm

    Oh boy did this make me giggle like a little girl!

    As sexy as I think ball players are, I never realized that I don’t look at their crotches. But certainly while they are running or I’m sitting in the outfield, I’m totally looking at their little butts.

  4. 4 C Apr 19th, 2007 at 2:05 am

    pfffft…the women were just smart enough not to get caught looking in an eye tracking study. ;-)

    So MonkeyPi, intrigued by your comment on my blog. After looking through yours, if I don’t know you, I should! Unfortunately, I’m, like, Columbus’ Most Clueless at guessing folks’ identities. I’m the chick that would never notice that Clark Kent and Superman look exactly the same except for that little curl that falls over the forehead when he’s being all heroic. (I would, however, notice that he’s hot in either incarnation. I’m clueless, not stupid.)

    If you click “back to the Archetype site” in the right-hand column of the blog, you’ll end up back on, well, the main site, and my name is all over the freaking place…along with my email address…just in case you decide to expose yourself. ;-)

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An escapee from a government contractor’s test lab, the monkey lives in hiding, hacking away at the keyboard to bring you random thoughts, stories, news, and graphics. Depending on his mood, he may be informative, amusing, obnoxious, or inane.

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