Scene perception while listening to music: an eye-tracking study

Previous studies have observed longer fixations and fewer saccades while viewing various outdoor scenes and listening to music compared to a no-music condition. There is also evidence that musical tempo can modulate the speed of eye movements. However, recent investigations from environmental psychology demonstrated differences in eye movement behavior while viewing natural and urban outdoor scenes. The first goal of this study was to replicate the observed effect of music listening while viewing outdoor scenes with different musical stimuli. Next, the effect of a fast and a slow musical tempo on eye movement speed was investigated. Finally, the effect of the type of outdoor scene (natural vs. urban scenes) was explored. The results revealed shorter fixation durations in the no-music condition compared to both music conditions, but these differences were non-significant. Moreover, we did not find differences in eye movements between music conditions with fast and slow tempo. Although significantly shorter fixations were found for viewing urban scenes compared with natural scenes, we did not find a significant interaction between the type of scene and music conditions.