The role of personality characteristics in informing our preference for visual presentation: An eye movement study

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Al-Samarraie, Hosam^{a; *} | Sarsam, Samer Muthana^a | Alzahrani, Ahmed Ibrahim^b | Alalwan, Nasser^b | Masood, Mona^a

Affiliations: [a] Centre for Instructional Technology and Multimedia, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia | [b] Computer Science Department, Community College, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author. E-mails: hosam@usm.my, myclasy@gmail.com.

Abstract: Individuals’ preferences are an important consideration in society, and different personality traits may contribute to those preferences. Personality traits can be used to understand what people would prefer or like about certain events or activities. Despite this, it appears that there is little understanding about the role of personality characteristics in visual design display. This study investigated the role of personality traits in users’ preferences. We examined the eye-movement behavior of 50 participants to identify their preferences in visual design presentations. A Bagging classifier with a genetic search method was used to assess the predictions of eye parameters based on personality dimensions. The results showed that high conscientiousness and agreeableness tended to influence eye-movement behavior toward visual design. Our findings may offer new insights for human-computer interaction, personalization, and rational choice theories. This study also addresses new trends related to the regulation of eye movements toward preferred visual design elements based on personality traits.

Keywords: Personality and design, interface design preferences, design prediction, user interaction

DOI: 10.3233/AIS-160399

Journal: Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Smart Environments, vol. 8, no. 6, pp. 709-719, 2016