Supplementary data for the paper 'How do people distribute their attention while observing The Night Watch?'

This study explored how people look at The Night Watch (1642), Rembrandt’s masterpiece. Twenty-one participants each stood in front of the painting for 5 minutes, while their eyes were recorded with a mobile eye-tracker and their thoughts were verbalized with a think-aloud method. We computed a heatmap of the participants’ attentional distribution using a novel markerless mapping method. The results showed that the participants’ attention was mainly directed at the faces of the two central figures, the bright mascot girl in the painting, and detailed elements such as the apparel of the key figures. The eye-movement analysis and think-aloud data also showed that participants’ attention shifted from the faces of the key figures to other elements of the scene over the course of the 5 minutes. Our analyses are consistent with the theory that Rembrandt used light and texture to capture the viewer’s attention. Finally, the robustness of the eye-tracking method was demonstrated by replicating the study on a smaller replica.

本研究探究了人们如何观赏伦勃朗（Rembrandt）的传世名作《夜巡》（The Night Watch，1642年）。本研究招募21名被试，每名被试在画作前停留5分钟，期间使用移动眼动仪记录其眼动轨迹，并通过有声思维法采集其思考过程的口述报告。本研究采用新型无标记映射法，计算得到被试的注意力分布热图。研究结果显示，被试的注意力主要集中于两位核心人物的面部、画作中亮眼的标志性少女，以及核心人物服饰等细节元素。眼动分析与有声思维数据同时表明，在5分钟的观测周期内，被试的注意力会从核心人物面部逐渐转移至场景中的其他元素。本研究的分析结果与伦勃朗通过光影与质感捕捉观者注意力的相关理论相符。最后，本研究通过对小型复制品开展重复实验，验证了该眼动追踪方法的稳健性。