Children pay more attention to art when descriptions are playful and interactive, eye-tracking study finds

The description of a painting directly affects how children look at that artwork. This was discovered by psychologist Francesco Walker in the Rijksmuseum. Another finding of the study is that giving children information intended for adults has the same effect as giving them no information at all.

Many museums offer educational programs for children, says Leiden University psychologist Francesco Walker. But the descriptions of artworks available in the gallery are nearly always written for an adult audience. This is presumably why so many children simply “zap through” the artworks, without really looking at them attentively. Would it make a difference if the information available in the gallery was more accessible?

Walker collaborated with the Rijksmuseum to investigate the effect of different types of information. The research team also included students from Leiden University and researchers from VU Amsterdam, the University of British Columbia and Attention Architects.

The children wear an eye tracker, which is like a pair of glasses that records all their eye movements. This is one of the first studies to investigate children’s looking behavior in a museum, says Walker. The researchers published their article on 9 October 2024 in Scientific Reports.

Research design

The participants in the research were 62 children aged from 10 to 12 years, who had never previously visited the Rijksmuseum. They looked at three 17th-century paintings that were unknown to them: a banquet of the Amsterdam Civic Guard, a banquet still life and a winter landscape. The first group was given only the standard information that is available in the gallery, which is mainly factual and is written for adults.

The second group was given information that was written specially for children by educational staff of the Rijksmuseum. This described the paintings from the perspective of people in the artworks, such as a skater and a member of the Civic Guard. The children were also given search questions, such as “Where is the skater?” The third group of children received no information and were simply asked to look at the artworks.

Mapping the looking behavior

The eye tracker made it possible for the team to precisely map the children’s looking behavior. Participants who were given more appealing information were more focused and attentive, reports Walker. They directed their gaze to interesting and eye-catching elements in the painting, which had been emphasized in the descriptions.

However, another result was perhaps even more remarkable, he says. “When children were given information intended for adults, this had the same effect as giving them no information at all.” Both groups displayed a more random pattern of eye movements and spent less time looking at distinctive elements. Afterward, the two groups were also less able to name the various elements of the artworks.

“Looking at art is obviously a very personal experience,” says Walker. “But it’s really a pity if young art viewers find it difficult to concentrate on a painting and don’t see what makes it special. A well-designed museum experience can help them to discover paintings in a new way.”

Rijksmuseum’s response

The Rijksmuseum is very interested in the results of the study, says Pauline Kintz, head of the museum’s Public & Education department. “This research gives us clear insight into how you can direct children’s eyes, and that they will look in a focused way if you tell them something engaging about a specific detail.

“We want our visitors, which naturally means children as well, to make contact with what they look at; to feel attracted to it, instead of just walking past without feeling anything. We’re certainly going to include this insight in our policy for this young target group.”