Primary perceptual field in visual materials

Abstract

This study aims to determine the field (s) that students tend to perceive first in an instructional material. It employs the scanning model and its study group consists of 378 sophomore students attending the Faculty of Education at Ahi Evran University. The data has been obtained by collecting the student responses to a visual material designed by the researchers. The results have been interpreted through the frequency, percentage, Kendall's taub and the Kolmogorov-Smirnov Z-test applied on the collected data. For the differences and relationships, a significance level of p<0.05 was deemed as sufficient. The analysis yielded the following conclusions: the field including the primarily perceived message in a visual principally focuses around the center of the visual or in the first point of interest according to the rule of thirds. In the subsequent visuals as well, students tend to look at the point where the message they primarily perceived is located. Finally in a visual containing informal balance, the primarily perceived message concentrates more on the center of the visual when compared to the formal balance. © Medwell Journals, 2009.