Top-Down Visual Processing

Every time I visit Disneyland or Disney World, I walk through the park entrance and find these vintage ride posters.  They are plastered throughout the tunnels guiding you towards Main Street.  This particular poster is for the Alice in Wonderland ride in Fantasyland.  At first, your eyes are fixated, trying to look at all of the images on the poster.  Once you realize that all of the images are connected, the information your eyes take in travels to your brain and you begin to connect the images with things you may see while in the ride.  These longer fixations allow your brain to connect the images and the words, and then put them together.  The path your eyes follow is known as a scan path or eye path.  Your eyes go back and forth between all of the images on the poster, and the words compliment the images because they give more information about the ride and what you will be experiencing.  Your eyes make sure you see all of the images, since they are telling you the story behind the Alice in Wonderland ride (there’s the Cheshire Cat, Caterpillar, White Rabbit, etc.).  This process is goal-directed because your eyes are constantly scanning the poster and linking the images with actual concepts in the ride.  The overall process is known as Top-Down Visual Processing, goal-biased attentional looking.  This poster grabs your attention through its images, which your eyes take in and send to your brain to deliver the message.

Picture Works Cited:

http://lisamakes.wordpress.com/2008/07/04/the-wonderful-world-of-disneyland-posters/