Ekin Merve, Krejtz Krzysztof, Duarte Carlos, Pereira Letícia Seixas, Marcus-Quinn Ann, Krejtz Izabela
Institute of Psychology, SWPS University, Warsaw, Poland.
LASIGE, Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal.
PLoS One. 2025 Jul 30;20(7):e0328552. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0328552. eCollection 2025.
Web accessibility features on websites are designed for individuals with disabilities that include low vision and cognitive impairments, but such features can benefit everyone. This study investigates the impact of accessibility features of the web on ambient/focal visual attention and cognitive processing in individuals without disabilities. The study involved 20 participants reading news websites with different levels of low vision and cognitive-related accessibility features while their eye movements and heart rate variability were monitored. The findings show that cognitive engagement declined over time when no accessibility enhancements were present. The study also demonstrates that enhancing cognitive accessibility leads to increased user cognitive engagement, while low vision accessibility features make websites easier to read. These findings are corroborated by self-reports and psychophysiological measures, such as eye-tracking metrics and heart rate variability. The effects from these psychophysiological measures, together with participants' self-reports, support the benefits of enhancing web accessibility features for all users. The implications for future website design are also discussed.
网站上的无障碍访问功能是为包括视力低下和认知障碍在内的残疾人士设计的，但这些功能能让每个人受益。本研究调查了网络无障碍访问功能对无残疾个体的周边/焦点视觉注意力和认知处理的影响。该研究让20名参与者阅读具有不同程度视力低下和认知相关无障碍访问功能的新闻网站，同时监测他们的眼动和心率变异性。研究结果表明，当没有无障碍访问增强功能时，认知参与度会随着时间下降。该研究还表明，增强认知无障碍性会导致用户认知参与度增加，而视力低下无障碍访问功能使网站更易于阅读。这些发现得到了自我报告和心理生理测量结果的证实，如眼动追踪指标和心率变异性。这些心理生理测量结果的影响，连同参与者的自我报告，都支持了增强网络无障碍访问功能对所有用户的益处。本文还讨论了对未来网站设计的启示。
