Minimize Distractions
Sensory distractions such as sounds from outside
the interpretive area can take attention away from
labels. In one of the first studies of label reading at
a zoo, my colleagues and I (Bitgood, Patterson, &
Benefield, 1988) observed that each time the zoo
train blew its whistle as it passed, visitors would
stop reading labels. Once interrupted, visitors did
not go back to complete reading of a label. They
moved on to the next exhibit. This phenomenon was
observed for a lmost every visitor: