Measurements of visitor behavior were collected at selected exhibits in 13 zoos throughout the United States. Percentage of visitors who stopped at each exhibit and the duration of visitor viewing time were obtained at exhibits of various species. Visitor behavior was found to correlate with both the characteristics of animals (animal activity, size of species, presence of infant) and the architectural characteristics of the exhibits (presence of visually competing exhibits, proximity of visitor to animal, visibility of animals, physical features of the exhibit). These finding have several implications for designing zoo exhibits.

How visitors circulate through museums determines what they will see, where they will focus their attention, and, ultimately, what they will learn and experience. Unfortunately, the consistency of these movement patterns is not readily apparent. This article reviews the literature on visitor circulation in light of the general value principle which predicts choice behavior as a ratio of perceived experience outcome (benefits) divided by perceived costs (time, effort, and so on). Although this principle at first appears obvious, its implications may be more profound.

Peoplewalk through the built environment in predictable ways. Choice movement of pedestrians at intersections in public places conforms to the principle of economy of movement or effort. To test this principle, pedestrians at two shopping malls were observed at three major intersections. Pedestrians navigated the intersections with the fewest number of steps. Choice point movement almost always avoided the crossover turning patterns that required more steps (i.e., turning left from the right-hand side of the corridor or turning right from the left-hand side). The findings support the argument that economy of movement explains much or most of the patterns of movement including right turning (when it does occur). These findings are consistent with a cost-benefit analysis of behavior: People attempt to reduce the cost (in this case, number of steps taken) to maximize the benefits of their behavior.

Hungry rats received food following lever-press durations exceeding a minimum value, which ranged from 0 to 6.4 sec. When no intertrial intervals separated successive presses, modal press durations remained at very short values as the minimum value required for food was increased. This was particularly true immediately after a food presentation. When an 8-sec intertrial interval followed each lever release, modal press durations were always at or beyond the minimum value required for food, and outcome of the preceding press had no effect on press duration. Possible reasons for the effects of intertrial intervals included punishment of short presses, increased delay of reinforcement of short presses, and reduced density of reinforcement. In addition, functions relating discrete-trials lever-press duration to minimum duration required for food were found to be qualitatively and quantitatively similar to the power functions recently proposed by Catania (1970) for interresponse time and response latency. This similarity was taken as support for a general psychophysical law of temporal judgments.

The literature on museum fatigue is critically reviewed in terms of (a) empirical studies, (b) phenomena associated with fatigue, (c) outcome measures used, and (d) possible causes of the phenomena. The review suggests that (a) fatigue should be defined in terms of both its causes and its outcomes; (b) museum fatigue is not a simple phenomenon and to understand it we need to examine the impact of all the phenomena as well as how they interact with each other; (c) at least 2 phenomena (object competition and information overload) that have been associated with "fatigue" appear to have little to do with fatigue other than share the pattern of decreased attention; (d) the 3 measures of direct observation (percent stop, viewing time, and time samples) are not highly correlated with one another; (e) added to the confusion are methodological issues, such as confounding variables and inconsistent outcomes; and finally, (f) there is a questionable relationship between overt measures of fatigue and self-report measures. More research and critical examination of these phenomena are needed if we are to understand and ameliorate the negative impact of what we call museum fatigue.This article reviews the literature on several phenomena associated with museum fatigue, a term fraught with surplus meaning and misconceptions. As recognized by