ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with several phenomena associated with decreased attention. In most cases, physical fatigue and information overload seem to play less of a role in attention decrements because most museums visits are not prolonged and visitors usually are in control of how much simultaneous information they deal with. Melton argued that every object competes for attention with every other object that is visually available at any moment. Measures of fatigue have varied from the percentage stopping at an exhibit element, to total time viewing, to time sampling the focus of visitor attention, and finally to self-reports of boredom and/or physical or mental tiredness/exhaustion. 'Museum fatigue' has been a difficult phenomenon to define as well as to measure. Robinson and Melton were perhaps the first to suggest that "object satiation" occurs in a museum setting. There is a strong misconception among both visitors and museum professionals that museum fatigue is inevitable, and that it cannot be eliminated.
