There are people who love adrenalin-fuelled experiences and those who prefer to eschew them. The Caminito del Rey has certainly proved popular with the former group and now a study has analysed exactly what your brain goes through when you take the vertiginous walk through the gorge.
Experts from Fusión, which specialises in neuro-marketing, carried out the study on walkers to discover the range of emotions they experience using hi-tech eye-tracking glasses and a headband with neural sensors attached. The volunteer participants were very willing to take part in the experiment and told Gabriel Carrasco, the company’s manager, that “they found the work very interesting.” It was also a totally anonymous study.
It was a study of two parts: the first took place during the participants’ actual visit to the Caminito in order to analyse their eye movements in real time; the second part occurred at the end of the walk when the participants were shown a series of images of the pathway. While they looked at them, experts analysed their eye movements and facial expressions. With the participants’ adrenalin still high, the photos they studied evoked feelings of the recent experience. Sensors tracked the eye movements during the viewing of photographs and were able to pick up on the smallest reaction.
Carrasco explained that the eye cameras are attached to a mobile device recording and storing eye movement, and that there were several cameras that recorded eyeball movement whilst others focused on what the participants were seeing. This information allows experts to ”establish what drew the visitors’ attention and those that passed unnoticed,” Carrasco told reporters. The headband meanwhile registered brain waves that helped identify what the participants were feeling.
In order to avoid any bias Carrasco also said it was important “that everything was natural and real,” and that the participants forgot they were even wearing any gear at all.
Although the results have not yet been published, the scientists said they have already identified “three key points on the footbridge stretch that captured the attention of more than 90% of the participants.” They also revealed that one section on the first section of the walkway had an “enormous emotional impact” on 92% of the visitors. It is a fascinating topic—about one of the fascinating, scary and popular attractions on the Costa del Sol—and one that we can’t wait to read more about.