Abstract: [Purposes] Landscape visual quality evaluation is of great significance for the protection and development of traditional villages' landscape spatial quality and features.How to establish the association between public landscape preference and landscape characteristics has become research focuses. [Methods] This study proposes to acquire physiological data through eye-tracking,combined with questionnaire surveys to obtain subjective preference scores.Image segmentation and the CatBoost-SHAP model were employed to analyze the contribution of each landscape element to visual preference. [Findings] Historical and cultural landscapes received the highest preference scores.Fixation hotspots were concentrated on artificial elements,among which architectural elements were the most favored.Saccade frequency and average pupil diameter showed a highly significant effect on preference (P<0.001),while fixation frequency showed a significant effect (P<0.01).Architectural features and the textural characteristics of raw-soil features were identified as core elements,and the artificial-to-natural ratio was also an important factor.Architecture promoted landscape preference,whereas non-intrinsic features exhibited a nonlinear effect with a certain threshold range,beyond which an inhibitory effect occurred. [Conclusions] The combination of eye-tracking analysis,subjective preference scores,and the CatBoost-SHAP model can effectively reveal the association mechanism between public preference and landscape characteristics,providing decision-making references for the adaptive protection and development of traditional villages.

Key words: traditional village, visual perception, landscape characteristics, cultural landscape, spatial quality assessment