Eye Tracking in Information Computer

ScienceWhat information are people “seeing” when

your web page pops up?

By Shirley Retz

Eye tracking is the process of measuring either the point of gaze (where one is looking) or the motion of an eye relative to the head.

Eye tracking machines allows us to track the visual path of a person’s eye.

Introduction to Eye Tracking

Eye Tracking

Eye Trackers

Gaze direction and gaze point. Eye-presence detection Eye position User identification Eye closure Eye movements and patterns Pupil size and pupil dilation

What is Being Tracked

Improves user interfaces Helps us to understand human behavior Used in behavioral research and human

response testing Useful in medical diagnostics Used in automotive and defensive industries to

improve safety

The list continues to grow as researchers come up with more and more creative ways to use these devices.

Why is this Information Useful?

Designing Noticeable Bricklets by Tracking Users’ Eye Movemnets◦ Djamasbi, S., Siegel, M., & Tullis,T. (2012).

Eye Tracking in Research

Recent research indicates that examining users’ viewing behaviors by tracking their eye movements is a useful method website designs.

Size, graphics, color, and location of information has an effect on how quickly information is seen and utilized by a user.

The focus of this study was on the design of bricklets, areas on a page that have spicific useful information making navigation faster and easier for a user.

Investigation and Hypothesis

N= 40 (15 male, 25 female) Various disciplines (business, legal,

technology, sales, administrative) Age= 23-60 Conducted as a between subjects study.

Each group of participants saw only one prototype in each pair (S1 or S2, but not both)

Presented in randomized order

Participants

8 web page prototypes (4 pairs)◦ Each pair of prototypes differed only in one

section: the bricklet under investigation

Procedure

Participants were then asked to complete a set of tasks that were directly associated with the bricklet under investigation.◦ Ie. “You would like to start receiving emails.

Where would you go to start the process?”◦ Answers to these tasks were located within the

designated bricklets.

Procedure

Size: significant difference was not found in relation to size of bricklet

Graphic: Users noticed the bricklet with the graphic faster than the bricklet without the graphic.

Color: Bricklets without contrasting background color was noticed faster.

Location: No significant difference between the position (left or right ) of the bricklet.

Results

Eye tracking was useful in this study to:◦ Determine where the participant looked◦ How quickly they were able to find information

needed (how fast their eye navigated to the correct information)

◦ Eye fixations (how long a participant looked at any given area.

◦ It provided useful information into the insight of visual attention of participants viewing habits

Discussion

Most of our evaluations are done so quickly, that our decisions become unconscious. Eye tracking allows some insight into these split decision processes.

It also provides researchers with useful information as to what we are attending to and processing.