What is a Pupillometer?

Eye tracker is an important instrument for basic psychological research. Eye tracker is used to record the characteristics of human eye movement trajectory when processing visual information.

Eye tracker

Eye tracker is an important instrument for basic psychological research. Eye tracker is used to record the characteristics of eye movement trajectory when processing visual information. It is widely used in the fields of attention, visual perception and reading.

Chinese name

Eye tracker

Nature

The first European Eye Movement Conference was held in Bern, Germany in 1981. Although the scale is very small, it marks the prosperity of eye movement research. The 13th European Eye Movement Conference was held in Bern, Switzerland in August 2005. Its scale and scope have already exceeded Europe. It has become an important platform for eye movement research experts to exchange academic ideas and strengthen cooperation. The research of eye movement psychology is an emerging field, and it has become a useful paradigm of contemporary psychology research.

With the development of intelligent, serial, and portable eye trackers, their theoretical research and applications in many branches of psychology have been rapidly developed. Here is a brief introduction to some research and application fields of eye trackers.

Research on the Psychological Mechanism of Eye Movement and Visual Information Processing

Application of Eye Movement in Ergonomics Research

The constraints of human factors are often considered in engineering design. Such as the speed, scope and speed of visual information search. The ergonomics of eye movement is to use the eye movement index to detect the visual information extraction and visual control problems in human-computer interaction, make the design conform to human body structure and physical and mental characteristics, and realize the best combination between human, machine and environment . Makes it easier, more efficient, more comfortable and safer for people to work.

Eye Movements in Traffic Psychology

The research on eye movement in traffic psychology mainly involves the dial design in the cockpit, the road construction and the setting of road signs, the visual information search and training of the driver during the driving process, and so on. France Florence Hella emphasized the importance of eye movement analysis when using new technologies to present information to study automotive dashboards.

Constructing a theoretical model of driver's eye movement characteristics is very important in the study of driving behavior.

Hidden Markove dynamic models (HMDMs) have been proposed to predict the driver's behavior. This model can infer the driver's behavior intention (current state) based on the eye movement patterns obtained by observing the driver's behavior. . For example, pay attention to the condition of the car on the road, check the current position of the car, and adjust the position of the car to the center of the road. Therefore, this analysis system has practical application value. Can provide useful information for smart car systems.

Application of Eye Movement in Aviation Psychology

Aviation psychology is an important branch of psychology. It had begun as early as World War II. It mainly studies the behavioral characteristics of pilots in the aviation environment and human factors in the design of aviation equipment. The research using eye movements as indicators mainly includes: 1) Behavior characteristics of pilots in aviation environment. 2) Study the human-machine relationship between aircraft design and users. 3) Research and training of pilots.

Research on Eye Movement in Sports Psychology

In the course of various sports, the extraction of visual information is its basic psychological support.

The different modes of visual information extraction may correctly reflect the difference in athletic ability between high-level athletes and ordinary (or novice) athletes. Therefore, recording the eye movement patterns of athletes at different levels during sports training or competition is conducive to providing effective novice training patterns and strategies. Some items such as basketball, football, table tennis, ice hockey, golf, tennis, billiards, shot put, cricket, gymnastics, fencing, cycling and professional chess can all be studied with eye trackers.

Application of Eye Tracker in Website Usability Study

The research of eye tracking technology on website usability mainly includes two aspects: the study of web browsing habits and the research of website page layout. Among them, the study of web browsing habits is mainly to obtain relevant information by observing and analyzing web browsing data of netizens, so as to judge the influence of webpage structure, design, content, etc. on netizens, and further infer how the website is implemented The optimal layout can have the greatest visual and psychological impact on the website audience.

Research on web browsing habits

In eye movement research, it was found that the gaze habits tested were almost the same when browsing different web pages. The most common browsing mode is the F-shaped fixation point distribution. Of course, not all the gaze points tested are F-shaped, and there will be E-shaped and inverted L-shaped,

But most of the data are very similar to F-type fixation, in fact they are all derived from F-type fixation.

It can be seen from the information in the figure that the eye tracking technology records the eye movement trajectory of the user when browsing three different web pages. The first picture shows the typical F-type fixation point distribution. Through the analysis of the recorded data, we can clearly understand the order in which the users gazed at the three web pages, the gaze time, the number of fixations, the saccade distance, and the change in pupil diameter on a certain part of the page. Psychological activities, so as to provide effective information for the layout of the webpage, so that website companies have strong theoretical support for the decision of the structure, content, advertising space and optimization of the webpage.

It should be noted that in the research of eye tracking technology on web browsing habits, this is just one of the subtle commonalities, and more accurate and effective information and research still needs to be more targeted usability test for each website.

Compared with the eye tracking technology's research on web browsing habits, the research purpose of the website page layout is similar to that of the former, but because of the great innovation in the research of the latter, Its research purpose also has higher requirements.

Research on website page layout

The research of eye tracking technology on the layout of website pages is dedicated to making users feel smoother and more comfortable. In habitual gaze actions of browsing pages, the content of website pages is optimized to make it easier for viewers to find the content they need.

Specifically, the eye tracking technology analyzes the eye movement trajectory and browsing habits of the user by recording the eye movement trajectory of the testee. On the other hand, it completely and objectively restores the user's visual attention and attention to each part of the page Trajectory and quality of attention. Through the usability study of the three major portals through eye tracking, we can see that compared to MSN and SINA, the page layout of the SOHU homepage is more uniform. Consistent, the width and width are also quite close, which helps the user's even distribution of attention. Based on the analysis results of these three figures, we can more intuitively find out the different areas where different web pages need to be modified, so as to obtain a more attractive web page layout.

Eye tracking technology was discovered and started research by scientists in the field of cognitive psychology in the 19th century. Over a hundred years of research history, eye tracking technology has continuously made breakthroughs and progress. In the 21st century, eye tracking technology has successfully become a practical science, which is widely used in academic research and business fields. With the continuous innovation and development of eye tracking technology, and the increasing demand for Internet technology, its application in website usability will become wider and wider. Using the data and information provided by eye tracking technology, the page design of website companies will become more and more experiential, allowing users to obtain a refreshing browsing experience, which on the one hand brings advantages to the development of the website, and also makes users faster and more convenient. Get the information you need from the web.