The development of processing and assessment tools for event detection in eye movement data
With the rapidly growing number of people using eye trackers, the need to address and solve fundamental problems related to the analysis of eye-tracking data have become increasingly important. Fixation, saccades, and smooth pursuit are prototypical eye-movement events that comprise fundamental units in eye-tracking research, since they provide direct links to a variety of cognitive processes. Previous research has identified a number of serious flaws in current algorithms that are used to detect these events.
Aims
The purpose of this project is to devise improved definitions, methods, and algorithms for event detection. Specifically, we will investigate techniques for noise reduction and artifact removal in raw eye-tracking data, design filters that allow accurate calculation of eye-movement velocity and acceleration, and develop new event detection algorithms. In particular, we will pioneer smooth pursuit algorithms, which make it possible to identify periods when the eye follows a moving target. This is currently not possible, and has limited the possibility to perform experiments with moving stimuli in, e.g., research about human computer interaction and cognitive psychology.
Methods
A representative database containing eye movement data with different dynamic characteristics has been collected with the SMI Hi-speed system, and will be extended with data recorded with other systems. Knowledge about the physiological limitations of eye movements, the technical properties of the eye trackers combined with advanced signal processing methods will be used to develop improved event detection methods.
Research group
PI: Prof. Marianne Gullberg
The Humanities Laboratory, Lund University
Linnea Larsson
Dept. of Electrical and Information Technology, Lund University
Martin Stridh
Dept. of Electrical and Information Technology, Lund University
Marcus Nyström
The Humanities Laboratory, Lund University
Kenneth Holmqvist
The Humanities Laboratory, Lund University
Richard Andersson
The Humanities Laboratory, Lund University