Mobile eye-tracking in freely moving participants

BU research

In July, Dr. Julie Kirkby and Dr. Jan Wiener were awarded a small grant from the Research Development Fund entitled: Mobile eye-tracking in freely moving participants. The aims of the project were (i.) to develop an in-depth understanding of the potential of the state-of-the-art mobile eye-tracker system that the Psychology Group purchased earlier in the year; (ii) to develop new experimental paradigms to use alongside mobile eye-tracking; (iii) to collect first data that will be published in international peer reviewed journals and that is essential for preparing future research proposals; (iv) to establish Psychology Group’s expertise in the emerging field of mobile eye-tracking.

In order to achieve these goals two mobile eye-tracking scenarios was used:

Working memory in the classroom: Poor working memory skills are relatively common in childhood and have a substantial impact on children’s learning. We have developed a novel experimental paradigm combining the mobile eye-tracker with a large field of view virtual reality setup to test the impact of working memory skills on viewing and search behaviour. We have tested a group of young adults at BU and then moved the setup to Avonbourne School in Bournemouth to test a group of school students.

 

Wayfinding: In a pilot study in Poole hospital, people’s gaze behaviour was recorded while they were asked tofind their way through this complex real-world settings. This was the first experiment in which the mobile eye-tracker was used in an actual navigation experiment. The experience and expertise gained through this work has been crucial to develop follow up studies that are currently been carried out in Poole hospital.

 

The small grant allowed us:-

  • … to establish novel experimental paradigms with mobile eye-tracking
  • … to record first data using mobile eye-tracking. In order to publish results from the experiments carried out in this project, we are currently completing the data sets
  • … to develop in-depth knowledge about the mobile eye-tracker which has helped us to develop further mobile eye-tracking projects, for example in Poole hospital
  • … to establish close contact with Avonbourne School in Bournemouth. This contact is now also used for other projects.
  • … to establish a close and ongoing collaboration between JK and JW.
  • … to establish a formal collaboration between the Centre for Visual Cognition at Southampton University and the Psychology Research Group at BU

For further information, please contact Dr. Julie Kirkby or Dr. Jan Wiener in the Psychology Research Group.

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