Scan Paths Reduction in Eye Tracking Techniques

José David Patón Romero^1, , Ana Isabel Molina Díaz¹, Manuel Ortega Cantero¹ and Miguel Ángel Redondo Duque¹

¹College of Computer Science Engineering, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Ciudad Real, Spain

Cite this paper:
José David Patón Romero, Ana Isabel Molina Díaz, Manuel Ortega Cantero and Miguel Ángel Redondo Duque. Scan Paths Reduction in Eye Tracking Techniques. American Journal of Educational Research. 2015; 3(11):1476-1480. doi: 10.12691/education-3-11-19

Abstract

Nowadays, the eye tracking is gaining interest as an evaluation technique in a variety of areas and disciplines. Its use allows the study and analysis of the way in which a person visually explores a particular scene, interface or image. The use of this technique in the educational field has increasingly gained place and impact, highlighting its use in the evaluation of multimedia materials. It is interesting to know where and how the students focus their attention when studying the educational materials displayed on a screen. In particular, it is interesting to know the order of visual exploration that the student follows. In this way, for example, we can know, given a content consisting of text and images, whether the explanatory text is helpful or if the image on its own is enough. One of the representations obtained by applying eye tracking sessions is the scan path, which shows the order of points of attention (points of fixation) and the user fixation time on the scene. The main problem is the huge number of points on which a user fixes their attention while visually scanning the contents displayed, so these representations are complex and the analysis task is arduous. Thus, the objective sought is to reduce these scan paths and represent those data that can be more relevant to the researcher, such as transitions between the different areas of interest, or the scanning order of them. In this way, we can achieve a higher level of abstraction and a great deal of information easier to analyze for obtaining conclusions.

Keywords:
eye tracking eye tracker scan path heat map blind spots map fixation point areas of interest

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