Visual Comparison of Eye Movement Patterns

• Published in: Computer graphics forum Vol. 36; no. 3; pp. 87 - 97
• Main Authors: Blascheck, Tanja, Schweizer, Markus, Beck, Fabian, Ertl, Thomas
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.06.2017
• Subjects: Barriers; Categories and Subject Descriptors (according to ACM CCS); Coding; Eye movements; Graph comparison; Graphs; H.5.2 [Information Interfaces and Presentation]: User Interfaces—Graphical user interfaces (GUI); Movement; Outliers (statistics); Tracking
• ISSN: 0167-7055; 1467-8659
• DOI: 10.1111/cgf.13170

In eye tracking research, finding eye movement patterns and similar strategies between participants’ eye movements is important to understand task solving strategies and obstacles. In this application paper, we present a graph comparison method using radial graphs that show Areas of Interest (AOIs) and their transitions. An analyst investigates a single graph based on dwell times, directed transitions, and temporal AOI sequences. Two graphs can be compared directly and temporal changes may be analyzed. A list and matrix approach facilitate the analyst to contrast more than two graphs guided by visually encoded graph similarities. We evaluated our approach in case studies with three eye tracking and visualization experts. They identified temporal transition patterns of eye movements across participants, groups of participants, and outliers.