What is Eye tracking?

Our eyes are the organ that allows us to observe and interact with our surroundings daily basis. We need our visual attention to read the news, prepare breakfast and go shopping, among many of our daily activities. Therefore, this source of information plays an entreme important role in decision-making.

Eye-tracking technology is used to mesure a person’s level of visual attention in response to an external stimulus; which can be displayed on a digital screen or in a physical environment. In addition, it makes possible to detect veluable features, such as areas of greater visual attention, the percentage of visibility of elements, the order in which elements are viewed, what captures attention first, whether one element draws attention over others, among other relevant indicators.

Eye-tracking devices can be:

Fixed: These devices are sensors that record eye movement while interacting with a computer screen on which a stimulus, such as an advertising piece or a web page, is displayed.

Mobiles: They take the form of glasses or headsets worn while performing any activity, such as walking through a store or examining a shelf in search of a product or the best deal. The practicality of this tool allows information ro be recorded while interacting with real-world elements.

Using either a portable or fixed device, eye movements are recorded and visual attention indicators are generated. The tool provides various reports, including:

  • Heatmaps: Color-coded maps that represent the intensity of attention and differentiate the number of fixations, making it possible to identify which elements or stimuli generate the greatest interest.
  • Gaze plots: These indicate the sequence of fixations, their duration, and the locations where visual fixation points occur. Individual visual patterns can be observed.
  • Opacity maps: These create a layer over the stimulus that darkens or hides areas with no or very low visual fixation in order to highlight areas of greater interest. This map can display individual or aggregated information.
  • Areas of Interest (AoI): This feature allows a specific area to be defined in order to obtain exclusive data from that zone.
Eye-tracking technology can be applied to the following areas of study:
  1. Market research and consumer behavior.
  2. Design (web/mobile applications, advertisements, packaging)
  3. Eye movement patterns during reading (media, education sector)
  4. Media advertising evaluation (OOH, print, digital)
  5. Sports performance improvement
  6. Operational productivity improvement
  7. Medicine, Psychology, Behavioral Economics, among others.
  8. Video game interaction

Eye tracking is a valuable resource for the analysis of graphic materials, images, videos, digital platforms, as well as services. For more information on analyzing human interaction processes with various stimuli, or if you have an initiative or project in mind, please feel free to contact us at proyectos@neurometrics.la

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