A tool for tracking visual attention: The Restricted Focus Viewer

Eye-tracking equipment has proven useful in examining the cognitive processes people use when understanding and reasoning with visual stimuli. However, eye-tracking has several drawbacks: accurate eye-tracking equipment is expensive, it is often awkward for participants, it requires frequent recalibration, and the data can be difficult to interpret. We introduce an alternative tool: theRestricted Focus Viewer (RFV). This is a computer program that takes an image, blurs it, and displays it on a computer monitor, allowing the participant to see only a small region of the image in focus at any time. The region in focus can be moved using the computer mouse. The RFV records what the participant is focusing on at any point in time. It is cheap, nonintrusive, does not require calibration, and provides accurate data about which region is being focused on. We describe this tool and also provide experimental comparisons with eye-tracking. The RFV (Version 2.1) is freely available at http://www.csse.monash.edu. au/projects/RFV/.

[1]  Pablo Romero,et al.  Visual Attention and Representation Switching During Java Program Debugging: A Study Using the Restricted Focus Viewer , 2002, Diagrams.

[2]  K. Rayner.  Eye movements in reading and information processing: 20 years of research. , 1998, Psychological bulletin.

[3]  Priti Shah,et al.  A Model of the Perceptual and Conceptual Processes in Graph Comprehension , 1998 .

[4]  K. A. Ericsson,et al.  Protocol analysis: Verbal reports as data, Rev. ed. , 1993 .

[5]  Susan K. Schnipke,et al.  Trials and tribulations of using an eye-tracking system , 2000, CHI Extended Abstracts.

[6]  Gregory K. Tharp,et al.  Visual search in virtual environments , 1992, Electronic Imaging.

[7]  Stanley Coren,et al.  Sensation and perception , 1979 .

[8]  K. A. Ericsson,et al.  Protocol Analysis: Verbal Reports as Data , 1984 .

[9]  Alan F. Blackwell,et al.  Restricted Focus Viewer: A Tool for Tracking Visual Attention , 2000, Diagrams.

[10]  Theodore Steinke.  Eye Movement Studies In Cartography And Related Fields , 1987 .

[11]  A. L. I︠A︡rbus.  Eye Movements and Vision , 1967 .

[12]  Nicole Ummelen.  Procedural And Declarative Information In Software Manuals. , 1997 .

[13]  M. Tovée,et al.  An Introduction to the Visual System , 1997 .

[14]  K. Rayner,et al.  Eye movements and scene perception. , 1992, Canadian journal of psychology.

[15]  M. Just,et al.  Eye fixations and cognitive processes , 1976, Cognitive Psychology.

[16]  M. Hegarty.  Mental animation: inferring motion from static displays of mechanical systems. , 1992, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[17]  Koichi Oda,et al.  Moving window generator for reading experiments , 1994 .

[18]  J. Henderson,et al.  Object identification without foveal vision: Evidence from an artificial scotoma paradigm , 1997, Perception & psychophysics.

[19]  K. Rayner,et al.  The psychology of reading , 1989 .