Eye-tracking customers' visual attention in the wild: Dynamic gaze behavior moderates the effect of store familiarity on navigational fluency

Eye tracking has been an essential tool within the vision science community for many years. However, the majority of studies involving eye-tracking technology employ a relatively passive approach through the use of static imagery, prescribed motion, or video stimuli. This is in contrast to our everyday interaction with the natural world where we navigate our environment while actively seeking and using task-relevant visual information. For this reason, an increasing number of vision researchers are employing virtual environment platforms, which offer interactive, realistic visual environments while maintaining a substantial level of experimental control. Here, we recorded eye movement behavior while subjects freely navigated through a rich, open-world virtual environment. Within this environment, subjects completed a visual search task where they were asked to find and count occurrence of specific targets among numerous distractor items. We assigned each participant into one of four target conditions: Humvees, motorcycles, aircraft, or furniture. Our results show a statistically significant relationship between gaze behavior and target objects across Target Conditions with increased visual attention toward assigned targets. Specifically, we see an increase in the number of fixations and an increase in dwell time on target relative to distractor objects. In addition, we included a divided attention task to investigate how search changed with the addition of a secondary task. With increased cognitive load, subjects slowed their speed, decreased gaze on objects, and increased the number of objects scanned in the environment. Overall, our results confirm previous findings and support that complex virtual environments can be used for active visual search experimentation, maintaining a high level of precision in the quantification of gaze information and visual attention. This study contributes to our understanding of how individuals search for information in a naturalistic (open-world) virtual environment. Likewise, our paradigm provides an intriguing look into the heterogeneity of individual behaviors when completing an un-timed visual search task while actively navigating.

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An Exploratory Study Combining Eye-Tracking and Virtual Reality: Are Pulses Good “Eye-Catchers” in Virtual Supermarket Shelves?

Frontiers in Virtual Reality ◽

10.3389/frvir.2021.655273 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2 ◽

Author(s):

Juliana Melendrez-Ruiz ◽

Isabelle Goisbault ◽

Jean-Christophe Charrier ◽

Kevin Pagnat ◽

Laurence Dujourdy ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Virtual Reality ◽

Visual Attention ◽

Eye Tracking ◽

Potential Barrier ◽

Exploratory Study ◽

Food Group ◽

Environmental Benefits ◽

Gaze Behavior ◽

The Past

Despite numerous health and environmental benefits, the consumption of pulses (i.e. lentils, chickpeas … ) in France has decreased over the past few decades. One potential barrier to pulse consumption may be their shelf placement in French supermarkets. We studied gaze behavior toward pulses in a virtual supermarket. Products from four food categories (animal-based, pulses, starches, and vegetables) were randomly presented on four shelves (canned, dried, ready-to-eat, and refrigerated). Then, a composite super-shelf combined the canned, dried, and refrigerated shelves. Gaze behavior was recorded for the 108 participants in two screening phases: i) the four shelves one-by-one, ii) the super-shelf. Pulses were not strong “eye-catchers”: gaze behavior toward pulses varied from shelf to shelf. Similarly, visual attention was different for each food-group during super-shelf screening. These results could be used to implement specific strategies that should be developed in supermarkets to encourage the choice of pulses by consumers, and thus increase pulse consumption.

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Visual Attention Software: A New Tool for Understanding the “Subliminal” Experience of the Built Environment

Applied Sciences ◽

10.3390/app11136197 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (13) ◽

pp. 6197

Author(s):

Alexandros A. Lavdas ◽

Nikos A. Salingaros ◽

Ann Sussman

Keyword(s):

Visual Attention ◽

Eye Tracking ◽

Wearable Sensors ◽

Computer Gaming ◽

Geometric Patterns ◽

Relative Design ◽

Fixation Points ◽

High Degree ◽

Artificial Intelligence Application ◽

Intelligence Application

Eye-tracking technology is a biometric tool that has found many commercial and research applications. The recent advent of affordable wearable sensors has considerably expanded the range of these possibilities to fields such as computer gaming, education, entertainment, health, neuromarketing, psychology, etc. The Visual Attention Software by 3M (3M-VAS) is an artificial intelligence application that was formulated using experimental data from eye-tracking. It can be used to predict viewer reactions to images, generating fixation point probability maps and fixation point sequence estimations, thus revealing pre-attentive processing of visual stimuli with a very high degree of accuracy. We have used 3M-VAS software in an innovative implementation to analyze images of different buildings, either in their original state or photographically manipulated, as well as various geometric patterns. The software not only reveals non-obvious fixation points, but also overall relative design coherence, a key element of Christopher Alexander’s theory of geometrical order. A more evenly distributed field of attention seen in some structures contrasts with other buildings being ignored, those showing instead unconnected points of splintered attention. Our findings are non-intuitive and surprising. We link these results to both Alexander’s theory and Neuroscience, identify potential pitfalls in the software’s use, and also suggest ways to avoid them.

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TVA in the wild: Applying the theory of visual attention to game-like and less controlled experiments

Open Psychology ◽

10.1515/psych-2021-0001 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. 1-46

Author(s):

Alexander Krüger ◽

Jan Tünnermann ◽

Lukas Stratmann ◽

Lucas Briese ◽

Falko Dressler ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Visual Attention ◽

Computer Games ◽

Driving Simulator ◽

Formal Theory ◽

Partial Report ◽

Visual Encoding ◽

In The Wild ◽

Series Of Experiments ◽

Attentional Weight ◽

Sufficient Precision

Abstract As a formal theory, Bundesen’s theory of visual attention (TVA) enables the estimation of several theoretically meaningful parameters involved in attentional selection and visual encoding. As of yet, TVA has almost exclusively been used in restricted empirical scenarios such as whole and partial report and with strictly controlled stimulus material. We present a series of experiments in which we test whether the advantages of TVA can be exploited in more realistic scenarios with varying degree of stimulus control. This includes brief experimental sessions conducted on different mobile devices, computer games, and a driving simulator. Overall, six experiments demonstrate that the TVA parameters for processing capacity and attentional weight can be measured with sufficient precision in less controlled scenarios and that the results do not deviate strongly from typical laboratory results, although some systematic differences were found.

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Saliency-Based Gaze Visualization for Eye Movement Analysis

Sensors ◽

10.3390/s21155178 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (15) ◽

pp. 5178

Author(s):

Sangbong Yoo ◽

Seongmin Jeong ◽

Seokyeon Kim ◽

Yun Jang

Keyword(s):

Eye Movements ◽

Visual Attention ◽

Eye Movement ◽

Visual Stimuli ◽

Saliency Map ◽

Gaze Behavior ◽

The Gaze ◽

Movement Data ◽

Visual Clues ◽

Human Visual Attention

Gaze movement and visual stimuli have been utilized to analyze human visual attention intuitively. Gaze behavior studies mainly show statistical analyses of eye movements and human visual attention. During these analyses, eye movement data and the saliency map are presented to the analysts as separate views or merged views. However, the analysts become frustrated when they need to memorize all of the separate views or when the eye movements obscure the saliency map in the merged views. Therefore, it is not easy to analyze how visual stimuli affect gaze movements since existing techniques focus excessively on the eye movement data. In this paper, we propose a novel visualization technique for analyzing gaze behavior using saliency features as visual clues to express the visual attention of an observer. The visual clues that represent visual attention are analyzed to reveal which saliency features are prominent for the visual stimulus analysis. We visualize the gaze data with the saliency features to interpret the visual attention. We analyze the gaze behavior with the proposed visualization to evaluate that our approach to embedding saliency features within the visualization supports us to understand the visual attention of an observer.

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Does What We See Shape History? Examining Workload History as a Function of Performance and Ambient/Focal Visual Attention

ACM Transactions on Applied Perception ◽

10.1145/3449066 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (2) ◽

pp. 1-17

Author(s):

Shannon P. Devlin ◽

Jennifer K. Byham ◽

Sara Lu Riggs

Keyword(s):

Visual Attention ◽

Eye Tracking ◽

Performance Measure ◽

Task Demands ◽

Unexpected Finding ◽

Impact Performance ◽

History Effects ◽

And Performance ◽

Workload History ◽

Over Time

Changes in task demands can have delayed adverse impacts on performance. This phenomenon, known as the workload history effect, is especially of concern in dynamic work domains where operators manage fluctuating task demands. The existing workload history literature does not depict a consistent picture regarding how these effects manifest, prompting research to consider measures that are informative on the operator's process. One promising measure is visual attention patterns, due to its informativeness on various cognitive processes. To explore its ability to explain workload history effects, participants completed a task in an unmanned aerial vehicle command and control testbed where workload transitioned gradually and suddenly. The participants’ performance and visual attention patterns were studied over time to identify workload history effects. The eye-tracking analysis consisted of using a recently developed eye-tracking metric called coefficient K , as it indicates whether visual attention is more focal or ambient. The performance results found workload history effects, but it depended on the workload level, time elapsed, and performance measure. The eye-tracking analysis suggested performance suffered when focal attention was deployed during low workload, which was an unexpected finding. When synthesizing these results, they suggest unexpected visual attention patterns can impact performance immediately over time. Further research is needed; however, this work shows the value of including a real-time visual attention measure, such as coefficient K , as a means to understand how the operator manages varying task demands in complex work environments.

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Visual attention for solving multiple-choice science problem: An eye-tracking analysis

Computers & Education ◽

10.1016/j.compedu.2011.07.012 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 58 (1) ◽

pp. 375-385 ◽

Cited By ~ 128

Author(s):

Meng-Jung Tsai ◽

Huei-Tse Hou ◽

Meng-Lung Lai ◽

Wan-Yi Liu ◽

Fang-Ying Yang

Keyword(s):

Visual Attention ◽

Eye Tracking ◽

Multiple Choice ◽

Science Problem

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Seeking attention: an eye tracking study of in-store merchandise displays

International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management ◽

10.1108/ijrdm-06-2013-0120 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 43 (6) ◽

pp. 561-574 ◽

Cited By ~ 42

Author(s):

Patricia Huddleston ◽

Bridget K. Behe ◽

Stella Minahan ◽

R. Thomas Fernandez

Keyword(s):

Visual Attention ◽

Eye Tracking ◽

Purchase Intention ◽

Product Information ◽

Product Category ◽

Practical Significance ◽

Content Type ◽

First Time ◽

Tracking Technology

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to elucidate the role that visual measures of attention to product and information and price display signage have on purchase intention. The authors assessed the effect of visual attention to the product, information or price sign on purchase intention, as measured by likelihood to buy. Design/methodology/approach – The authors used eye-tracking technology to collect data from Australian and US garden centre customers, who viewed eight plant displays in which the signs had been altered to show either price or supplemental information (16 images total). The authors compared the role of visual attention to price and information sign, and the role of visual attention to the product when either sign was present on likelihood to buy. Findings – Overall, providing product information on a sign without price elicited higher likelihood to buy than providing a sign with price. The authors found a positive relationship between visual attention to price on the display sign and likelihood to buy, but an inverse relationship between visual attention to information and likelihood to buy. Research limitations/implications – An understanding of the attention-capturing power of merchandise display elements, especially signs, has practical significance. The findings will assist retailers in creating more effective and efficient display signage content, for example, featuring the product information more prominently than the price. The study was conducted on a minimally packaged product, live plants, which may reduce the ability to generalize findings to other product types. Practical implications – The findings will assist retailers in creating more effective and efficient display signage content. The study used only one product category (plants) which may reduce the ability to generalize findings to other product types. Originality/value – The study is one of the first to use eye-tracking in a macro-level, holistic investigation of the attention-capturing value of display signage information and its relationship to likelihood to buy. Researchers, for the first time, now have the ability to empirically test the degree to which attention and decision-making are linked.

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Perception and Action under Different Stimulus Presentations: A Review of Eye-Tracking Studies with an Extended View on Possibilities of Virtual Reality

Applied Sciences ◽

10.3390/app11125546 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (12) ◽

pp. 5546

Author(s):

Florian Heilmann ◽

Kerstin Witte

Keyword(s):

Virtual Reality ◽

Eye Tracking ◽

Literature Search ◽

Perception And Action ◽

Stimulus Presentation ◽

Gaze Behavior ◽

Motor Responses ◽

Scientific Approach ◽

Extended View

Visual anticipation is essential for performance in sports. This review provides information on the differences between stimulus presentations and motor responses in eye-tracking studies and considers virtual reality (VR), a new possibility to present stimuli. A systematic literature search on PubMed, ScienceDirect, IEEE Xplore, and SURF was conducted. The number of studies examining the influence of stimulus presentation (in situ, video) is deficient but still sufficient to describe differences in gaze behavior. The seven reviewed studies indicate that stimulus presentations can cause differences in gaze behavior. Further research should focus on displaying game situations via VR. The advantages of a scientific approach using VR are experimental control and repeatability. In addition, game situations could be standardized and movement responses could be included in the analysis.

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