From marketing and safety research to assistive technologies, eye tracking technology is becoming a part of our everyday lives. Just a couple of decades ago, we couldn’t have dreamed of the ways this fascinating technology would impact life for people in the medical, business and tech fields.
But how does eye tracking technology really work? What is behind the eye trackers that provide data and communication opportunities for so many people?
Many eye tracking devices utilize video technology. Specialized cameras produce high-resolution images of our irises, pupils, and scleras. Infrared lights illuminate the eyes and produce reflections off the corneal surfaces to provide critical geometric information about the orientation of the eyeball.
The image processing function is an essential component of an eye tracking device that measures the geometric features of the eye elements and computes the spatial positions and orientations of the eyes. Eye trackers use this information to project the spatial locations of the eye’s gaze points. For example, when you are looking at a computer screen, the gaze point may be expressed in x,y screen coordinates.
Our vision system allows us to gather data about the environment. However, our eyes can only look at one place at a time. So, our brains have evolved a strategy for focusing the eyes on the most information-rich objects available. Our brains direct the eyes to the most important areas in our surroundings from one moment to the next.
Researchers use eye tracking technology to observe where our brains choose to look. While an eye tracking device cannot explain why our brain chooses to focus on specific things, it can measure and record the sequence of visual pointing decisions the brain makes. Therefore, we can make inferences about what is important to our underlying cognitive processes with this information.
Join our 20 minute public virtual demonstrations that occur every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday @ 11AM EST. We will present a general overview of the Eyegaze Edge® and give a quick demonstration of its functionalities.