Visual Attention

Abstract

In approaching the topic of eye tracking, we first have to consider the motivation for recording human eye movements. That is, why is eye tracking important? Simply put, we move our eyes to bring a particular portion of the visible field of view into high resolution so that we may see in fine detail whatever is at the central direction of gaze. Most often we also divert our attention to that point so that we can focus our concentration (if only for a very brief moment) on the object or region of interest. Thus, we may presume that if we can track someone’s eye movements, we can follow along the path of attention deployed by the observer. This may give us some insight into what the observer found interesting, i.e., what drew their attention, and perhaps even provide a clue as to how that person perceived whatever scene s/he was viewing.