The Potential of the Eye

Saying that the eyes are the mirror of the soul makes a lot of sense because the eye and its movements actually reflect the activity of the brain. Given this, the potential of eye tracking is nearly everywhere the eye can see. The challenge is to translate eye data into meaningful tools.

The properties of the eye

The eyes are particularly useful when studying human behavior and in computer interaction. Why?  The answer lies in the properties of the eye itself.

The retina

The light sensitive neural tissue that covers the back of the eye, the retina, is widely viewed as a part of the brain itself. Over 90 percent of the information that reaches the brain does so via the optic nerve.

Fixations and saccades

Scanning our environment is a natural and subconscious process, using fixations to focus on details that draw our attention. We move our eyes to place the object of interest on the most sensitive part of the retina and fixation (keeping the gaze still) is central for our ability to get detailed visual impressions. Eye movement from fixation to fixation is called saccade. Saccades are the fastest movements produced by the human body.

Continue to read more about how eye tracking can be used to understand human behavior.