Just a human after all: What eye tracking reveals about cognition in human factors

As technology and complex systems advance, understanding how the human mind interacts with the systems becomes increasingly important. This article explores how the human factors field uses eye tracking to explore attention, memory, and decision-making — insights that help design smarter, safer, and more intuitive systems. 

Cognitive abilities are the mental skills we use to get things done, like paying attention, remembering information, learning new concepts, and solving problems. These core processes shape how we interact with the world around us, especially in fast-moving environments filled with complex systems and technology. 

In human factors research, understanding these abilities is essential. It allows designers and engineers to create tools, systems, and interfaces that play to our cognitive strengths and support us where we are most likely to struggle. The result? Safer, more efficient, user-friendly experiences, whether in a high-stakes workplace, a vehicle cockpit, or the digital interfaces we use daily.  

Eye tracking provides a unique window into the cognitive abilities  

Eye tracking technology is a powerful tool for understanding human behavior within the context of human factors. By revealing where individuals direct their visual attention, eye tracking offers insight into underlying cognitive processes such as decision-making, memory, and cognitive load — all essential for effective task performance.  

For instance, a construction worker must remain aware of the site layout and hazards, maintain focus while operating heavy machinery, and make rapid decisions in response to unexpected changes. Eye tracking, like Tobii Glasses X, enables identifying and visualizing potential error points and helps optimize attention and decision-making for greater safety and efficiency. 

Why study cognitive abilities? 

Understanding cognitive abilities is key to designing systems that align with how people think and operate.  

• Mitigate human error 

  Identify and mitigate potential sources of human error by designing systems that align with human cognitive abilities.  

• Enhance workplace safety  

  Understanding how attention lapses lead to health hazards in a workplace can help reduce the risk of accidents.  

• Design intuitive interfaces 

  Studying cognitive abilities informs the creation of interfaces that are easy to navigate and the design of inclusive systems catering to diverse users. 

• Deliver effective training 

  By gaining insights into how people learn new tasks, training programs can be optimized to accelerate learning, improve retention, and transfer critical skills to new employees.  

• Improve cognitive load management 

  Studying cognitive load informs the design of interfaces that present information in a way that is easily digestible during high-pressure situations. 

• Optimize team performance 

  Research on team cognition helps build teams that communicate effectively and share a common understanding of tasks and goals, leading to better coordination in critical environments. 

What cognitive abilities can you assess with eye tracking? 

Situational awareness 

Situational awareness (SA) is the ability to understand what is happening around you and make informed decisions. Eye tracking technology provides real-time data on visual attention, helping to improve SA in various fields. For example, in offshore drilling operations, eye tracking can identify when workers are distracted, enhancing safety and performance.  

Decision-making 

Eye tracking offers a unique window into decision-making by capturing visual attention patterns. It helps predict human performance, identify cognitive biases, and improve system design. Understanding how people make decisions can create more effective training programs and decision-support tools. 

Cognitive load 

Cognitive load refers to the mental resources required to perform a task.
Screen-based eye trackers and Tobii Pro Lab can measure cognitive load by analyzing blink rate, pupil diameter, and eye movements. This information helps design intuitive and user-friendly interfaces, optimize training programs, and prevent errors by managing cognitive demands. 

Learning and skill acquisition 

Eye tracking technology is invaluable for understanding how people learn and acquire skills. By analyzing eye movements, one can identify the differences between novice and expert performance, optimize training programs, and provide real-time feedback. This leads to more effective learning and skill acquisition, improving performance and safety. 

Team cognition 

In team settings, effective collaboration is crucial. Eye tracking can provide insights into team dynamics by measuring gaze overlap, leader-follower gaze patterns, and joint visual attention. This information helps improve team coordination and performance, leading to better outcomes in complex tasks. 

Harnessing eye tracking for human factors insights 

Eye tracking technology is a powerful tool for understanding and improving human factors across various industries. By studying cognitive abilities such as situational awareness, decision-making, cognitive load, learning, and team cognition, you can create safer, more efficient, and more effective systems and training programs.