Eye tracking guide

Common eye tracking questions

We answer some frequently asked questions about eye tracking.

Use for research

How is eye tracking technology used for research?

Eye tracking is used in research to understand visual attention and human behavior. Because visual attention is strongly linked to cognition (thought processes) it reveals a lot about what’s going on inside someone’s head. Eye tracking research areas and applications are wide and varied, but include scientific research, marketing and user experience studies, and human performance.

Scientists use it to study human behavior and increase their understanding of things like child development, psychological conditions, and neurological disorders. Marketers often use eye tracking to study consumer behavior, while manufacturers and other businesses can use it to observe human behavior during various tasks to determine the methods of operation and visual attention that yield the best results.

How do eye trackers work

How do eye trackers work?

Eye trackers work by directing invisible near-infrared light into a person’s eyes and then measuring the reflection of this light with high-definition cameras to determine where their gaze is focused. These cameras and illuminators (the light sources) are usually very small and are positioned inside the eye tracker, as you see with screen-based eye trackers, or they can be integrated into a wearable eye tracker, such as a pair of eye tracking glasses.

Advanced algorithms are used to calculate with great precision where the person is looking based on the direction of the reflected light. This information is used in conjunction with the material displayed on the screen or scene recordings taken from the scene camera on a wearable eye tracker to give an accurate representation of what the person is looking at.

When to use an eye tracker

When to use an eye tracker?

Shopping in a store wearing Tobii Pro Glasses 3

You should use an eye tracker if you want to study where someone is looking. This might be the case if you are studying human behavior within various fields such as psychology, neuroscience, marketing, or human performance.

Eye tracking is also commonly used for user experience testing as it gives great insight into how people interact with a website or design.

Eye tracker tests

What are eye tracker tests?

Tobii runs numerous eye tracker tests to ensure our products perform to an optimal standard. We have developed a comprehensive test method to confirm the quality of data that our systems produce.

Tobii Pro Spectrum Eye Tracker with Gaze Plot

The method takes into account a variety of scenarios and users and clearly outlines accuracy and precision metrics as well as experimental procedures under variant conditions so you can easily understand and interpret the specifications.

Our solutions

Learn more on how eye tracking is used in a variety field of uses.

Scientific research

Eye tracking decodes a person’s behavior into insights, enabling researchers in a wide variety of fields to discover and publish new findings.

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Consumer research and user experience

With eye tracking, you can visualize the impact of your shopper journey, packaging design, advertising, or user experience, empowering you to attract more customers.

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