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Customer stories
Tracking eye movements to diagnose Parkinson’s disease
Karolinska Institute explored the possibility of using eye tracking as a prospective diagnostic tool for Parkinson’s disease, and their quest yielded exciting results.
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Neurological disease research
Advance neurological research with eye tracking
Use eye tracking to study changes in eye movements, visual behavior, and cognitive function associated with Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Tourette syndrome, and other neurological conditions.
Why eye trackingMeasure changes in cognitive function
Eye movements are closely connected to neural systems involved in vision, attention, cognition, and motor control. Neurological disease can affect these processes, producing measurable changes in fixation, target tracking, visual search, reading, and responses to stimuli.
Eye tracking provides an objective, non-invasive way to quantify these changes and investigate potential markers of neurological function. Applications range from neurodegenerative disease and mild cognitive impairment to neurological injury and neurodevelopmental conditions.
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Features
FeaturesCapture oculomotor and behavioral responses
Quantify oculomotor, visual, and cognitive responses to investigate how neurological conditions affect behavior and function.
Fixation
Measure fixation duration, stability, and the ability to maintain gaze on a target.
Saccades
Analyze rapid eye movements, including their timing, direction, amplitude, and accuracy.
Smooth pursuit
Investigate how accurately the eyes follow continuously moving visual targets.
Pupil response
Measure changes in pupil size and response during controlled visual or cognitive tasks.
Visual search
Study how participants scan scenes, locate information, and distribute attention.
Reading behavior
Measure fixations, saccades, regressions, and reading time to investigate changes during reading.
Clinical researchInvestigate potential biomarkers of neurological change
Eye movement differences can provide researchers with measurable indicators of changes in neurological function. By comparing patterns across participants, disease stages, tasks, or longitudinal measurements, researchers can investigate whether specific gaze characteristics could contribute to disease characterization or assessment.
Eye tracking can also complement cognitive, behavioral, clinical, and physiological measures, helping researchers examine neurological function from multiple perspectives.
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Research areas
Research applicationsStudy neurological function from different perspectives
Use eye tracking across experimental paradigms to investigate oculomotor, cognitive, and visual changes.
Oculomotor function
Investigate changes in fixation, saccades, smooth pursuit, and other eye movement characteristics.
Cognitive function
Use gaze behavior alongside cognitive tasks to investigate attention, memory, processing, and executive function.
Disease progression
Compare eye movement measures between groups, disease stages, or repeated assessments over time.
Treatment and intervention research
Track eye movement and behavioral measures before, during, or after interventions to investigate change.
Visual processing
Study how neurological conditions influence the way participants explore and interpret visual information.
Cognitive assessment
Analyze eye movements during reading and other cognitive tasks to investigate potential biomarkers of cognitive impairment and neurological change.
Customer storiesEye tracking in neurological research
See how researchers use eye tracking to investigate cognitive, oculomotor, and behavioral changes across neurological conditions.
Investigating cognitive change in Alzheimer’s disease
Changes in cognition can affect how people with Alzheimer's disease explore visual information, direct attention, remember what they have seen, and perform everyday cognitive tasks.
Eye tracking enables researchers to quantify these behaviors without relying solely on verbal or motor responses. Tasks involving visual exploration, memory, reading, and attention can be used to investigate differences between people with Alzheimer's disease, mild cognitive impairment, and control groups.
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Measuring oculomotor and cognitive changes in Parkinson’s disease
Parkinson's disease can affect both motor and non-motor functions, including visual, oculomotor, and cognitive processes. Eye tracking allows researchers to investigate these changes objectively through controlled tasks.
At Karolinska Institutet, researchers used Tobii Pro Spectrum and Tobii Pro Lab to investigate fixation, pupil responses, and reading behavior in people with Parkinson's disease.
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Study neurological function across different conditions
The applications of eye tracking extend beyond neurodegenerative disease. Researchers use gaze and eye movement measures to investigate neurological and neurodevelopmental conditions where motor, cognitive, sensory, or communication difficulties can make conventional assessment challenging.
Research areas include traumatic brain injury, stroke, Tourette syndrome, Rett syndrome, multiple sclerosis, and other conditions affecting neurological function.
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Setups
ConfigurationsEye tracking setups for neurological disease research
Choose from screen-based and eye tracking glasses setups depending on your research environment, study design, and measurement needs.
Screen-based eye tracking for detailed measurement
Capture high-quality gaze and eye movement data during controlled experimental tasks, including fixation, saccade, smooth pursuit, reading, and cognitive paradigms.
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Flexible screen-based research
Run studies where participants benefit from greater freedom of movement or where the research setup needs to accommodate different participant needs.
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Eye tracking glasses for natural behavior
Investigate visual behavior beyond the screen in everyday activities, clinical environments, and other situations where participants need to move naturally.
Image courtesy of Bitbrain
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Software for study design and analysis
Design experiments, record eye tracking data, create visualizations, define areas of interest, and analyze gaze measures alongside other research data.
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Use cases
Use casesDiscover how eye tracking is used across neurological conditions
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Scientific publication
How does Parkinson’s disease alter visual search?
A study from Japan, by N. Takahashi, had individuals with Parkinson's view images and recorded eye movements and brain activity to analyze the results.
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Learn article
4 methods to assess Alzheimer’s with eye tracking
This learn article presents four ways eye tracking could aid early Alzheimer’s assessment.
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Customer stories
Eye tracking in visual perception analysis for Alzheimer's disease patients
Researchers from the National University of Colombia (UNAL) analyzed eye movement in seven patients with Alzheimer's disease.
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blog
Eye tracking and Alzheimer’s: How to tackle early diagnosis
Eye tracking has begun to enable a practical alternative, utilizing subtle changes in eye movements to detect cognitive decline when diagnosing Alzheimers.
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Customer stories
Eye tracking used to understand Tourette syndrome
Researchers from the Cardiff School of Geography and Planning in the United Kingdom used Tobii Pro Glasses to understand the occurrence of compulsive behavior among people with Tourette syndrome.
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Customer stories
Eye tracking gives Rett syndrome patients a voice
At the Rett Syndrome Center at Montefiore, NY, eye tracking technology was used to compare patterns of visual processing in Rett syndrome patients and non-Rett control subjects.
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Report and papers
Eye tracking in neurology and psychiatry research
Download this white paper to discover how measuring eye movements can provide insights into various brain conditions and aid early disease detection.
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blog
How eye tracking can help spot brain disorders
The connection between the eyes and the brain is more profound than many realize. Eye tracking holds potential in screening for brain health by monitoring where individuals focus while viewing visual stimuli.
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Learn article
Eye Movement: Types and functions explained
Saccades, fixations, and other types of eye movements can be captured with eye tracking technology. Read about various types of eye movements and their function.
Advance your neurological research with eye tracking
Talk to our team about your research question, study design, and requirements. We can help you find the right eye tracking approach for investigating neurological function and change.
FAQs
Quick answersExplore eye tracking and neurology research
Find answers about using eye tracking to investigate neurological function, disease-related changes, and potential biomarkers.
Resources & community
Resources & communityEverything you need to get started
Free training, open-source tools, and direct support, designed to get you from unboxing to publishable results as fast as possible.
Tobii Academy
Free online learning platform with structured courses covering every stage of eye tracking research, from fundamental concepts to advanced analysis techniques.
→ Eye tracking fundamentals and methodology
→ Experiment design best practices
→ Tobii Pro Lab software training
→ Data analysis and interpretation
→ Certification tracks
Open-source research tools
50+ community-curated tools, experiment scripts, and integration libraries across the full eye tracking workflow. PsychoPy, MATLAB, Python, LSL, and more.
Tobii Connect support portal
Knowledge base, firmware updates, troubleshooting guides, and direct support from Tobii's technical team. Your first stop for any hardware or software question.
→ Product setup and troubleshooting guides
→ Firmware and software downloads
→ Data quality methodology documentation
→ Direct ticket support for registered products
→ Sample projects and demo recordings