AttentionTracking

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AttentionTracking is an attention measurement procedure. In contrast to classical machine-based eye tracking, during AttentionTracking the attention is measured with a computer mouse or a comparable pointing device. The attention data occurs in the form of mouse clicks. [1]

Eye tracking

Eye tracking is the process of measuring either the point of gaze or the motion of an eye relative to the head. An eye tracker is a device for measuring eye positions and eye movement. Eye trackers are used in research on the visual system, in psychology, in psycholinguistics, marketing, as an input device for human-computer interaction, and in product design. Eye trackers are also being increasingly used for rehabilitative and assistive applications . There are a number of methods for measuring eye movement. The most popular variant uses video images from which the eye position is extracted. Other methods use search coils or are based on the electrooculogram.

Pointing device input device

A pointing device is an input interface that allows a user to input spatial data to a computer. CAD systems and graphical user interfaces (GUI) allow the user to control and provide data to the computer using physical gestures by moving a hand-held mouse or similar device across the surface of the physical desktop and activating switches on the mouse. Movements of the pointing device are echoed on the screen by movements of the pointer and other visual changes. Common gestures are point and click and drag and drop.

Contents

Development

The basic idea for AttentionTracking emerged during a research project at the California Institute of Technology. [2] During this project the correspondence of eye tracking and clicking data was found by accident. [3] In general the procedure is based on the fact that attention does not only control the view but also other motoric systems. After a short introduction and training, respondents can follow their attention with the mouse.

California Institute of Technology private research university located in Pasadena, California

The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) is a private doctorate-granting research university in Pasadena, California. Known for its strength in natural science and engineering, Caltech is often ranked as one of the world's top-ten universities.

Attention Behavioral and cognitive process of selectively concentrating on a discrete aspect of information, whether deemed subjective or objective, while ignoring other perceivable information

Attention is the behavioral and cognitive process of selectively concentrating on a discrete aspect of information, whether deemed subjective or objective, while ignoring other perceivable information. It is a state of arousal. It is the taking possession by the mind in clear and vivid form of one out of what seem several simultaneous objects or trains of thought. Focalization, the concentration of consciousness, is of its essence. Attention has also been described as the allocation of limited cognitive processing resources.

In comparative studies with classical machine-based procedures significant correlations (r>0.92) were found between the data gained with the machine-based procedure and the data gained with AttentionTracking. [4]

Measurement process

The measurement starts with a small training during which the respondent is gradually introduced and accustomed to the desired click behavior. The training ensures that only respondents with sufficient mouse competence and speed take part in the test – simply put, hand and eye movement are synchronized. Directly after the training the actual measurement starts. The trained click behavior is then continued on the presented visual stimuli. In the same time point-and-click is recorded. The click data are interpreted as points of attention (Fixation (visual)) and can be analyzed and visualized analogously to the classical eye tracking. [5]

Fixation (visual) eye movement

Fixation or visual fixation is the maintaining of the visual gaze on a single location. An animal can exhibit visual fixation if they possess a fovea in the anatomy of their eye. The fovea is typically located at the center of the retina and is the point of clearest vision. The species in which fixational eye movement has been found thus far include humans, primates, cats, rabbits, turtles, salamanders, and owls. Regular eye movement alternates between saccades and visual fixations, the notable exception being in smooth pursuit, controlled by a different neural substrate that appears to have developed for hunting prey. The term "fixation" can either be used to refer to the point in time and space of focus or the act of fixating. Fixation, in the act of fixating, is the point between any two saccades, during which the eyes are relatively stationary and virtually all visual input occurs. In the absence of retinal jitter, a laboratory condition known as retinal stabilization, perceptions tend to rapidly fade away. To maintain visibility, the nervous system carries out a mechanism called fixational eye movement, which continuously stimulates neurons in the early visual areas of the brain responding to transient stimuli. There are three categories of fixational eye movements: microsaccades, ocular drifts, and ocular microtremor. Although the existence of these movements has been known since the 1950s, only recently their functions have started to become clear.

Fields of application

The AttentionTracking procedure can generally be used for all areas of application in which classical eye movement tracking can be used. The procedure is used in basic research as well as in applied research. [6]

Since 2003 the procedure is commercially used in market research especially advertising research and marketing research to analyze the effect of advertising material. Through the online realization of the procedure the attention measurement can be included in target group-specific, supra-regional surveys. [7]

Market research is an organized effort to gather information about target markets or customers. It is a very important component of business strategy. The term is commonly interchanged with marketing research; however, expert practitioners may wish to draw a distinction, in that marketing research is concerned specifically about marketing processes, while market research is concerned specifically with markets.

Advertising research is a systematic process of marketing research conducted to improve the efficiency of advertising.

Marketing research is "the process or set of processes that links the producers, customers, and end users to the marketer through information used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems; generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance; and improve understanding of marketing as a process. Marketing research specifies the information required to address these issues, designs the method for collecting information, manages and implements the data collection process, analyzes the results, and communicates the findings and their implications."

See also

Related Research Articles

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Likert scale psychometric measurement scale

A Likert scale is a psychometric scale commonly involved in research that employs questionnaires. It is the most widely used approach to scaling responses in survey research, such that the term is often used interchangeably with rating scale, although there are other types of rating scales.

Banner blindness

Banner blindness is a phenomenon in web usability where visitors to a website consciously or unconsciously ignore banner-like information, which can also be called ad blindness or banner noise.

Vision therapy (VT) is an umbrella term for a variety of treatments based around eyes exercises. The treatments aim to treat convergence disorder – for which there is supporting evidence – and a range of neurological, educational and spatial difficulties – uses which are not supported by good evidence.

Web analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of web data for purposes of understanding and optimizing web usage. However, Web analytics is not just a process for measuring web traffic but can be used as a tool for business and market research, and to assess and improve the effectiveness of a website. Web analytics applications can also help companies measure the results of traditional print or broadcast advertising campaigns. It helps one to estimate how traffic to a website changes after the launch of a new advertising campaign. Web analytics provides information about the number of visitors to a website and the number of page views. It helps gauge traffic and popularity trends which is useful for market research.

Data analysis activity for gaining insight from data

Data analysis is a process of inspecting, cleansing, transforming, and modeling data with the goal of discovering useful information, informing conclusions, and supporting decision-making. Data analysis has multiple facets and approaches, encompassing diverse techniques under a variety of names, and is used in different business, science, and social science domains. In today's business world, data analysis plays a role in making decisions more scientific and helping businesses operate more effectively.

Audience response is a type of interaction associated with the use of audience response systems, to create interactivity between a presenter and its audience.

Ad tracking, also known as post-testing or ad effectiveness tracking, is in-market research that monitors a brand’s performance including brand and advertising awareness, product trial and usage, and attitudes about the brand versus their competition.

In advertising research, attention is the qualitative measure of an advertisement's effectiveness in arousing interest in a viewer.

A click path or clickstream is the sequence of hyperlinks one or more website visitors follows on a given site, presented in the order viewed. A visitor's click path may start within the website or at a separate 3rd party website, often a search engine results page, and it continues as a sequence of successive webpages visited by the user. Click paths take call data and can match it to ad sources, keywords, and/or referring domains, in order to capture data.

In research of human subjects, a survey is a list of questions aimed at extracting specific data from a particular group of people. Surveys may be conducted by phone, mail, via the internet, and sometimes face-to-face on busy street corners or in malls. Surveys are used to increase knowledge in fields such as social research and demography.

Targeted advertising type of advertising

Targeted advertising is a form of online advertising that is directed towards audiences with certain traits, based on the product or person the advertiser is promoting. These traits can either be demographic which are focused on race, economic status, sex, age, the level of education, income level and employment or they can be psychographic focused which are based on the consumer's values, personality, attitudes, opinions, lifestyles and interests. They can also be behavioral variables, such as browser history, purchase history, and other recent activity. Targeted advertising is focused on certain traits and the consumers who are likely to have a strong preference will receive the message instead of those who have no interest and whose preferences do not match a product's attribute. This eliminates wastage.

The marketing research process is a six-step process involving the definition of the problem being studied upon, determining what approach to take, formulation of research design, field work entailed, data preparation and analysis, and the generation of reports, how to present these reports, and overall, how the task can be accomplished.

Mouse tracking is the use of software to collect users' mouse cursor positions on the computer. This goal is to automatically gather richer information about what people are doing, typically to improve the design of an interface. Often this is done on the Web and can supplement eye tracking in some situations.

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EyeSee Research

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References

  1. Goodrich, Kendall (January 2010). "What's up? Exploring Upper and Lower Visual Field Advertising Effects". Journal of Advertising Research . 50: 91.
  2. S. Egner; C. Scheier (2005). "Beobachten statt Fragen" (PDF). Planung & Analyse. 1: 53. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-09. Retrieved 2018-10-27.
  3. S. Egner; L. Itti; C. R. Scheier (2000). "Comparing attention models with different types of behavior data". Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science (Proc. ARVO 2000). 41 (4): 39.
  4. Scheier, Christian (2003a). Time- and Cost-Effetive Measurement of Consumer Attention. Research World, 7
  5. Goodrich, Kendall (January 2010). "What's up? Exploring Upper and Lower Visual Field Advertising Effects". Journal of Advertising Research . 50: 97.
  6. C. Scheier; K. Koschel (2002). "Your Customer's Eyes". Planung & Analyse. 5: 43.
  7. Scheier, Christian (2003b). Validating AttentionTracking, White Paper, MediaAnalyzer Software & Research GmbH Archived 2011-07-11 at the Wayback Machine