Free Viewing Experiment

Template Overview

This project template demonstrates how to utilize the TRACKPixx3 eye tracker to replicate Yarbus's (1967) findings, which showed that viewing patterns change in response to task demands.

In this demo, we present a painting three times and collect 8 seconds of free viewing per presentation. Before each viewing, a different question is asked relative to the painting. After collecting gaze data, we can visualize fixations overlaid over the visual stimulus for initial inspection.

Step 1 - Tracker Calibration & Instructions

An optional calibration step is included in the template experiment. If the tracker was not previously calibrated, you can initiate a calibration routine by pressing the N key. This routine loops upon itself until the average offset measured in the validation is lower than the acceptable offset defined in the Validate Tracker component (named Validate). If the tracker is already calibrated, you can instead press Y to see instructions and begin the experiment.

Step 2 - Data Collection

Once the calibration step is complete, a Constant Stimuli method is used to show three trials with different tasks. Participants will examine the Luncheon of the Boating Party painting by Auguste Renoir, completing three different tasks presented in random order. The questions asked are:

1. In the image, what time of day is it?

2. In the image, what is the average age of the group?

3. In the image, what is the overall mood of the event?

This is implemented in the timeline below, which loops upon itself for each trial. The looping is done automatically to cover all the conditions. A separate fixation data file is saved for each trial. The file is named after the subject ID and trial number.

Step 3 - Data Visualization

We have included sample data in this demo to highlight data visualization using LabMaestro. It can be viewed by clicking Recordings, Sample Data, and selecting the session 202410291457. Three .trk files are available for each question. For example, here is the content of sampleData_1.trk file (In the image, what time of day is it?). Feel free to examine fixation data for the other trials as well.

By default, the data visualization window will plot fixations relative to screen coordinates (with point [0, 0] being the center of the screen).

For this demo, we can use the default X vs Y plot. To better understand this data, we can add the visual stimulus to the background of the visualization window. As the stimulus filled the full screen, just select the stimulus (Renoir-Boating.jpg) in the Background property.

This will change the data plot to look like the figure below, making it much easier to interpret the data:

If you wish to export data to run more in-depth analyses using your preferred programming language, simply right-click Recordings in the Project tab and select Export.