Encoding decisions and expertise in the operator's eyes: Using eye-tracking as input for system adaptation

Abstract

A B S T R A C TWe investigated the possibility of developing a decision support system (DSS) that integrates eye-fixation measurements to better adapt its suggestions. Indeed, eye fixation give insight into human decision-making: Individuals tend to pay more attention to key information in line with their upcoming selection. Thus, eyefixation measures can help the DSS to better capture the context that determines user decisions. Twenty-two participants performed a simplified Air Traffic Control (ATC) simulation in which they had to decide to accept or to modify route suggestions according to specific parameter values displayed on the screen. Decisions and fixation times on each parameter were recorded. The user fixation times were used by an algorithm to estimate the utility of each parameter for its decision. Immediately after this training phase, the algorithm generated new route suggestions under two conditions: 1) Taking into account the participant's decisions, 2) Taking into account the participant's decisions plus their visual behavior using the measurements of dwell times on displayed parameters. Results showed that system suggestions were more accurate than the base system when taking into account the participant's decisions, and even more accurate using their dwell times. Capturing the crucial information for the decision using the eye tracker accelerated the DSS learning phase, and thus helped to further enhance the accuracy of consecutive suggestions. Moreover, exploratory eye-tracking analysis reflected two different stages of the decision-making process, with longer dwell times on relevant parameters (i.e. involved in a rule) during the entire decision time course, and frequency of fixations on these relevant parameters that increased, especially during the last fixations prior to the decision. Consequently, future DSS integrating eyetracking data should pay specific care to the final fixations prior to the decision. In general, our results emphasize the potential interest of eye-tracking to enhance and accelerate system adaptation to user preference, knowledge, and expertise.

Object-gaze distance: Quantifying near-peripheral gaze behavior in real-world applications

“…Eye tracking (ET) has proven to be a powerful tool for analyzing behavioral patterns, both in laboratory and in real-world environments (Bulling, Weichel, & Gellersen, 2013;Causse et al, 2019). It has demonstrated the ability to reveal and quantify cognitive strategies during goal-oriented tasks (Hou, Chang, & Sung, 2009).…”

Visual Search and Conflict Mitigation Strategies Used by Expert en Route Air Traffic Controllers

“…Investigation into the relationship between humans' cognitive processes and eye movements, such as eye fixations and saccades, among others, became a pivotal research area in the domain of air traffic control when more accurate eye trackers became available in the 1980s and 1990s [6,7]. More recent research in en route air traffic control involves an investigation into the differences in eye fixation durations or frequency based on expertise [8,9], and how eye tracking can be used to train novices [10][11][12][13]. Especially, in [10], experts' visual scanpaths were used to train novices, in which the novices significantly reduced false alarms (i.e., believing that aircraft conflict will occur when the conflict does not actually happen).…”

The Application of Flexible Areas of Interest to Pilot Mobile Eye Tracking

“…Non-invasive eye tracking methods contribute to the creation of special optimized glass cockpits, which allow the information to be illustrated on flight parameters in specially created areas in the cockpit, thus committing to their easy perception. The dynamic development of the aeronautical branch forces designers to enable the easiest and fastest delivery of the flight parameter data to the pilot [29][30][31][32][33][34]. Thanks to eye tracking research, it is possible to analyze the distribution of saccades and fixations among pilots with varying levels of flight training.…”