Can eye movements be quantitatively applied to image quality studies?

Abstract

The aim of the study is to find out whether subjective image quality evaluations can be quantified by eye movement tracking. We want to map objective or physically measurable image quality to subjective evaluations and eye movement data. Results show that eye movement parameters consistently change according to the instructions given to the user, and according to physical image quality. These results indicate that eye movement tracking could be used to differentiate image quality evaluation strategies that the users have. Results also show that eye movements would help mapping between technological and subjective image quality. We also propose to extend the widely used image quality process model, the Image Quality Circle. We suggest adding the objective measurements of a viewer (e.g. eye tracking) in parallel with customer perceptions as an option to gather information of customer perceptions of image quality.