Measuring Visual Attention Processing of Virtual Environment Using Eye-Fixation Information

Abstract

Numerous scholars have explored the modeling, control, and optimization of energy systems in buildings, offering new insights about technology and environments that can advance industry innovation. Eye trackers deliver objective eye-gaze data about visual and attentional processes. Due to its flexibility, accuracy, and efficiency in research, eye tracking has a control scheme that makes measuring rapid eye movement in three-dimensional space possible (e.g., virtual reality, augmented reality). Because eye movement is an effective modality for digital interaction with a virtual environment, tracking how users scan a visual field and fix on various digital objects can help designers optimize building environments and materials. Although several scholars have conducted Virtual Reality studies in three-dimensional space, scholars have not agreed on a consistent way to analyze eye tracking data. We conducted eye tracking experiments using objects in three-dimensional space to find an objective way to process quantitative visual data. By applying a 12 × 12 grid framework for eye tracking analysis, we investigated how people gazed at objects in a virtual space wearing a headmounted display. The findings provide an empirical base for a standardized protocol for analyzing eye tracking data in the context of virtual environments.