The eyes may have it:Reconsidering eye-movement research in human cognition

Abstract

The study of eye movements relative to perception and cognition has beenan area of interest from ancient times. The present paper will trace this research activity from its origins in the Ancient Greek and Medival times through the 19th century and the technological progress of the 20th century. We will identify turning points in the history of eye movement and provide information on recently developed eye-tracking equiptment. The discussion will include eye movements and visual perception, identifying the basic terminology and phenomena considered relative to eye movements (fixations, saccades, and regressions), visual perceptual and attentional spans. Emphasis will be placed on eye movements and comprehension during text- and picture-viewing and how judgements can be made, based on eye movements, about how people try to integrate content from text and pictures. We will then describe the fundamental conclusions made 15 to 20 years ago regarding the eye movements of individuals with reading difficulties as well as recently emerging evidence that calls for a reconsideration of some of those conclusions. Finally, we will describe our current efforts at educational applications of eye-movement research involving applications to content displays on the World Wide Web.