The impact of visual and motor space size on gaze-based target selection

Abstract

ABSTRACT Objective Previous studies have demonstrated that making a target larger is sufficient to compensate for the inaccuracy of gaze-based target selection. However, few studies systemically examined the individual contribution of the target’s motor and visual space size in gaze selection. We investigated how the motor and visual space size affect gaze-based target selection. Method Experiment 1 was used to examine the effect of the invisible expanded motor space in a 2D target selection task under hand-based and gaze-based control modes. Experiment 2 was used to examine the impact of the invisible expanded motor space on gaze-based target selection performance with different visual-space sizes. Results As the motor-space size increased, participants selected targets more efficiently and experienced less frustration and temporal demand; these effects were more pronounced in the gaze-based control mode. The selection was faster in the group with a larger visual-space size. Moreover, there were significant interactions between visual-space size and motor-space size on the throughput of gaze-based selection, which refers to the efficiency of input method that containing the accuracy and speed. These interactions also significantly affected endpoint distance variation and effort demand. Conclusions The motor-space size, even invisible, is the determining factor in facilitating the gaze selection performance. Additionally, the size of the visual space has a feedforward effect on selection speed and modulates the effect of motor space. These findings provide insights into the contribution of these two spaces and a new perspective to optimize the gaze-based interface.