Statistical Dependency in Visual Scanning

Abstract

A method to identify statistical dependencies in the positions of eye fixations is developed and applied to eye movement data from subjects who viewed dynamic displays of air traffic and judged future relative position of air craft. Analysis of approximately 23 000 fixations on points of interest on the display identified statistical dependencies in scanning that were independent of the physical placement of the points of interest. Identification of these dependencies is inconsistent with random-sampling-based theories used to model visual search and information seeking.