Fixation maps

The analysis of eye-movement traces (i.e. the patterns of fixations in a search) is a powerful but often neglected area of eye-movement research. This is largely because it requires a more complex analysis than parameters such as mean fixation duration and as a result, previous attempts have focused on qualitative appraisal of the form of an eye-movement trace. In this paper, we introduce the concept of the "fixation map". We discuss its application to the quantification of similarity of traces, and the degree of "coverage" by fixations of a visual stimulus. The use of fixation maps in the understanding and communication of large numbers of eye-movement traces is also examined.