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Is the eye-movement field confused about fixations and saccades? : A survey among 124 researchers

Hessels, Roy S. ; Niehorster, Diederick C. LU orcid ; Nyström, Marcus LU orcid ; Andersson, Richard LU and Hooge, Ignace T.C. (2018) In Royal Society Open Science 5(8). p.1-23
Abstract

Eye movements have been extensively studied in a wide range of research fields. While new methods such as mobile eye tracking and eye tracking in virtual/augmented realities are emerging quickly, the eye-movement terminology has scarcely been revised. We assert that this may cause confusion about two of the main concepts: fixations and saccades. In this study, we assessed the definitions of fixations and saccades held in the eye-movement field, by surveying 124 eye-movement researchers. These eye-movement researchers held a variety of definitions of fixations and saccades, of which the breadth seems even wider than what is reported in the literature. Moreover, these definitions did not seem to be related to researcher background or... (More)

Eye movements have been extensively studied in a wide range of research fields. While new methods such as mobile eye tracking and eye tracking in virtual/augmented realities are emerging quickly, the eye-movement terminology has scarcely been revised. We assert that this may cause confusion about two of the main concepts: fixations and saccades. In this study, we assessed the definitions of fixations and saccades held in the eye-movement field, by surveying 124 eye-movement researchers. These eye-movement researchers held a variety of definitions of fixations and saccades, of which the breadth seems even wider than what is reported in the literature. Moreover, these definitions did not seem to be related to researcher background or experience. We urge researchers to make their definitions more explicit by specifying all the relevant components of the eye movement under investigation: (i) the oculomotor component: e.g. whether the eye moves slow or fast; (ii) the functional component: what purposes does the eye movement (or lack thereof) serve; (iii) the coordinate system used: relative to what does the eye move; (iv) the computational definition: how is the event represented in the eye-tracker signal. This should enable eye-movement researchers from different fields to have a discussion without misunderstandings.

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author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Definitions, Eye movements, Eye tracking, Fixation, Saccade
in
Royal Society Open Science
volume
5
issue
8
pages
1 - 23
publisher
Royal Society Publishing
external identifiers
  • pmid:30225041
  • scopus:85053216285
ISSN
2054-5703
DOI
10.1098/rsos.180502
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
23e1b4f4-e46a-4d85-9573-a2eab9d26b94
date added to LUP
2018-09-26 10:08:05
date last changed
2024-06-25 22:22:08
@article{23e1b4f4-e46a-4d85-9573-a2eab9d26b94,
  abstract     = {{<p>Eye movements have been extensively studied in a wide range of research fields. While new methods such as mobile eye tracking and eye tracking in virtual/augmented realities are emerging quickly, the eye-movement terminology has scarcely been revised. We assert that this may cause confusion about two of the main concepts: fixations and saccades. In this study, we assessed the definitions of fixations and saccades held in the eye-movement field, by surveying 124 eye-movement researchers. These eye-movement researchers held a variety of definitions of fixations and saccades, of which the breadth seems even wider than what is reported in the literature. Moreover, these definitions did not seem to be related to researcher background or experience. We urge researchers to make their definitions more explicit by specifying all the relevant components of the eye movement under investigation: (i) the oculomotor component: e.g. whether the eye moves slow or fast; (ii) the functional component: what purposes does the eye movement (or lack thereof) serve; (iii) the coordinate system used: relative to what does the eye move; (iv) the computational definition: how is the event represented in the eye-tracker signal. This should enable eye-movement researchers from different fields to have a discussion without misunderstandings.</p>}},
  author       = {{Hessels, Roy S. and Niehorster, Diederick C. and Nyström, Marcus and Andersson, Richard and Hooge, Ignace T.C.}},
  issn         = {{2054-5703}},
  keywords     = {{Definitions; Eye movements; Eye tracking; Fixation; Saccade}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{08}},
  number       = {{8}},
  pages        = {{1--23}},
  publisher    = {{Royal Society Publishing}},
  series       = {{Royal Society Open Science}},
  title        = {{Is the eye-movement field confused about fixations and saccades? : A survey among 124 researchers}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.180502}},
  doi          = {{10.1098/rsos.180502}},
  volume       = {{5}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}