From gaze plots to eye fixation patterns using a clustering method based on Hausdorff distances

Abstract

Eye-tracking studies have provided us with interesting findings regarding the way users explore Web pages. Usually, visual fixations are represented using gaze plots and heatmaps. Probably one of the most cited studies on Web page exploration is the one by Nielsen [15] who demonstrated that users often read Web pages in an F-shaped pattern. However, this conclusion is based on aggregated data that do not represent any real user. In order to characterize and to compare scanpaths so as to uncover possible scan-patterns, a clustering method based on the Hausdorff distance has been applied to the data from 113 users. The results have shown that scan-patterns could be identified. Groups of users have been identified and their behaviors have been described with diverse eye-tracking metrics. The contributions of this study are outlined as well as its drawbacks. Research perspectives are proposed.