Fixation duration and the learning process: an eye tracking study with subtitled videos
Learning is a complex phenomenon and education researchers are increasingly focussing on processes that go into it. Eye tracking has become an important tool in such research. In this paper, we focus on one of the most commonly used metrics in eye tracking, namely, fixation duration. Fixation durati...
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| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-08-01
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| Series: | Journal of Eye Movement Research |
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| Online Access: | https://bop.unibe.ch/JEMR/article/view/6715 |
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| author | Shivsevak Negi Ritayan Mitra |
| author_facet | Shivsevak Negi Ritayan Mitra |
| author_sort | Shivsevak Negi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Learning is a complex phenomenon and education researchers are increasingly focussing on processes that go into it. Eye tracking has become an important tool in such research. In this paper, we focus on one of the most commonly used metrics in eye tracking, namely, fixation duration. Fixation duration has been used to study cognition and attention. However, fixation duration distributions are characteristically non-normal and heavily skewed to the right. Therefore, the use of a single average value, such as the mean fixation duration, to predict cognition and/or attention could be problematic. This is especially true in studies of complex constructs, such as learning, which are governed by both cognitive and affective processes. We collected eye tracking data from 51 students watching a 12 min long educational video with and without subtitles. The learning gain after watching the video was calculated with pre- and post-test scores. Several multiple linear regression models revealed a) fixation duration can explain a substantial fraction of variation in the pre-post data, which indicates its usefulness in the study of learning processes; b) the arithmetic mean of fixation durations, which is the most commonly reported eye tracking metric, may not be the optimal choice; and c) a phenomenological model of fixation durations where the number of fixations over different temporal ranges are used as inputs seemed to perform the best. The results and their implications for learning process research are discussed. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-143a3d3e638b4c7a94e33bdea2afd2ca |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1995-8692 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2020-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Eye Movement Research |
| spelling | doaj-art-143a3d3e638b4c7a94e33bdea2afd2ca2025-08-20T03:09:49ZengMDPI AGJournal of Eye Movement Research1995-86922020-08-0113610.16910/jemr.13.6.1Fixation duration and the learning process: an eye tracking study with subtitled videosShivsevak Negi0Ritayan Mitra1Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, IndiaIndian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, IndiaLearning is a complex phenomenon and education researchers are increasingly focussing on processes that go into it. Eye tracking has become an important tool in such research. In this paper, we focus on one of the most commonly used metrics in eye tracking, namely, fixation duration. Fixation duration has been used to study cognition and attention. However, fixation duration distributions are characteristically non-normal and heavily skewed to the right. Therefore, the use of a single average value, such as the mean fixation duration, to predict cognition and/or attention could be problematic. This is especially true in studies of complex constructs, such as learning, which are governed by both cognitive and affective processes. We collected eye tracking data from 51 students watching a 12 min long educational video with and without subtitles. The learning gain after watching the video was calculated with pre- and post-test scores. Several multiple linear regression models revealed a) fixation duration can explain a substantial fraction of variation in the pre-post data, which indicates its usefulness in the study of learning processes; b) the arithmetic mean of fixation durations, which is the most commonly reported eye tracking metric, may not be the optimal choice; and c) a phenomenological model of fixation durations where the number of fixations over different temporal ranges are used as inputs seemed to perform the best. The results and their implications for learning process research are discussed.https://bop.unibe.ch/JEMR/article/view/6715Learning processEye trackingFixation duration distributionMultiple linear regressionSubtitled educational video |
| spellingShingle | Shivsevak Negi Ritayan Mitra Fixation duration and the learning process: an eye tracking study with subtitled videos Journal of Eye Movement Research Learning process Eye tracking Fixation duration distribution Multiple linear regression Subtitled educational video |
| title | Fixation duration and the learning process: an eye tracking study with subtitled videos |
| title_full | Fixation duration and the learning process: an eye tracking study with subtitled videos |
| title_fullStr | Fixation duration and the learning process: an eye tracking study with subtitled videos |
| title_full_unstemmed | Fixation duration and the learning process: an eye tracking study with subtitled videos |
| title_short | Fixation duration and the learning process: an eye tracking study with subtitled videos |
| title_sort | fixation duration and the learning process an eye tracking study with subtitled videos |
| topic | Learning process Eye tracking Fixation duration distribution Multiple linear regression Subtitled educational video |
| url | https://bop.unibe.ch/JEMR/article/view/6715 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT shivsevaknegi fixationdurationandthelearningprocessaneyetrackingstudywithsubtitledvideos AT ritayanmitra fixationdurationandthelearningprocessaneyetrackingstudywithsubtitledvideos |