Increase visual performance with subliminal gaze guidance

Nov. 2, 2010 - PRLog -- Advances to faster and more accurate eye tracking technology developed by SensoMotoric Instruments (SMI) from Germany can increase visual performance in teaching expert’s skills, improving reading skills or enhancing safety.The new gaze guidance technology has been developed within an interdisciplinary EU research project by SMI and five European universities.

SMI’s high speed and low latency remote eye tracking system, the RED250, has been integrated into intelligent displays that can guide the viewer’s gaze to objects or information of higher importance with subliminal visual cues. The guiding cues, which are presented in real-time, depend on the viewer's gaze position.  

Gaze guidance increases driving safety
In order to determine the effectiveness of gaze guidance, within the project, SMI developed an experimental driving simulator with integrated eye tracking technology.  A driving safety study in a city was set up and testing in that environment has shown that the number of accidents was significantly lower with gaze guidance than without, while most of the drivers didn’t consciously notice the guiding visual cues.

Christian Villwock, Director for Eye and Gaze Tracking Systems at SMI: “We have shown that visual performance can significantly be improved by gaze contingent gaze guidance. This introduces huge potential in applications where expert knowledge has to be transferred or safety is critical, for example for radiological image analysis.”

Watch YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3oWaDHp65c


More information on case study driving safety: http://www.smivision.com/index.php?id=359

GazeCom project benefits from advances in eye tracking technology
Within the GazeCom project, funded by the EU within the Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) program, the impact of gaze guidance on what is perceived and communicated effectively has been determined in a broad range of tasks of varying complexity. This included basic research in the understanding of visual perception and brain function up to the level where the guidance of gaze becomes feasible.

These theoretical achievements were verified in applied experiments, e.g. showing the value of gaze guidance by image fuzzification in teaching expert skills. SMI introduced a new level of the remote eye tracking technology to the project, featuring a sampling rate of 250 Hz at a low latency of 8 ms. This performance level allows content modifications so fast that viewers do not consciously notice the cues and the guidance works subliminally. The technology is now available as the SMI RED250 remote eye tracking system.

More information:
SensoMotoric Instruments GmbH (SMI): http://www.smivision.com/egts
GazeCom Project: http://www.gazecom.eu
Homepage EU FET Program: http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/programme/fet_en.html

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SMI (www.smivision.com) SensoMotoric Instruments (SMI) is a world leader in dedicated computer vision applications, developing and marketing eye & gaze tracking systems and OEM solutions for a wide range of applications such as marketing, human-computer-interfaces, ophthalmology, neurology, psychology, ergonomics and usability. SMI serves customers around the globe from offices in Teltow, near Berlin, Germany and Boston, USA, backed by a network of trusted local partners in many countries.