A Performance Comparison of Eye Tracking and Mouse Interfaces in a Target Image Identification Task

Eye-tracking technology offers an intimate and immediate way of communicating with human thought processes, interpreting users’ behaviours and guiding a computer search through large image databases. In experiments involving image identification tasks, a target image was presented along with 24 other distractor images, while task completion times were measured for two modes of interface control and two experimental conditions. Results show faster target identification for the eye interface than the mouse for identifying a target image on a display. The effects of the order of input modes, positions of target images and the level of skills transfer produced information that is relevant to future eye tracking studies. The results of the performance analysis should also serve as a basis for the refinement and redesign of new interfaces for image retrieval.