Visualizing Spatial Gaze Data in the Perception of 3D Objects

In response to the rapid development of mobile eye tracking, this paper proposes methods for the visualization of gaze patterns in three dimensions. Methods are divided into two basic categories, beginning with translations from 2D graphic conventions to those that incorporate 3D mesh geometries. They are first discussed in principle and thereafter demonstrated on actual gaze data of sculptural reproductions. The tracing of eye movements of objects in the round required consideration of variables typically unaccounted for in conventional eye-tracking visualization, most importantly with regards to the moving position of the viewing eye. A major advantage of 3D visualizations is the capacity to present gaze information simultaneously on obverse, reverse, and oblique surfaces of perceptual attention. The included methods provided for effective communication of a subject’s perceptual distribution over potentially complex stimulus geometries.