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Beyond gaze: preliminary analysis of pupil dilation and blink rates in an fMRI study of program comprehension

Published: 15 June 2018 Publication History

Abstract

Researchers have been employing psycho-physiological measures to better understand program comprehension, for example simultaneous fMRI and eye tracking to validate top-down comprehension models. In this paper, we argue that there is additional value in eye-tracking data beyond eye gaze: Pupil dilation and blink rates may offer insights into programmers' cognitive load. However, the fMRI environment may influence pupil dilation and blink rates, which would diminish their informative value. We conducted a preliminary analysis of pupil dilation and blink rates of an fMRI experiment with 22 student participants. We conclude from our preliminary analysis that the correction for our fMRI environment is challenging, but possible, such that we can use pupil dilation and blink rates to more reliably observe program comprehension.

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Cited By

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  • (2023)40 Years of Designing Code Comprehension Experiments: A Systematic Mapping StudyACM Computing Surveys10.1145/362652256:4(1-42)Online publication date: 9-Nov-2023
  • (2021)Measuring Visual Fatigue and Cognitive Load via Eye Tracking while Learning with Virtual Reality Head-Mounted Displays: A ReviewInternational Journal of Human–Computer Interaction10.1080/10447318.2021.197650938:9(801-824)Online publication date: 30-Sep-2021

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  1. Beyond gaze: preliminary analysis of pupil dilation and blink rates in an fMRI study of program comprehension

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      cover image ACM Conferences
      EMIP '18: Proceedings of the Workshop on Eye Movements in Programming
      June 2018
      35 pages
      ISBN:9781450357920
      DOI:10.1145/3216723
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      Published: 15 June 2018

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      Author Tags

      1. blink rates
      2. eye tracking
      3. functional magnetic resonance imaging
      4. program comprehension
      5. pupil dilation

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      • (2023)40 Years of Designing Code Comprehension Experiments: A Systematic Mapping StudyACM Computing Surveys10.1145/362652256:4(1-42)Online publication date: 9-Nov-2023
      • (2021)Measuring Visual Fatigue and Cognitive Load via Eye Tracking while Learning with Virtual Reality Head-Mounted Displays: A ReviewInternational Journal of Human–Computer Interaction10.1080/10447318.2021.197650938:9(801-824)Online publication date: 30-Sep-2021

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