Quantifying tracking quality during occlusion with an integrated gaze metric anchored to task performance

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Science
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• Human visual tracking is essential for daily activities.
• Understanding gaze behavior during object tracking with occlusions is crucial.
• Existing metrics may not fully capture tracking performance throughout occlusions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate human gaze behavior during object tracking with intermittent occlusions.
• To develop a computational model quantifying the relationship between gaze dynamics and task performance.
• To introduce an objective, continuous tracking quality metric applicable during occlusions.

Main Methods:

• Participants performed an object tracking task with random occlusions and a visual discrimination task.
• Gaze behavior (smooth pursuit and saccades) was analyzed.
• A novel model was developed to integrate position and velocity information from gaze signals.

Main Results:

• The developed model quantifies the relationship between gaze dynamics and task performance.
• A position- and velocity-integrated tracking quality metric was introduced.
• This metric provides an objective, continuous measure of tracking performance, even during occlusions.

Conclusions:

• Task goals influence gaze behavior in object tracking tasks with occlusions.
• The new metric offers a comprehensive assessment of tracking performance.
• This research advances the understanding and measurement of human visual tracking capabilities.