A preliminary study using a web camera based eye tracking to assess novelty reaction allowing user interaction

The analysis of eye fixations during a Visual Paired Comparison Task is useful to measure novelty preference, which has been correlated with mental health status. The experimentation with the Visual Paired Comparison Task has been mainly conducted with commercial high-performance eye trackers and different experimental setup constraints. Recent research has shown that a web camera-based eye tracking can gather useful data with the Visual Paired Comparison Task. The ubiquitous web camera gives different possibilities for pervasive mental health assessment. We conducted a preliminary study where participants are not only observers in the Visual Paired Comparison Task, but they can interact with the system by moving over displayed images at their own pace. We collected data from 23 participants using a web camera based eye tracker. We discuss the novelty preference from participants that are only observers and with participants that can freely advance through the images.