Analyzing Unconstrained Reading Patterns of Digital Documents Using Eye Tracking

Abstract

Researchers read scientific literature to keep current in the field and find state-of-the-art solutions to various scientific problems. Prior work suggests that reading patterns may vary with the researcher's domain expertise and on the content of the digital document. In this work, we present a pilot study of eye-tracking measures during a reading task with the options for zooming and panning of the reading material. The main goal is to analyze unconstrained reading patterns of digital documents using eye movement fixations and dwell time on various sections of a digital document. Our results indicate that participants mostly focused on methodology and results sections, which is consistent with the prior work with constrained reading patterns.