Validation of an open source, remote web-based eye-tracking method (WebGazer) for research in early childhood

Adrian Steffan; Lucie Zimmer; Natalia Arias-Trejo; Manuel Bohn; Rodrigo Dal Ben; Marco A. Flores-Coronado; Laura Franchin; Isa Garbisch; Charlotte Grosse Wiesmann; J. Kiley Hamlin; Naomi Havron; Jessica F. Hay; Tone K. Hermansen; Krisztina V. Jakobsen; Steven Kalinke; Eon Suk Ko; Louisa Kulke; Julien Mayor; Marek Meristo; David Moreau; Seongmin Mun; Julia Prein; Hannes Rakoczy; Katrin Rothmaler; Daniela Santos Oliveira; Elizabeth A. Simpson; Sylvain Sirois; Eleanor S. Smith; Karin Strid; Anna Lena Tebbe; Maleen Thiele; Francis Yuen; Tobias Schuwerk

doi:10.1111/infa.12564

Validation of an open source, remote web-based eye-tracking method (WebGazer) for research in early childhood

Adrian Steffan, Lucie Zimmer, Natalia Arias-Trejo, Manuel Bohn, Rodrigo Dal Ben, Marco A. Flores-Coronado, Laura Franchin, Isa Garbisch, Charlotte Grosse Wiesmann, J. Kiley Hamlin, Naomi Havron, Jessica F. Hay, Tone K. Hermansen, Krisztina V. Jakobsen, Steven Kalinke, Eon Suk Ko, Louisa Kulke, Julien Mayor, Marek Meristo, David MoreauSeongmin Mun, Julia Prein, Hannes Rakoczy, Katrin Rothmaler, Daniela Santos Oliveira, Elizabeth A. Simpson, Sylvain Sirois, Eleanor S. Smith, Karin Strid, Anna Lena Tebbe, Maleen Thiele, Francis Yuen, Tobias Schuwerk

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Measuring eye movements remotely via the participant's webcam promises to be an attractive methodological addition to in-person eye-tracking in the lab. However, there is a lack of systematic research comparing remote web-based eye-tracking with in-lab eye-tracking in young children. We report a multi-lab study that compared these two measures in an anticipatory looking task with toddlers using WebGazer.js and jsPsych. Results of our remotely tested sample of 18-27-month-old toddlers (N = 125) revealed that web-based eye-tracking successfully captured goal-based action predictions, although the proportion of the goal-directed anticipatory looking was lower compared to the in-lab sample (N = 70). As expected, attrition rate was substantially higher in the web-based (42%) than the in-lab sample (10%). Excluding trials based on visual inspection of the match of time-locked gaze coordinates and the participant's webcam video overlayed on the stimuli was an important preprocessing step to reduce noise in the data. We discuss the use of this remote web-based method in comparison with other current methodological innovations. Our study demonstrates that remote web-based eye-tracking can be a useful tool for testing toddlers, facilitating recruitment of larger and more diverse samples; a caveat to consider is the larger drop-out rate.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	31-55
Number of pages	25
Journal	Infancy
Volume	29
Issue number	1
Early online date	18 Oct 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/infa.12564
State	Published - 1 Jan 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors. Infancy published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Congress of Infant Studies.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Pediatrics, Perinatology, and Child Health
Developmental and Educational Psychology

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10.1111/infa.12564

Cite this

Steffan, A., Zimmer, L., Arias-Trejo, N., Bohn, M., Dal Ben, R., Flores-Coronado, M. A., Franchin, L., Garbisch, I., Grosse Wiesmann, C., Hamlin, J. K., Havron, N., Hay, J. F., Hermansen, T. K., Jakobsen, K. V., Kalinke, S., Ko, E. S., Kulke, L., Mayor, J., Meristo, M., ... Schuwerk, T. (2024). Validation of an open source, remote web-based eye-tracking method (WebGazer) for research in early childhood. Infancy, 29(1), 31-55. https://doi.org/10.1111/infa.12564

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title = "Validation of an open source, remote web-based eye-tracking method (WebGazer) for research in early childhood",

abstract = "Measuring eye movements remotely via the participant's webcam promises to be an attractive methodological addition to in-person eye-tracking in the lab. However, there is a lack of systematic research comparing remote web-based eye-tracking with in-lab eye-tracking in young children. We report a multi-lab study that compared these two measures in an anticipatory looking task with toddlers using WebGazer.js and jsPsych. Results of our remotely tested sample of 18-27-month-old toddlers (N = 125) revealed that web-based eye-tracking successfully captured goal-based action predictions, although the proportion of the goal-directed anticipatory looking was lower compared to the in-lab sample (N = 70). As expected, attrition rate was substantially higher in the web-based (42%) than the in-lab sample (10%). Excluding trials based on visual inspection of the match of time-locked gaze coordinates and the participant's webcam video overlayed on the stimuli was an important preprocessing step to reduce noise in the data. We discuss the use of this remote web-based method in comparison with other current methodological innovations. Our study demonstrates that remote web-based eye-tracking can be a useful tool for testing toddlers, facilitating recruitment of larger and more diverse samples; a caveat to consider is the larger drop-out rate.",

author = "Adrian Steffan and Lucie Zimmer and Natalia Arias-Trejo and Manuel Bohn and {Dal Ben}, Rodrigo and Flores-Coronado, {Marco A.} and Laura Franchin and Isa Garbisch and {Grosse Wiesmann}, Charlotte and Hamlin, {J. Kiley} and Naomi Havron and Hay, {Jessica F.} and Hermansen, {Tone K.} and Jakobsen, {Krisztina V.} and Steven Kalinke and Ko, {Eon Suk} and Louisa Kulke and Julien Mayor and Marek Meristo and David Moreau and Seongmin Mun and Julia Prein and Hannes Rakoczy and Katrin Rothmaler and {Santos Oliveira}, Daniela and Simpson, {Elizabeth A.} and Sylvain Sirois and Smith, {Eleanor S.} and Karin Strid and Tebbe, {Anna Lena} and Maleen Thiele and Francis Yuen and Tobias Schuwerk",

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Steffan, A, Zimmer, L, Arias-Trejo, N, Bohn, M, Dal Ben, R, Flores-Coronado, MA, Franchin, L, Garbisch, I, Grosse Wiesmann, C, Hamlin, JK, Havron, N, Hay, JF, Hermansen, TK, Jakobsen, KV, Kalinke, S, Ko, ES, Kulke, L, Mayor, J, Meristo, M, Moreau, D, Mun, S, Prein, J, Rakoczy, H, Rothmaler, K, Santos Oliveira, D, Simpson, EA, Sirois, S, Smith, ES, Strid, K, Tebbe, AL, Thiele, M, Yuen, F & Schuwerk, T 2024, 'Validation of an open source, remote web-based eye-tracking method (WebGazer) for research in early childhood', Infancy, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 31-55. https://doi.org/10.1111/infa.12564

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T1 - Validation of an open source, remote web-based eye-tracking method (WebGazer) for research in early childhood

AU - Steffan, Adrian

AU - Zimmer, Lucie

AU - Arias-Trejo, Natalia

AU - Bohn, Manuel

AU - Dal Ben, Rodrigo

AU - Flores-Coronado, Marco A.

AU - Franchin, Laura

AU - Garbisch, Isa

AU - Grosse Wiesmann, Charlotte

AU - Hamlin, J. Kiley

AU - Havron, Naomi

AU - Hay, Jessica F.

AU - Hermansen, Tone K.

AU - Jakobsen, Krisztina V.

AU - Kalinke, Steven

AU - Ko, Eon Suk

AU - Kulke, Louisa

AU - Mayor, Julien

AU - Meristo, Marek

AU - Moreau, David

AU - Mun, Seongmin

AU - Prein, Julia

AU - Rakoczy, Hannes

AU - Rothmaler, Katrin

AU - Santos Oliveira, Daniela

AU - Simpson, Elizabeth A.

AU - Sirois, Sylvain

AU - Smith, Eleanor S.

AU - Strid, Karin

AU - Tebbe, Anna Lena

AU - Thiele, Maleen

AU - Yuen, Francis

AU - Schuwerk, Tobias

PY - 2024/1/1

Y1 - 2024/1/1

N2 - Measuring eye movements remotely via the participant's webcam promises to be an attractive methodological addition to in-person eye-tracking in the lab. However, there is a lack of systematic research comparing remote web-based eye-tracking with in-lab eye-tracking in young children. We report a multi-lab study that compared these two measures in an anticipatory looking task with toddlers using WebGazer.js and jsPsych. Results of our remotely tested sample of 18-27-month-old toddlers (N = 125) revealed that web-based eye-tracking successfully captured goal-based action predictions, although the proportion of the goal-directed anticipatory looking was lower compared to the in-lab sample (N = 70). As expected, attrition rate was substantially higher in the web-based (42%) than the in-lab sample (10%). Excluding trials based on visual inspection of the match of time-locked gaze coordinates and the participant's webcam video overlayed on the stimuli was an important preprocessing step to reduce noise in the data. We discuss the use of this remote web-based method in comparison with other current methodological innovations. Our study demonstrates that remote web-based eye-tracking can be a useful tool for testing toddlers, facilitating recruitment of larger and more diverse samples; a caveat to consider is the larger drop-out rate.

AB - Measuring eye movements remotely via the participant's webcam promises to be an attractive methodological addition to in-person eye-tracking in the lab. However, there is a lack of systematic research comparing remote web-based eye-tracking with in-lab eye-tracking in young children. We report a multi-lab study that compared these two measures in an anticipatory looking task with toddlers using WebGazer.js and jsPsych. Results of our remotely tested sample of 18-27-month-old toddlers (N = 125) revealed that web-based eye-tracking successfully captured goal-based action predictions, although the proportion of the goal-directed anticipatory looking was lower compared to the in-lab sample (N = 70). As expected, attrition rate was substantially higher in the web-based (42%) than the in-lab sample (10%). Excluding trials based on visual inspection of the match of time-locked gaze coordinates and the participant's webcam video overlayed on the stimuli was an important preprocessing step to reduce noise in the data. We discuss the use of this remote web-based method in comparison with other current methodological innovations. Our study demonstrates that remote web-based eye-tracking can be a useful tool for testing toddlers, facilitating recruitment of larger and more diverse samples; a caveat to consider is the larger drop-out rate.

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Validation of an open source, remote web-based eye-tracking method (WebGazer) for research in early childhood

Abstract

Bibliographical note

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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