Eye Tracking as a Tool for Examining Cognitive Processes

Eye tracking tools are now commonplace in the laboratories of experimental psychologists. Recording the position of a person's gaze, often several hundred times per second, can provide rich and precise data on the mechanisms and time course of cognitive processing. This approach has transformed cognitive psychology from the fields of language processing and reading, to categorization, cognitive development, and many more. In this chapter we discuss briefly the history of eye tracking research, when the technology is likely to benefit researchers, and the types of advantages it offers over traditional behavioral measures. We then present a selective review of areas of behavioral research in which eye tracking has had a significant impact, before providing a more detailed discussion of its use within the field of associative learning and attention.