Extraction of Binocular Microsaccade Components using Monocular Eye Tracking Measurements

Microsaccades (MSs) are often used as an index of mental activity and they may be classified as binocular or monocular using the synchronicity of their appearance in both eyes. The possibility of detecting binocular MSs was examined using the characteristics of eye features. A classification procedure was conducted and performance was evaluated using measurements taken at 500Hz and 1KHz. The validity of classification using monocular eye tracking, and the dependency of data characteristics measured during the experimental tasks were examined. Also, the influence of sampling rates of eye trackers is discussed by comparing the characteristics of binocular MSs measured using two types of eye trackers. Possible applications were also discussed.