multimatch-gaze: The MultiMatch algorithm for gaze path comparison in Python
Adina Svenja Wagner, Yaroslav O. Halchenko, Michael Hanke · The Journal of Open Source Software · 2019
multimatch-gaze is a Python package for computing the similarity of eye-movement sequences, so called scan paths.Scan paths are the trace of eye-movements in space and time, usually captured with eye tracking devices.Scan path similarity is a measure that is used in a variety of disciplines ranging from cognitive psychology, medicine, and marketing to humanmachine interfaces.In addition to quantifying position and order of a series of eye-movements, comparing their temporo-spatial sequence adds an insightful dimension to the traditional analysis of eye tracking data.It reveals commonalities and differences of viewing behavior within and between observers, and is used to study how people explore visual information.For example, scan path comparisons are used to study analogy-making (French, Glady, & Thibaut, 2017), visual exploration and imagery (Johansson, Holsanova, & Holmqvist, 2006), habituation in repetitive visual search (Burmester & Mast, 2010), or spatial attention allocation in dynamic scenes (Mital, Smith, Hill, & Henderson, 2011).The method is applied within individuals as a measure of change (Burmester & Mast, 2010), or across samples to study group differences (French et al., 2017).