Wearable eye-tracking technology for research into parent-child and doctor-patient interactions

Gaze behavior plays an important role in face-to-face communication. It helps us coordinate conversations and gives us insight into the socio-emotional and cognitive state of our conversation partner. So far, a lot of research into the role of gaze behavior in social interaction has been limited to experimental tasks, which are generally performed in a laboratory setting. These tasks are not very representative for the social context of daily interactions.

Wearable eye-tracking technology makes it possible to study gaze behavior during social interactions in a natural setting, i.e. outside of the laboratory. In this project, a new type of wearable eye tracker is used to research interpersonal communication by parents and children in the home environment, as well as by doctors and patients in the medical practice.

Project objectives

The first goal of this project is to research gaze behavior during parent-child and doctor-patient interactions in a representative social context. The research questions are:

• Can wearable eye-tracking help identify functional (and dysfunctional) parent-child relationships?
• Can mobile eye-tracking provide an insight into the role gaze behavior (and other nonverbal signals) plays when it comes to establishing mutual trust, understanding, a feeling of being heard and shared decision-making in doctor-patient interactions?

The second goal is to use open-source software for automatic data processing, making analyses more objective and efficient. In recent years, wearable eye-tracking has improved dramatically in terms of data quality and user friendliness, but the majority of wearable eye-tracking data is still processed manually. This means that data processing and analyses require a lot of time and effort. To automate (at least in part) data processing-and-analyses, open-source software based on computer vision/artificial intelligence will be employed.

The final goal of this project is to integrate wearable eye-tracking and automated data analyses into ongoing research at Tilburg University, in such fields as development psychology and health communication.

Potential impact

• Scientific: Wearable eye-tracking makes it possible to study the role of gaze behavior during face-to-face interactions in representative social environments, instead of being limited to a laboratory environment. This is crucial for the generalizability of research findings. The use of wearable eye-tracking therefore contributes to new insights and theory development on the role of non-verbal signals in interpersonal communication, and on how social interactions are influenced by social context and interpersonal relationships, for example between parents and children and doctors and patients. This project is also relevant for the implementation of new techniques for automated processing and analyzing of wearable eye-tracking data to benefit a variety of social interaction studies. 
• Societal: The knowledge acquired in this project is relevant for improving interpersonal communication and building stronger relationships, for example between parents and children, as well as for shared decision-making between doctors and patients. For parent-child relationships, it is important to break negative interaction patterns, as these can lead to problematic behavior in children. A better understanding of the role of gaze behavior, combined with other forms of nonverbal communication, during parent-child interactions can contribute to the development of interventions centered on the communication between parent and child. In doctor-patient conversations, improving interpersonal communication, for example when it comes to a patient’s trust and the extent to which they feel heard, is very important for shared decision-making and achieving more effective and accessible healthcare. Gaze behavior during doctor-patient consultations may provide us with insights into how mutual trust, understanding and the feeling of being heard are established.

Multidisciplinary project team

Dr. Gijs Holleman, Assistant Professor at the Department of Cognitive Neuropsychology, and Dr. Rabia Chhangur, Assistant Professor at the Department of Developmental Psychology, are experts in the field of developmental psychology and parent-child relationships. They will coordinate the parent-child study, using their professional network to find suitable parents and children.

Assistant Professor Dr. Debby Damen (lead applicant), Associate Professor Dr. Nadine Bol and Assistant Professor Dr. Carla Roos work at the Department of Communication and Cognition and are experts in the fields of interpersonal communication and doctor-patient communication. They will coordinate the doctor-patient study, using their professional network to recruit doctors and patients.

Dr. Rein Cozijn and Dr. Gijs Holleman are experts in the field of eye-tracking. They will focus on the technical elements of the research, including the eye-tracking equipment, data quality of the measurements and the data processing and analysis techniques. 

This project is funded by Tilburg University’s Digital Sciences for Society program: