MR 'Eye-Tracking' Software Helps Academic Brain Research

US agency MediaAnalyzer Software & Research is joining an international project, Exploratory Research for Advanced Technology (ERATO), to map and explain brain processes such as emotions and human will. The study will make use of the company's AttentionTracking web-based 'eye tracking' technology to conduct large-scale visual tests.

MediaAnalyzer's co-founder and MD Dr Christian Scheier has written various scientific publications in the areas of neural networks and psychophysics. His company aims to provide scientifically validated solutions, and specialises in tests to measure user attention, recognition and recall.

The AttentionTracking tool measures and maps consumer attention by recording mouse clicks. The company claims that this method yields as reliable information about where participants look as camera-based eye tracking methods. However, it is faster, less expensive, and can be easily used with hundreds of participants. It also enables participants to remain in a natural setting, with no lab or headgear necessary.

The ERATO project also involves scientists from the Japan Science and Technology Corporation (JST), the US universities of Harvard, Caltech, Brandeis, Boston, the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and the University of Sussex in the UK. In addition to AttentionTracking, the project will use other measuring systems including EEG, MEG and fMRT. From the results of the project, the scientists hope to obtain new approaches to explaining brain dysfunctions such as in schizophrenia, autism, and depression.

MediaAnalyzer is online at www.mediaanalyzer.com.

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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