Catch every blink: a new blink detection method with eye tracking

Webinar details

This research webinar dives deep into the topic of eye blinks. Dr. Marisa Biondi will set the stage and provide a beginner-friendly introduction to blinks. The guest speaker, Dr. Marcus Nyström from Lund University, will present the latest blink detection method based on eyelid tracking and compare this new approach to the commonly used data loss method. 

By attending this event, you will learn about: 

• Introduction to blinks: types and characteristics  

• What insights blinks can provide in different fields of research 

• Blink detection based on eyelid tracking vs data loss methods 

The talks

A beginner’s guide to blinks 

Speaker: Dr. Marisa Biondi, Tobii

Description: Blinks involve the rapid closing and opening of the eyelids, and serve to moisten the eyes, relieve eyelid tension, or prevent injury. Beyond these primary functions, blinks offer valuable insights into human cognition, motor control, and behavior. This talk will explore how blink measurements can add to our understanding of attention, decision-making, time perception and even creativity.   

Dr. Marisa Biondi will present how various research fields, ranging from psychology to human factors and consumer research can benefit by including blink metric in their research. 

What is a blink? Classifying and characterizing blinks in eye openness signals 

Speaker: Dr. Marcus Nyström, Associate Professor of Ergonomics, works as a Research Engineer, Lund University Humanities Lab

Description: Blinks are widely studied across various fields of human behavior research. In data from video-based eye trackers, blink rate and duration are often estimated from the pupil-size signal, though it lacks direct information about eyelid position. In this talk, Dr. Marcus Nyström will share findings from his latest study, comparing blinks detected from eye openness (i.e., eyelid position) and pupil-size signals. He will also discuss the robustness of blink detection in low-quality eye tracking data. 

Join us for a webinar to explore the study results. The session will include a discussion on new blink detection methodologies, followed by an open Q&A with the lead researcher. We hope you'll join us for an insightful conversation.