How does Novelty of Information Shape How We Read Data Visualization? An Eye-Tracking Study

Description

This thesis examines how users respond to new information presented in data visualizations following prior exposure to related textual content. We analyze how gaze patterns reflect whether a visualization communicates information that users perceive as novel versus already known, and how this relates to their self-reported judgments.

You Will

• Conduct a literature review on gaze correlates of novelty, expectation violation, and cognitive conflict.
• Create experimental stimuli for the laboratory experiment.
• Implement the experiment in PsychoPy with EyeLink eye-tracking integration.
• Run a laboratory study with a minimum of 30 participants.
• Analyze gaze data in relation to agreement strength using regression-based methods.
• Document your work in a thesis and present your findings.
• (Optional) Contribute to co-authoring a research publication.

You Need

• Good written and verbal communication skills in English.
• Solid Python skills for stimulus generation and experiment implementation and data preprocessing.
• Basic knowledge of R for statistical analysis.
• Familiarity with eye-tracking is a plus, but not required.