METLab 2.0: Building the next generation mobile eye-tracking lab

In 2016, a consortium of 9 research groups from different faculties at KU Leuven laid the foundation for the Mobile Eye-Tracking Lab (METLab), a portable and shared infrastructure for conducting research on eye movements and eye gaze, using unobtrusive eye-tracking equipment (www.kuleuven.be/metlab). This opened new research possibilities for eye-tracking ‘in the wild’, which has been explored extensively over the past four years, by researchers of the METLab consortium as well as external (non-)academic users. In order to guarantee the METLab’s current pioneering position for the upcoming years, we apply for funding for new state-of-the-art equipment, especially given the rapid (technological) developments in the field. The rationale behind this application is that we are convinced that investing in a shared infrastructure is beneficial because (a) we make maximal use of the available resources (leading to a solid return on investment by evenly distributing the use over the partners involved) and (b) it promotes interdisciplinary contact.

Keywords:eye-tracking, joint attention, eye movements, pooling infrastructure, ecological validity

Disciplines:Psycholinguistics and neurolinguistics, Language acquisition, Video communications, Educational and school psychology, Sensory processes and perception, Information technologies, Interpersonal communication, Discourse studies, Cognitive processes