Perspective tracking in the real world: Gaze angle analysis in a collaborative wayfinding task

摘要

In collaborative wayfinding, partners jointly search the environment for task-relevant information. Studies on collaborative search suggest that it is most efficient to divide the search space so that each partner monitors only the space in front of herself. Cooperation, in contrast, requires the establishment of a perceptual common ground to coordinate actions. This is achieved by tracking the partner's perspective. To investigate these conflicting demands, we used mobile eye tracking and compared gaze behavior during individual and collaborative wayfinding. We introduce gaze angle analysis, a way of analyzing eye tracking data with respect to gaze direction. Our results show that partners, compared to individuals, shift their gazes towards their partner's side. This supports perspective tracking and contradicts spatial division-of-labor.