Running an Eye Tracking Study
Participants need a camera or webcam with at least 1280 by 720 resolution to produce a complete eye tracking dataset. Once a participant grants camera access, they see a brief face-tracking check, followed by a calibration sequence: setting a comfortable center pose (the virtual chinrest), looking at a series of on-screen points until each registers, and in some cases tilting their head to recalibrate for shifted positions. A short recalibration then runs again before each subsequent task with eye tracking enabled.
A few practical factors affect how well this goes for a given participant: steady, front-facing lighting; glasses-free eyes clearly visible to the camera; and a webcam positioned close to the monitor. If a participant returns on the same device shortly after a previous calibration, Labvanced can offer to reuse that calibration instead of running it again.
The calibration screen's on-screen instructions are translatable for multilingual studies, and its background color can be matched to the rest of your study so the transition between calibration and the actual task feels seamless to participants. Testing the full flow yourself, or with a colleague, before running a real study is the easiest way to confirm your settings actually collect the data you expect.
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Webcam Eye Tracking Guide
The Webcam Eye Tracking Guide is the complete reference for building an eye tracking study in Labvanced, covering stimuli, calibration settings, task setup, recording, areas of interest, and the participant experience described here. If you are new to eye tracking in Labvanced, it is the best place to start.
The Participant Calibration Experience
The Participant Calibration Experience covers the full step-by-step calibration walkthrough: the initial camera and face-tracking check, setting the center pose, the fixation-point sequence, and what a participant sees if they drift out of position or need to tilt their head to recalibrate. It also covers practical factors that affect calibration quality, like lighting, webcam placement, and glasses, and what happens when a participant returns to a device that already has a saved calibration.
In-Lab Hardware Instead
If you are connecting your own in-lab eye tracking hardware rather than using Labvanced's webcam eye tracking, see Eye Tracking in Labvanced for that option.