Abstract
A number of studies have suggested a relationship between visual attention and microsaccades, a type of fixational eye movement. Visual attention can be classified as Top down attention and Bottom up attention. However, the effect of these types of attention on microsaccades has not been clarified. Further, the inclusion of rapid saccades in research on eye movement for practical applications warrants evaluation. In this paper, we investigated the effect of Top down attention and Bottom up attention on microsaccades extracted from eye movement data which includes saccades. Eye movement, pupil diameter and response time were measured under five controlled experimental conditions requiring different processing loads. The image features, pupil diameters and response times indicated that the experimental conditions were properly configured. Statistical analysis indicated that microsaccades showed different behaviors under each of the five experimental conditions. This result suggested that visual attention and processing loads affect behaviors of microsaccade, and can be used to estimate the required processing load by visual attention.
