Development of a head-mounted, eye-tracking system for dogs

Abstract

Growing interest in canine cognition and visual perception has promoted research into the allocation of visual attention during free-viewing tasks in the dog. The techniques currently available to study this (i.e. preferential looking) have, however, lacked spatial accuracy, permitting only gross judgements of the location of the dog's point of gaze and are limited to a laboratory setting. Here we describe a mobile, headmounted, video-based, eye-tracking system and a procedure for achieving standardised calibration allowing an output with accuracy of 2-3º.The setup allows free movement of dogs; in addition the procedure does not involve extensive training skills, and is completely non-invasive. This apparatus has the potential to allow the study of gaze patterns in a variety of research applications and could enhance the study of areas such as canine vision, cognition and social interactions.

A dog centred approach to the analysis of dogs' interactions with media on TV screens

“…In this work, in which the dogs were trained to use a headrest to overcome the eyetracking problem of staying still for light reflections and/or focus, it was found that dogs attended to dogs' faces more than humans' faces. Somppi et al's (2012) experimental arrangement was in contrast to the design by Williams et al (2011), which held the tracking technology on a muzzle on the dog; this system did not constrain the dog's head position but potentially would affect the head movement of the dog.…”

“…This work has used head mounted devices with peahens (Kjaersgaard et al, 2008), dogs (Williams et al, 2011), chimpanzees (Kano and Tomonaga, 2013), and rodents (Mueller et al, 2008), and, more recently, off-animal trackers with cameras positioned in front of animals including birds (Schwarz et al, 2013), primates (Tobii Eye Trackers, 2014), cats (Körding et al, 2001) and other vertebrates with laterally placed eyes (Tyrrell et al, 2014).…”

Head-Mounted Eye Tracking of a Chimpanzee under Naturalistic Conditions

“…The lemurs followed the gaze of their conspecifics in this real-life environment and showed differential eye-movement patterns when walking compared with being stationary. This head-mounted eye-tracking method has also been used with human infants [21] and with dogs [22] but not with phylogenetically closer animals (i.e., great apes).…”

Reconhecimento de emoções em cães domésticos (Canis familiaris): percepção de pistas faciais e auditivas na comunicação intra e interespecífica

“…Miklósi et al (2004) afirmam que os cães são excelentes modelos para o estudo da evolução social humana porque suas habilidades de compreensão social são um exemplo de evolução convergente: os cães servem como um análogo funcional dos seres humanos. Além disso, são particularmente interessantes no estudo da cognição social, uma vez que são espécies sociais e demonstram sensibilidade a pistas comunicativas (Williams et al, 2011).…”

“…De acordo com Williams et al (2011), as regiões preferidas de uma cena são geralmente inspecionadas primeiro e atraem um tempo de observação maior. Padrões de olhar provêm um índice comportamental de processamento perceptual e cognitivo e podem ser índices sensíveis de atenção, motivação e preferência, especialmente quando explorando cenas de alto valor ecológico (Henderson, 2003).…”