3D Gaze Vis: Sharing Eye Tracking Data Visualization for Collaborative Work in VR Environment

Conducting collaborative tasks, e.g., multi-user game, in virtual reality (VR) could enable us to explore more immersive and effective experience. However, for current VR systems, users cannot communicate properly with each other via their gaze points, and this would interfere with users' mutual understanding of the intention. In this study, we aimed to find the optimal eye tracking data visualization , which minimized the cognitive interference and improved the understanding of the visual attention and intention between users. We designed three different eye tracking data visualizations: gaze cursor, gaze spotlight and gaze trajectory in VR scene for a course of human heart , and found that gaze cursor from doctors could help students learn complex 3D heart models more effectively. To further explore, two students as a pair were asked to finish a quiz in VR environment, with sharing gaze cursors with each other, and obtained more efficiency and scores. It indicated that sharing eye tracking data visualization could improve the quality and efficiency of collaborative work in the VR environment.