blicktest

Blicktest is a German-language term referring to experiments that use eye-tracking technology to measure where and for how long a person looks at visual stimuli. It is not a single standardized test; rather, it denotes a family of procedures designed to infer attention, interest, or recognition from gaze behavior.

Applications: The approach is used across psychology and cognitive science to study perception and social attention; in marketing and user experience research to evaluate visual appeal and information uptake; and in some clinical and developmental settings to explore processing differences or to track impairment in conditions that affect gaze control.

Methodology: An eye-tracker records eye position as participants view images, videos, or live scenes. Common metrics include fixation duration, dwell time, fixation count, gaze plots, and heatmaps. Data are analyzed to identify preferred regions of interest and search patterns. Research may be conducted with screen-based, remote, or wearable setups, and often requires calibration and quality checks.

Considerations: Eye-tracking data reflect gaze behavior, which is a proxy for attention but not a direct measure of cognitive state. Results depend on calibration accuracy, task demands, stimulus properties, and individual differences. Ethical issues include informed consent and privacy.

Variations and related concepts: In addition to pure gaze measures, some Blicktests incorporate pupil dilation, reaction time, or cross-modal responses. The term is common in German-speaking contexts, with methods aligned to standard eye-tracking practices.

See also: eye-tracking, gaze tracking, attention research.