On-line eye movement recorders: The good,the bad,and the ugly

The first section of this paper describes three types of problems inherent in the use of on-line eye movement recorders (EMRs), These types of problems are (1) that software is difficult to develop, (2) that an on-line EMR is subject to all difficulties that are normally inherent in computer use and, (3) that with an on-line EMR. it is difficult to detect when the gaze is falling on an object that has an irregularly shaped boundary. It is argued that a large class of eye movement experimentation could be done as easily or more easily with an off-line EMR. The second section of the paper describes an off-line EMR laboratory currently in use by the author.