Measuring Designers’ Cognitive Load for Timely Knowledge Push via Eye Tracking

Abstract

Recognizing the moment when designers are experiencing heightened cognitive load contributes to capturing the time when designers require knowledge, allowing for timely knowledge push to improve performance. This study aimed to explore the feasibility of measuring designers’ cognitive load using eye tracking technology and present a framework for the time identification of knowledge push based on eye-based cognitive load measurement. An eye-tracking experiment was conducted to examine the influence of cognitive load on eye metrics and the efficacy of estimating designers’ cognitive load by measuring eye metrics. The eye-based cognitive load measurement showed more than 80% accuracy. Next, combined with the sliding window approach, a real-time identification method for knowledge push time based on cognitive load measurement was proposed. The push time can be determined in near-real time based on the moment designers experiencing heightened cognitive load. This study provides insights for improving intelligence and personalization of knowledge push services.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Tobii Electronics Technology (Suzhou) Company for the assistance during the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant [71572147].

Notes on contributors

Shurong Tong

Shurong Tong is a Professor at School of Management of Northwestern Polytechnical University. Her researches focus on product design management, knowledge management, human-computer interaction.

Yafei Nie

Yafei Nie is a Ph.D. student at School of Management of Northwestern Polytechnical University. Her research interests are human-computer interaction and knowledge management.