Monitoring Behavior: A Pilot Study Using an Ambulatory Eye-Tracker in Surgical Operating Rooms

Information provision is an important function of most technology interventions. Understanding human operators' patterns in consulting various information sources could provide insights into how displays should be designed. We tested the utility of an ambulatory eye-tracker in an operational setting for collecting data of monitoring behavior. Temporal patterns of eye-tracking data, coupled with the data on observed activities and events led to a model of monitoring that treats knowledge about the monitored process as a resource. In a semi-self-paced work environment, the operator could deploy the strategy of building up knowledge about the monitored process before anticipated high workload periods and reestablishing such knowledge immediately after high workload periods to replenish lost resources. Through measures of monitoring frequency and time series analysis, supportive evidence for the resource model was obtained from the eye-tracking data of the pilot study. The study successfully demonstrated the utility of an ambulatory eye-tracking device in a real, dynamic environment.