UC Research Makes Top 10 List of Best Articles on Human Behavior

A published article on the use of eye-tracking in urban planning landed on

iMotions’ Top 10 list of Best Articles

on Human Behavior Research. iMotions is a leading designer and manufacturer of eye-tracking and biometric research software.

The article

, “Eye-tracking Technology, Visual Preference Surveys, and Urban Design: Preliminary Evidence of an Effective Methodology,” is published in the Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability.

The research was co-authored by Michael P. Cook, adjunct associate professor of marketing at the University of Cincinnati Carl H. Lindner College of Business; and Robert B. Noland, Marc D. Weiner, Anton Nelessen and Dong Gao, all professors from the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University.

The research explores the use of eye-tracking to define preferences in urban planning. To accomplish the goal, researchers gathered data by unveiling an image and following a person’s eye movement, fixation and duration of the fixation to determine desirable design elements (grass versus parking lot) in planning new communities, as they completed a traditional questionnaire.

“It seems to be a nice intersection of the application of biometric (eye tracking) marketing research tools with the planning and public policy sphere,” Cook says.