Entropy of Eye Movements While Reading Code or Text

A new gaze-based analysis method is presented based on word span entropy, suitable for comparison of eye movements collected during reading of code or text. Word span entropy is derived from gaze transition entropy but differs in that the transition matrix represents word span instead of gaze transition between Areas Of Interest (AOIs). Empirical evidence shows that, as expected, an increase in word span entropy is related to a shorter response time, especially when reading code, showcasing the metric’s analytical utility.