A computer implemented method (10, 14) infers mental states of a person from eye movement of the person. The method includes identifying elementary features of eye tracker data, such as fixations and saccade, and recognizing from the elementary features a plurality of eye movement patterns. Each eye movement pattern is recognized by comparing the elementary features (10) with a predetermined eye movement pattern template. A given eye movement pattern is recognized if the elementary features satisfy a set of criteria associated with the template for that eye movement pattern. The method further includes the step of recognizing from eye movement patterns a plurality of eye behaviour patterns corresponding to the mental states of the person. Because high level mental states of the user are determined in real time, the method provides the basis for reliably determining when a user intends to select a target.
METHOD FOR INFERRING MENTAL STATES FROM EYE MOVEMENTS