What term describes the pause of an eye movement on a specific area of the visual field?

The term that describes the pause of an eye movement on a specific area of the visual field is fixation. In the context of eye-tracking and visual attention, fixation refers to the moment when the eyes come to rest on a particular spot, allowing the visual system to gather information about that area. During a fixation, a person’s attention is focused on that target, and the duration of the fixation can provide insights into how users process information and where they allocate their attention.

Gaze plot represents the trajectory of eye movements over time, showing the path the eyes take as they fixate on different areas. This term emphasizes the overall movement rather than the pause itself. A heat map visually represents the intensity or frequency of fixations on different areas of a screen or image but does not specify the moment of stillness that a fixation entails. Lastly, scan path illustrates the sequence of eye movements across a visual field, detailing how a user explores information, but again, it focuses on movement rather than the specific pauses where fixation occurs. Understanding fixation is crucial in UX research because it helps in analyzing user behavior and optimizing designs for enhanced user experience.