Analyzing the path that the eyes describe when looking, you can predict what a person is going to say , according to a recent research by the University of Edinburgh (Scotland). According to Moreno Coco and Frank Keller, co-authors of the work, there is a direct relationship between the speech and the previous eye movement because it is necessary to "see what is going to be described." In their experiments, they showed a series of subjects realistic images of spaces, such as a hotel room, that the participants had to describe. And they found that the gaze travel is sufficient to deduce what someone is going to say, the relationship that is perceived between the objects, the way in which the words will be ordered and the length of the sentence.
Keller and Coco thus identified which patterns of eye movement corresponded to different sentences. The next step will be to observe if the visual journey also varies depending on the gender or culture of the subject.
For now, the study could help develop interfaces for people with disabilities who find it impossible to express themselves . "If you are confined to bed, you can use your eyes to express what you want to say," say the researchers.
