Question Sheet: Look into My Eyes

By Science News Explores

SCIENCE

Before reading:

  1. Turn to a neighbor and look into his or her eyes. Name the parts of the eye

    that you can see.

  2. Now look into his or her eyes again. Record everything that you can see

    reflected in them.

During reading:

  1. What are the tiny glints of light that we see in other people’s eyes?

  2. Explain in your own words Shree Nayar’s new tracking technology.

  3. What are some of the problems with other kinds of eye-tracking technology

    that already existed?

  4. What is an environment map?

  5. Name three possible uses for Nayar’s eye-tracking technology.

  6. How could this technology change the way people use computers?

After reading:

  1. How could eye-tracking technology improve video games? Think up two specific

    improvements you think might be possible with this technology. See www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/08/060818005632.htm.

  2. Why might some people not want to allow a computer track their eyes?

  3. If your teacher could track your eyes during class, would that make you

    behave differently?

  4. Ask a neighbor to tell one thing that’s true and then one thing that’s

    false. While you watch their eyes, have them repeat the truth and the lie three

    times each. Do they move their eyes differently when they tell the truth than

    they do when they lie?

  5. Now ask the same neighbor a factual question, such as, What did you eat for

    dinner last night? Have him or her give two answers—the truth and a lie—without

    telling you which answer is which. If you look in the person’s eyes while he or

    she answers, can you guess which is the falsehood?

  6. Now, while you stare into your neighbor’s eyes, ask him or her to look to

    one side and stare at an object. From your perspective, does that object appear

    in your neighbor’s pupil or does it appear a little to the side of the pupil

    that’s closer to their nose? Can you explain why the object appears where it

    does in the reflected view you see?

SOCIAL STUDIES

Imagine you have created a Web site and can track the eyes of the people who use your site. Could eye tracking tell you which parts of your site visitors use most? How could you use that knowledge to make your site even better?

LANGUAGE ARTS

  1. Do portrait paintings show reflections in eyes? Go to a museum and look at

    five different painting by different artists. Do any of the paintings depict

    reflection of light in the eyes of the subject? (If you don’t have time to visit

    a museum, you can search for portrait paintings on Google Images.) Write a short paper

    comparing the ways that different painters paint eyes.

  2. Pretend you are the manager of a store. How would you use eye-tracking

    technology to figure out which products your customers like most?

MATHEMATICS

What is an ellipse? How can you draw an ellipse using a pencil, string, and two pins? See www.mathopenref.com/constellipse1.html or, for a video, see www.metacafe.com/watch/399991/draw_a_perfect_ellipse/.