A4 Refereed article in a conference publication
Visual Expertise in Code Reviews: Using Holistic Models of Image Perception to Analyze and Interpret Eye Movements
Authors: Hauser, Florian; Grabinger, Lisa; Mottok, Jürgen; Gruber, Hans
Editors: Kasneci Enkelejda, Shic Frederick, Khamis Mohamed
Conference name: Eye Tracking Research and Applications ETRA
Publication year: 2023
Book title : Proceedings ETRA 2023 : ACM Symposium on Eye Tracking Research and Applications, May 30-June2, 2023, Tübingen, Germany
Journal name in source: ACM SYMPOSIUM ON EYE TRACKING RESEARCH & APPLICATIONS, ETRA 2023
Number of pages: 7
ISBN: 979-8-4007-0150-4
eISBN: 979-8-4007-0150-4
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3588015.3589189
Web address : https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3588015.3589189
This study uses holistic models of image perception to analyze and interpret eye movements during a code review. 23 participants (15 novices and 8 experts) take part in the experiment. The subjects' task is to review six short code examples in C programming language and identify possible errors. During the experiment, their eye movements are recorded by an SMI 250 REDmobile. Additional data is collected through questionnaires and retrospective interviews. The results implicate that holistic models of image perception provide a suitable theoretical background for the analysis and interpretation of eye movements during code reviews. The assumptions of these models are particularly evident for expert programmers. Their approach can be divided into different phases with characteristic eye movement patterns. It is best described as switching between scans of the code example (global viewing) and the detailed examination of errors (focal viewing).
