Can a Low-Cost Eye Tracker Assess the Impact of a Valent Stimulus? A Study Replicating the Visual Backward Masking Paradigm

Abstract Capturing affective response to valent stimuli using eye tracking is of interest not only to academic research but also to commercial equipment developers (e.g. car dashboards). In order to investigate whether a low-cost eye tracker can effectively detect participants’ physiological response to negatively valent stimuli, 44 participants aged 19–24 (mean = 24.7, SD = 5.8) were recruited to complete the visual backward masking paradigm in a repeated-measure experimental design. Saccadic duration and pupil sizes were recorded using a lower-end 60-Hz tracker. Data was analysed using a mix of parametric and non-parametric tests. Our results suggest that valence in the form of fearful vs neutral faces has a significant main effect on both saccadic duration [V = 931, P