Eye movements may be an indicator of personality type

Researchers at the University of South Australia together with the University of Stuttgart, Flinders University and the Max Planck Institute for Informatics in Germany tracked the eye movements of 42 students on campus, and also assessed their personality traits through tried and tested questionnaires. State-of-the-art machine-learning algorithm software was then used to assess the tracked eye movements and successfully recognised neuroticism, extroversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness and thus was capable of accurately revealing personality types.
Dr Tobias Loetscher of University of South Australia said: “There’s certainly the potential for these findings to improve human-machine interactions. People are always looking for improved, personalised services. However, today’s robots and computers are not socially aware, so they cannot adapt to non-verbal cues. This research provides opportunities to develop robots and computers so that they can become more natural, and better at interpreting human social signals. This research has tracked and measured the visual behaviour of people going about their everyday tasks, providing more natural responses than if they were in a lab. And thanks to our machine-learning approach, we not only validate the role of personality in explaining eye movement in everyday life, but also reveal new eye movement characteristics as predictors of personality traits.”