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Effects of Cataracts Severities on Eye Movements and Task Performance During a Visual Search Task Through Virtual Reality Simulations

MCML Authors

Jesse Grootjen

→ Group Albrecht Schmidt
Human-Centered Ubiquitous Media

Abstract

Visual impairments, such as cataracts, pose a global challenge with preventable cases and unaddressed issues due to limited eye care understanding. In this work, we investigate cataracts using a virtual reality simulation, exploring its impact on a visual search task and investigating the correlations between eye movement features and the severity of the simulation. We simulated cataract progression in one or both eyes through two studies utilizing virtual reality and eye tracking. We analyzed the impact on task performance and eye movements and found that mild cataract progression may be hard to detect. However, more severe cataract simulation revealed significant differences in eye movement characteristics and task performance. These results indicate that eye movements could serve as early diagnostic tools.

inproceedings GWD+25