Eye-Tracking Technology for Estimation of Cognitive Load After Traumatic Brain Injury

The goal of this study was to develop an eye-tracking based tool to measure cognitive effort as an approach to assess injury-related changes in brain function. A set of novel tasks were developed to examine changes in manual and saccadic reaction time under varying levels of cognitive load and cuing conditions. Twenty-six healthy individuals completed these working memory and continuous monitoring tasks while eye movements were recorded. Results indicate that these tasks, in combination with eye-tracking measures, are sensitive to cognitive difficulty as manual and saccadic response times increased under the higher load and invalid cuing conditions. These procedures show promise for utility in measuring cognitive effort and track the subtle changes associated with mild TBI.