UTILIZATION OF BLINK RATE AS A PROXY FOR ENGAGEMENT

Abstract

This study investigated factors influencing trial engagement by evaluating visual attention, cognitive abilities, behavioral tendencies, and physiological responses. Building on previous research suggesting that blinks play a role in attention modulation, this study focused on exploring blinks as a potential quantifiable metric of engagement. As blinking is an omnipresent and involuntary process, the continuous stream of ocular data observed during experiments offers an opportunity to examine its relationship with engagement. Participants included child and caregiver dyads recruited for a Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) study. Eye-tracking data from facial identification tasks completed by both children and caregivers formed the basis of the analysis. Key findings revealed that Time to First Fixation (TFF) and cognitive measures, including the Verbal Comprehension Index (VCI) and Full-Scale IQ (FSIQ), were significant predictors of engagement, suggesting that greater cognitive and attentional efficiency is associated with sustained focus. While greater cognitive ability was linked to efficient attention, participants with lower VCI scores engaged effectively with the task, suggesting a reliance on nonverbal or visually guided search strategies. However, behavioral metrics such as the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory (ECBI) showed a weaker association with engagement, underscoring the complex interplay of variables that influence attention regulation. The findings emphasize the need for future research to integrate additional physiological and behavioral metrics, such as pupil dilation and saccadic patterns, to achieve a more holistic understanding of engagement. This study contributes to the growing body of knowledge on sustained attention and engagement, laying the foundation for developing more accurate and comprehensive measures of attentional processes.