Influence of mood on gazing behavior: Preliminary evidences from an eye-tracking study

The effect of positive and negative mood on gazing behavior in multi-alternative forced choice situations (2AFC, 4AFC, 8AFC and 16AFC) was analyzed. It was expected that current mood may influence the decision time, fixation and dwell durations as well as fixation and dwell counts. A Tobii Pro X2-60 screen-based eye tracker (60 Hz) and Tobii Studio software were used to present the stimuli and to analyze the gazing behavior of the 150 volunteer participants, out of which 67 were used in the final data analysis. Participants' mood was registered using the positive and negative affect scale (PANAS) method. Participants in positive mood had longer fixations and dwell durations and more fixation and dwell counts. Survival analysis revealed that significantly less time was needed for participants in negative mood to choose one from the presented alternatives. An interesting result of the analysis was that significant differences were present only in the case of 8AFC and 16AFC. These results draw attention to the importance of mood during eye-tracking studies.