Computational Modeling of Spatial Navigation Indices from Eye Movement Data in Healthy Young Adults in Virtual Environments

Spatial navigation is a complex cognitive function involving sensory inputs, such as visual, auditory, and proprioceptive information, to understand and move within space. This ability allows healthy young adults to create mental maps, navigate through environments, and process directional cues, crucial for exploring new places and finding one’s way in unfamiliar surroundings. This study presents a computational framework for deriving spatially meaningful indices from eye-tracking data, enabling novel applications in interactive visualization and virtual environment design. Leveraging electrooculography signals, we analyzed statistical features and applied feature engineering techniques to study eye movements during navigation tasks.