Comparing two eye-tracking databases: The effect of experimental setup and image presentation time on the creation of saliency maps

Visual attention models are typically designed based on human gaze patterns recorded through eye tracking. In this paper, two similar eye tracking experiments from independent laboratories are presented, in which humans observed natural images under task-free condition. The resulting saliency maps are analysed with respect to two criteria; the consistency between the experiments and the impact of the image presentation time. It is shown, that the saliency maps between the experiments are strongly correlated independent of presentation time. It is further revealed that the presentation time can be reduced without substantially sacrificing the accuracy of the convergent saliency map. The results provide valuable insight into the similarity of saliency maps from independent laboratories and are highly beneficial for the creation of converging saliency maps at reduced experimental time and cost.