EyeBrain: Left and Right Brain Lateralization Activity Classification Through Pupil Diameter and Fixation Duration

A new study published on arXiv by Watanabe and colleagues introduces EyeBrain, a system that classifies left versus right brain hemisphere activity using just two eye-tracking metrics: pupil diameter and fixation duration. The research builds on established neuroscience showing that the left hemisphere handles language and arithmetic while the right hemisphere manages creative tasks like drawing and music. By capturing these ocular signals during cognitive tasks, EyeBrain achieved an impressive F1 score of 0.894, demonstrating that simple eye measurements can reliably indicate which side of the brain is engaged.

The implications extend beyond the lab. Unlike fMRI or EEG, eye-tracking is inexpensive, portable, and non-invasive, making it ideal for real-world cognitive monitoring. EyeBrain could enable new neurorehabilitation tools for stroke patients or help optimize human-computer interfaces by detecting mental workload in real time. The team plans to integrate these methods into real-time applications, potentially transforming how we track brain states in education, therapy, and productivity settings.