Understanding cognitive load with Tobii eye tracking

Cognitive load is a measure of how much mental effort someone is using at a given time. Understanding it adds a new layer to eye tracking, or can be used as a stand-alone measure, showing not just where people look but how hard their brain is working. It can highlight confusion or mental stress during navigation, pressure points in usability tests, or decision-heavy moments in sports and professional training.

Bringing cognitive load into Tobii workflows

Tobii has been working with SOMAREALITY's Aware platform to integrate cognitive load insights into existing Tobii workflows. This overview explains how cognitive load is measured, how it's applied with Tobii Glasses, and the value it brings to researchers and practitioners.

Why cognitive load matters

Traditional eye tracking tells you where attention goes. Cognitive load tells you the mental cost of what you're seeing. When combined, these two streams of data provide a far richer picture of the user's experience — one that supports better decisions in design, training, and performance optimization.

Key application areas where cognitive load tracking adds value include:

• Driving and navigation: Identifying mental workload peaks during complex manoeuvres or unfamiliar routes.
• E-commerce and shopping: Detecting peaks aligned with decision overload or confusing layouts.
• Sports performance: Identifying spikes during critical decision moments under pressure.
• Professional training: Assessing task complexity and optimising workflows for trainees.

Workflow for Tobii Pro Glasses 3

Since Tobii Pro Lab doesn't natively import third-party metrics, a workflow was developed using SOMA Aware's CSV outputs. These are injected into Tobii Pro Glasses 3 data, replacing pupil data with cognitive load values. Analysts can then inspect and compare workload levels directly in Tobii Pro Lab, enabling side-by-side comparison of gaze and cognitive load across recordings.

Eye tracking offers a natural, real-time and objective alternative that can replace more invasive, biased or time consuming alternatives.

This integration represents a meaningful step toward holistic behavioral research — one that captures not just the direction of attention, but the cognitive effort behind every gaze. For researchers and applied practitioners working with Tobii systems, cognitive load data opens new doors in understanding human performance in real-world environments.