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MouseTracker is a freely available, user-friendly
software package that allows researchers to record and
analyze hand movements en route to responses on the
screen (via the
x, y
coordinates of the computer mouse). By looking at the
dynamics of how participants' hand movements settle into
a response alternative--and how they may be partially
pulled toward other alternatives--researchers glean
valuable information about real-time mental processing.
It's like opening up a single reaction time into a
continuous stream of rich cognitive output. MouseTracker
has impressive temporal resolution, comparable to
eye-tracking and event-related brain potential (ERP)
measures. Experiments can incorporate images, letter
strings, sounds, and videos. Once recorded, mouse
trajectories can be visualized, averaged, and explored,
and measures of attraction/curvature, complexity,
velocity, and acceleration can be computed. Precise
characterizations of mouse trajectories' temporal and
spatial dynamics are available, and these can shed light
on a variety of important empirical questions across
psychology, cognitive science, and beyond. (More)
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