Scarf Plot

The Scarf Plot (or sequential graph) is a chronological visualization of eye movement data showing the sequence of fixations and saccades over time. Specific Areas of Interest (AOIs) in the stimulus are color-coded and displayed as contiguous horizontal strips. It is the primary visualization for detailed sequential analysis of visual search and scanpaths across participants or stimuli.

Interested on how to operate with plots in general within the workspace? See:

• How to move a plot around workspace?
• How to resize a plot?
• How to duplicate a plot?
• How to add a new plot?
• How to remove a plot?

Metric Contract

• Metric Contract: This visualization renders eye-tracking sequences directly and does not consume metrics from the Metric Library.

Configuration via Settings Pane

Clicking the Scarf Plot card in the workspace selects the plot and opens its configuration options in the sidebar Settings Pane (or bottom sheet on mobile). The settings are organized into the following collapsible sections:

Stimulus

Choose the stimulus to analyze. Each stimulus contains its own set of Areas of Interest (AOIs) which will be displayed in the scarf plot.

• Edit stimulus library…: Opens the Stimuli Modification modal to manage stimulus files and dimensions.

Participant group

Filter the eye-tracking data by group.

• Select group: A dropdown containing All participants and custom participant groups.
• Edit groups…: Opens the Participant Groups modal to create or modify comparative groups.
• Edit participants…: Opens the Participant Modification modal to customize participant properties and metadata.

Visualisation

Configure the timeline representation mode, event layers, and data visibility.

• Timeline mode: Choose how the sequence is arrayed along the horizontal axis:
  • Absolute: Displays fixations and events plotted in their exact chronological timing (in milliseconds).
  • Relative: Scales and displays sequences proportional to the participant with the longest dwell time for cross-participant comparability.
  • Ordinal: Displays strict sequential order indices of individual fixations, saccades, and other events, discarding exact durations.
• Hide data: Toggle secondary layers off to declutter the sequence. Event channels always render as an overlay — time-coded colored strips below each participant’s gaze baseline — whenever the stimulus has event data; the Events toggle hides that overlay.
  • Non-fixations (visible when the data contains segments): When checked, saccades, blinks, and other non-fixation segments are hidden to declutter the visual scanpath sequence.
  • Events (visible in Absolute and Relative modes when the selected stimulus has event data): When checked, the event overlay is hidden. Events are shown by default.

Time range [ms] / Ordinal range [indices]

Defines temporal or index boundaries. GazePlotter automatically matches this section to the active timeline mode:

• Time range [ms] (in Absolute or Relative mode): Limit sequence start and end times (ms) (0 = Auto).
• Ordinal range [indices] (in Ordinal mode): Limit sequence by start and end fixation indices (0 = Auto).

Areas of Interest

Filters which Areas of Interest (AOIs) are active and color-coded.

• Configure AOI Library…: Opens the AOI Modification modal to add, remove, rename, or color-code AOIs.

Eye-movement Type

Configure classification categories (e.g. Saccades, Blinks, Fixations).

• Configure Category Library…: Opens the Category Modification modal to edit display names, colors, and global visibility of classification states.

Events

Configure event channels mapped to the stimulus.

• Configure Event Library…: Opens the Event Channel Modification modal to edit event names, colors, display ordering, and visibility.

Export

Located at the bottom of the Settings Pane:

• Download plot…: Opens the export modal to download the plot.
  • File formats: PNG (recommended, transparent background) or JPG (white background).
  • Dimensions: Customizable width (height calculated automatically based on content and number of participants).
  • Quality: Adjustable DPI setting.
  • Margins: Configurable margins.
  • Preview: Live render of the output before saving.
• Export Data: To export raw fixation sequences, timing, and AOI mapping data in CSV format, see the Segmented Data Export documentation.

Interactivity

The scarf plot is highly interactive:

• Sequence details: Hovering over any fixation, saccade, or event strip displays a tooltip with details (e.g. duration, start/end times, and AOI or event name).
• Highlighting: Hovering over a category (fixation, saccade, or specific AOI/event channel) in the legend temporarily highlights all matching segments across all participants and dims the rest. Clicking a legend category toggles a persistent highlight.

Event Data Layer

GazePlotter supports event data (e.g., dynamic AOI visibility intervals) displayed under the participant gaze sequence. In Overlay mode, time-coded events hang below a shared baseline as colored strips. Overlapping events stack into lanes, and a thin gray line divides participants. Event data is displayed only in Absolute and Relative time views.