EyeSort

EyeSort toolbox is a free, open-source software for behavior-contingent labeling of synchronized EEG and eye-tracking events in reading experiments. It is built as an EEGLAB plugin and builds on the EEGLAB Toolbox event and dataset framework.

EyeSort operates between synchronization and analysis: once fixation and saccade events are already in EEG.event, it maps those events onto text-defined interest areas, applies region and behavior-based labels, and writes traceable event markers that can feed ERPLAB/BINLISTER workflows, FRP analyses, or deconvolution models.

We highly recommend all new users to read through the user manual to understand both toolbox functionality and workflow. The README is a short overview only; the manual covers installation, input preparation, GUI steps, scripting, quality control, and troubleshooting.

EyeSort 1.0

Download EyeSort 1.0

Download the plugin ZIP above (eyesort1.0.zip). It unpacks to an eyesort1.0 folder. Place that folder in your EEGLAB plugins directory, launch EEGLAB, and confirm the EyeSort menu is present.

Documentation And Downloads

• Latest releases
• User Manual (PDF)
• Compatible sample datasets + IA file

Before using your own data: work through the manual and sample files first.

Scope

EyeSort does not preprocess EEG, clean eye-tracker data, correct artifacts, or synchronize modalities. Those steps must be finished upstream. It assumes fixation and saccade events are already present in EEG.event.

EyeSort outputs can be used in downstream analyses including ERPLAB/BINLISTER ERP workflows and model-based approaches such as deconvolution.

Requirements

• MATLAB with EEGLAB installed and working.
• EyeSort copied into the EEGLAB plugins directory.
• EEGLAB .set datasets with synchronized fixation and saccade events in EEG.event.
• A tab-delimited interest-area text file with one row per stimulus/trial, condition and item trigger columns, and one column per named text region.

EyeSort defaults match common EYE-EEG synchronized field names, but these are customizable in the GUI:

• Fixation event type: R_fixation
• Fixation X-position field: fix_avgpos_x
• Saccade event type: R_saccade
• Saccade X-position fields: sac_startpos_x, sac_endpos_x

Installation

1. Download eyesort1.0.zip.
2. Unzip it and copy the eyesort1.0 folder into the EEGLAB plugins directory.
3. Start MATLAB and launch EEGLAB with eeglab.
4. Verify that the EyeSort menu appears in the EEGLAB toolbar.

If MATLAB reports multiple EyeSort folders on the path, remove duplicate copies or confirm that the first folder found is the intended version.

Quick Workflow

The EyeSort menu is organized as a guided sequence:

1. EyeSort > 1. Load EEG Dataset(s)
2. EyeSort > 2a. Setup Interest Areas > Text-Based Sentence Contents and Interest Areas
3. EyeSort > 2b. Setup Interest Areas > Inspect Parsed Regions (optional)
4. EyeSort > 3. Import IA Columns to Events (optional)
5. EyeSort > 4. Eye-Tracking Event Labeling
6. EyeSort > Generate BINLISTER BDF File (optional)
7. EyeSort > Modify Event Code Format (optional)
8. EyeSort > History Scripts > Save processing history script (optional)

For scripted reruns without the GUI, export a processing script from the History Scripts menu after completing a representative EyeSort workflow. Single-dataset and batch steps also record evaluable pop_* commands for the current dataset in EEGLAB history (eegh and EEG.history). Use the exported processing script to replay an entire multi-file batch.

Outputs

EyeSort writes traceable metadata to the EEG dataset and event structures. Common outputs include:

• Optional intermediate datasets: *_eyesort_ia.set
• Processed/labeled datasets: *_processed.set
• BINLISTER BDF files, typically eyesort_bins.txt
• Labeling summary CSV files when label descriptions are available
• Exported processing scripts and sidecar configuration files

Important event-level fields include original_type, eyesort_full_code, eyesort_condition_code, eyesort_region_code, eyesort_label_code, bdf_full_description, current_region, current_word, and behavioral-context fields such as pass number, previous region, and next region.

Help And Support

• Use EyeSort > Help for an in-EEGLAB workflow summary.
• Use the user manual for tutorials and detailed troubleshooting.
• Open an issue on the repository to report bugs.

Contact:

• Sara Milligan: smilliga@usf.edu
• Brandon Snyder: snyderb96@gmail.com
• Elizabeth Schotter: eschotter@usf.edu

License

EyeSort is distributed under the GPL-3.0-or-later license. See LICENSE.

Citation

Citation information will be added when available.