  The think aloud method is an important and commonly used tool for usability
optimization. However, analyzing think aloud data could be time consuming. In
this paper, we put forth an automatic analysis of verbal protocols and test the
link between spoken feedback and the stimulus using eye tracking and mouse
tracking. The gained data - user feedback linked to a specific area of the
stimulus - could be used to let an expert review the feedback on specific web
page elements or to visualize on which parts of the web page the feedback was
given. Specifically, we test if participants fixate on or point with the mouse
to the content of the webpage that they are verbalizing. During the testing,
participants were shown three websites and asked to verbally give their
opinion. The verbal responses, along with the eye and cursor movements were
recorded. We compared the hit rate, defined as the percentage of verbally
mentioned areas of interest (AOIs) that were fixated with gaze or pointed to
with the mouse. The results revealed a significantly higher hit rate for the
gaze compared to the mouse data. Further investigation revealed that, while the
mouse was mostly used passively to scroll, the gaze was often directed towards
relevant AOIs, thus establishing a strong association between spoken words and
stimuli. Therefore, eye tracking data possibly provides more detailed
information and more valuable insights about the verbalizations compared to the
mouse data.
