1. A computer implemented method for inferring mental states of a person from eye movements of the person in real time, the method comprising: a) identifying a plurality of elementary features of eye tracker data for the person; b) computing from the elementary features a plurality of eye movement patterns, wherein each pattern satisfies a set of predetermined eye movement pattern template criteria, wherein computing eye movement patterns is performed without requiring any a priori knowledge of contents of the person's visual field; and c) computing from the eye movement patterns a plurality of eye-behavior patterns corresponding to mental states of the person.