bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Control of Visual Selection during Visual Search in the Human Brain
Authors: Olma Manuel C. , Donner Tobias H. , Brandt Stephan A.
Published: February 2021

How do we find a target object in a cluttered visual scene? Targets carrying unique salient features can be found in parallel without directing attention, whereas targets defined by feature conjunctions or non-salient features need to be scrutinized in a serial attentional process in order to be identified. In this article, we review a series of experiments in which we used fMRI to probe the neural basis of this active search process in the human brain. In all experiments, we compared the fMRI signal between a difficult and an easy visual search (each performed without eye movements) in order to isolate neural activity reflecting the search process from other components such as stimulus responses and movement-related activity. The difficult search was either a conjunction search or a hard feature search and compared with an easy feature search, matched in visual stimulation and motor requirements. During both, the conjunction search and the hard feature search the frontal eye fields (FEF) and three parietal regions located in the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) were differentially activated: the anterior and posterior part of the intraparietal sulcus (AIPS, PIPS) as well as the junction of the intraparietal with the transverse occipital sulcus (IPTO). Only in PIPS, the modulation strength was most indistinguishable between conjunction and hard feature search. In a further experiment we showed that AIPS and IPTO are involved in visual conjunction search even in the absence of distractors; by contrast, the involvement of PIPS seems to depend on the presence of distractors. Taken together, these findings from these experiments demonstrate that all four key nodes of the human ’frontoparietal attention network’ are generally engaged in the covert selection process of visual search. But they also suggest that these areas play differential roles, perhaps reflecting different sub-processes in active search. We conclude by discussing a number of such sub-processes, such as the direction of spatial attention, visual feature binding, and the active suppression of distractors.
A pragmatic approach to multi-modality and non-normality in fixation duration studies of cognitive processes
Authors: Nakatani Chie , Leeuwen Cees van
Published: February 2021

Interpreting eye-fixation durations in terms of cognitive processing load is complicated by the multimodality of their distribution. An important source of multimodality is the distinction between single and multiple fixations to the same object. Based on the distinction, we separated a log-transformed distribution made to an object in non-reading task. We could reasonably conclude that the separated distributions belong to the same, general logistic distribution, which has a finite population mean and variance. This allowed us to use the sample means as dependent variables in a parametric analysis. Six tasks were compared, which required different levels of post-perceptual processing. A no-task control condition was added to test for perceptual processing. Fixation durations differentiated task-specific perceptual, but not post-perceptual processing demands.
Topology for gaze analyses - Raw data segmentation
Authors: Hein Oliver , Zangemeister Wolfgang H.
Published: February 2021

Recent years have witnessed a remarkable growth in the way mathematics, informatics, and computer science can process data. In disciplines such as machine learning, pattern recognition, computer vision, computational neurology, molecular biology, information retrieval, etc., many new methods have been developed to cope with the ever increasing amount and complexity of the data. These new methods offer interesting possibilities for processing, classifying and interpreting eye-tracking data. The present paper exemplifies the application of topological arguments to improve the evaluation of eye-tracking data. The task of classifying raw eye-tracking data into saccades and fixations, with a single, simple as well as intuitive argument, described as coherence of spacetime, is discussed, and the hierarchical ordering of the fixations into dwells is shown. The method, namely identification by topological characteristics (ITop), is parameter-free and needs no pre-processing and post-processing of the raw data. The general and robust topological argument is easy to expand into complexsettings of higher visual tasks, making it possible to identify visual strategies.
As supplementary file an interactive demonstration of the method can be downloaded,
Abstracts of the 19th European Conference on Eye Movements 2017
Authors: Radach Ralph , Deubel Heiner , Vorstius Christian , Hofmann (eds.) Markus J.
Published: February 2021

This document contains all abstracts of the 19th European Conference on Eye Movements, August 20-24, 2017, in Wuppertal, Germany
Abstracts of the Scandinavian Workshop on Applied Eye Tracking (SWAET 2018)
Authors: Barratt Daniel , Bertram Raymond , Nyström Marcus
Published: February 2021

This document contains the abstracts for the 2018 Scandinavian Workshop on Applied Eye Tracking (SWAET 2018) which was held at Copenhagen Business School, Denmark, 23 to 24 August, 2018..
Selective attention to question-relevant text information precedes high-quality summaries: Evidence from eye movements
Authors: León José A. , Moreno José David , Escudero Inmaculada , Kaakinen Johanna K.
Published: February 2021

Comprehension and summarizing are closely related. As more strategic and selective processing during reading should be reflected in higher quality of summaries, the aim of this study was to use eye movement patterns to analyze how readers who produce good quality summaries process texts. 40 undergraduate students were instructed to read six expository texts in order to respond a causal question introduced in the end of the first paragraph. After reading, participants produced an oral summary of the text. Based on the quality of the summaries, participants were divided into three groups: High, Medium and Low Quality Summaries. The results revealed that readers who produced High Quality Summaries made significantly more and longer fixations and regressions in the question-relevant parts of texts when compared to the other two summary groups. These results suggest that the summary task performance could be a good predictor of the reading strategies utilized during reading.
Eye-movement efficiency and sight-reading expertise in woodwind players
Authors: Zhukov Katie , Khuu Sieu , McPherson Gary E
Published: February 2021

The ability to sight-read traditional staff notation is an important skill for all classically trained musicians. Up until now, however, most research has focused on pianists, by comparing experts and novices. Eye movement studies are a niche area of sight-reading research, focusing on eye-hand span and perceptual span of musicians, mostly pianists. Research into eye movement of non-piano sight-reading is limited. Studies into eye movement of woodwind sight-reading were conducted in the 1980s and early 2000s, highlighting the need for new research using modern equipment. This pilot study examined the eye movements of six woodwind (flute, clarinet) undergraduates of intermediate-to-advanced skill level during sight-reading of scores of increased difficulty. The data was analysed in relation to expertise level and task difficulty, focusing on numbers of fixations and fixation durations. The results show that as music examples became more difficult the numbers of fixations increased and fixation durations decreased; more experienced players with better sight-reading skills required less time to process musical notation; and participants with better sight- reading skills utilised fewer fixations to acquire information visually. The findings confirm that the efficiency of eye movements is related to instrumental and sight-reading expertise, and that task difficulty affects eye movement strategies.
Estimating pilots’ cognitive load from ocular parameters through simulation and in-flight studies
Authors: Babu Mohan Dilli , JeevithaShree D. V. , Prabhakar Gowdham , Saluja Kamal Preet Singh , Pashilkar Abhay , Biswas Pradipta
Published: February 2021

Eye tracking is the process of measuring either the point of gaze (where one is looking) or the motion of an eye relative to the head. This paper investigated use of eye gaze trackers in military aviation environment to automatically estimate pilot’s cognitive load from ocular parameters. We used a fixed base variable stability flight simulator with longitudinal tracking task and collected data from 14 military pilots. In a second study, we undertook three test flights with a BAES Hawk Trainer aircraft doing air to ground attack training missions and constant G level turn maneuvers up to +5G. Our study found that ocular parameters like rate of fixation is significantly different in different flying conditions and significantly correlate with altitude gradient during air to ground dive training task, normal load factor (G) of the aircraft during constant G level turn maneuvers and pilot’s control inceptor and tracking error in simulation tasks. Results from our studies can be used for real time estimation of pilots’ cognitive load, providing suitable warnings and alerts to the pilot in cockpit and training of military pilots on cognitive load management during operational missions.
Improving eye–computer interaction interface design: Ergonomic investigations of the optimum target size and gaze-triggering dwell time
Authors: Niu Ya-feng , Gao Yue , Xue Cheng-qi , Zhang Ya-ting , Yang Li-xin
Published: February 2021

The Midas touch is reflected by the interactive feedback of interface functional elements, and a low level of spatial accuracy is related to the interaction area. This study tried to solve these two problems from the perspective of human-computer interactions and ergonomics. Two experiments were conducted to explore the optimum target size and gaze-triggering dwell time of the eye–computer interaction (ECI) system. Experimental Series 1 was used as the pre-experiment to identify the size that has a greater task completion rate. Experimental Series 2 was used as the main experiment to investigate the optimum gaze-triggering dwell time by using a comprehensive evaluation of the task completion rate, reaction time, and NASA-TLX (Task Load Index). In Experimental Series 1, the optimal element size was determined to be 256 × 256p x2. The conclusion of Experimental Series 2 was that when the dwell time is set to 600 ms, the efficiency of the interface is the highest, and the task load of subjects is minimal as well. Finally, the results of Experiment Series 1 and 2 have positive effects on improving the usability of the interface. The optimal control size and the optimal dwell time obtained from the experiments have certain reference and application value for interface design and software development of the ECI system.
The influence of vergence facility on binocular eye movements during reading
Authors: Poffa Remo , Joos Roland
Published: February 2021

Optometrists regularly use binocular measurements in patients with asthenopic complaints when performing close-up work. The focus of this work was therefore on the correlation of optometric parameters and objective fixation disparity (FD) measured by an eye tracker. In our investigation, 20 participants (6 male, 14 female) were subjected to a classical optometric procedure. Subsequently, these subjects read various sentences on a screen and eye movements were registered by using a RED500 eye tracker. The experiment was performed under two reading distance conditions. In order to be comparable with previous work, the present study was conducted under dark illumination conditions (J. A. Kirkby, Blythe, Drieghe, Benson, & Liversedge, 2013). FD values were deduced from objective eye tracking data during reading. Data analysis was done using linear mixed-effects models.
FD was found to depend on vergence facility (t=3.3, p=0.004). Subjects with a low vergence facility showed more eso fixation disparity than subjects with a normal vergence facility. If studies of binocular coordination using eye tracking methods are performed under dark illumination conditions, vergence facility is an important parameter and should be accounted for. Neglecting this parameter may mask other important parameters. Vergence facility in context of reading difficulties may be important.
Viewing garden scenes: Interaction between gaze behavior and physiological responses
Authors: Liu Congcong , Herrup Karl , Goto Seiko , Shi Bertram
Published: February 2021

Previous research has shown that exposure to Japanese gardens reduces physiological measures of stress, e.g. heart rate, in both healthy subjects and dementia patients. However, the correlation between subjects’ physiological responses and their visual behavior while viewing the garden has not yet been investigated. To address this, we developed a system to collect simultaneous measurements of eye gaze and three physiological indicators of autonomic nervous system activity: electrocardiogram, blood volume pulse, and galvanic skin response. We recorded healthy subjects’ physiological/behavioral responses when they viewed two environments (an empty courtyard and a Japanese garden) in two ways (directly or as a projected 2D photograph). Similar to past work, we found that differences in subject’s physiological responses to the two environments when viewed directly, but not as a photograph. We also found differences in their behavioral responses. We quantified subject’s behavioral responses using several gaze metrics commonly considered to be measures of engagement of focus: average fixation duration, saccade amplitude, spatial entropy and gaze transition entropy. We found decrease in gaze transition entropy, the only metric that accounts for both the spatial and temporal properties of gaze, to have a weak positive correlation with decrease in heart rate. This suggests a relationship between engagement/focus and relaxation. Finally, we found gender differences: females’ gaze patterns were more spatially distributed and had higher transition entropy than males.
Testing a calibration-free eye tracker prototype at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna
Authors: Dare Zoya , Brinkmann Hanna , Rosenberg Raphael
Published: February 2021

Eye tracking research in art viewership is often conducted in a laboratory setting where reproductions must be used in place of original art works and the viewing environment is less natural than in a museum. Recent technological developments have made museum studies possible but head-mounted eye tracking gear and interruptions by researchers still influence the experience of the viewer. In order to find a more ecologically valid way of recording eye movements while viewing artworks, we employed a prototype of a calibration-free remote eye tracker hidden below selected paintings at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. Museum visitors were unaware of the study and informed post hoc that we had registered their viewing behavior and asked to give consent for the use of their data. This article presents the study design as well as results from over 800 participants. While the data quality from the eye tracker prototype was not sufficient to conduct the intended analysis on within-painting gaze movements, this study might serve as a step towards an unobtrusive examination of the art viewing experience. It was possible to analyze time spent viewing paintings and those results show that certain paintings consistently drew significantly more prolonged attention from viewers.
Reading English-language haiku: An eye-movement study of the ‘cut effect’
Authors: Geyer Thomas , Günther Franziska , Müller Hermann J , Kacian Jim , Liesefeld Heinrich René , Pierides Stella
Published: February 2021

The current study, set within the larger enterprise of Neuro-Cognitive Poetics, was designed to examine how readers deal with the ‘cut’ – a more or less sharp semantic-conceptual break – in normative, three-line English-language haiku poems (ELH). Readers were presented with three-line haiku that consisted of two (seemingly) disparate parts, a (two-line) ‘phrase’ image and a one-line ‘fragment’ image, in order to determine how they process the conceptual gap between these images when constructing the poem’s meaning – as reflected in their patterns of reading eye movements. In addition to replicating the basic ‘cut effect’, i.e., the extended fixation dwell time on the fragment line relative to the other lines, the present study examined (a) how this effect is influenced by whether the cut is purely implicit or explicitly marked by punctuation, and (b) whether the effect pattern could be delineated against a control condition of ‘uncut’, one-image haiku. For ‘cut’ vs. ‘uncut’ haiku, the results revealed the distribution of fixations across the poems to be modulated by the position of the cut (after line 1 vs. after line 2), the presence vs. absence of a cut marker, and the semantic-conceptual distance between the two images (context–action vs. juxtaposition haiku). These formal-structural and conceptual-semantic properties were associated with systematic changes in how individual poem lines were scanned at first reading and then (selectively) re-sampled in second- and third-pass reading to construct and check global meaning. No such effects were found for one-image (control) haiku. We attribute this pattern to the operation of different meaning resolution processes during the comprehension of two-image haiku, which are invoked by both form- and meaning-related features of the poems.
A quantitative analysis of the taxonomy of artistic styles
Authors: Clay* Viviane , Schrumpf* Johannes , Tessenow* Yannick , Leder Helmut , Ansorge Ulrich , König Peter
Published: February 2021

Classifying artists and their work as distinct art styles has been an important task of scholars in the field of art history. Due to its subjectivity, scholars often contradict one another. Our project investigated differences in aesthetic qualities of seven art styles through quantitative means. This was achieved with state-of-the-art deep-learning paradigms to generate new images resembling the style of an artist or entire era. We conducted psychological experiments to measure the behavior of subjects when viewing these new art images. Two different experiments were used: In an eye-tracking study, subjects viewed art-style-specific generated images. Eye movements were recorded and then compared between art styles. In a visual singleton search study, subjects had to locate a style-outlier image among three images of an alternative style. Reaction time and accuracy were measured and analyzed. These experiments show that there are measurable differences in behavior when viewing images of varying art styles. From these differences, we constructed hierarchical clusterings relating art styles based on the different behaviors of subjects viewing the samples. Our study reveals a novel perspective on the classification of artworks into stylistic eras and motivates future research in the domain of empirical aesthetics through quantitative means.
Eye movements and mental imagery during reading of literary texts with different narrative styles
Authors: Magyari Lilla , Mangen Anne , Kuzmičová Anežka , Jacobs Arthur M , Lüdtke Jana
Published: February 2021

Based on Kuzmičová’s (2014) phenomenological typology of narrative styles, we studied the specific contributions of mental imagery to literary reading experience and to reading behavior by combining questionnaires with eye-tracking methodology. Specifically, we focused on the two main categories in Kuzmičová’s (2014) typology, i.e., texts dominated by an “enactive” style, and texts dominated by a “descriptive” style. “Enactive” style texts render characters interacting with their environment, and “descriptive” style texts render environments dissociated from human action. The quantitative analyses of word category distributions of two dominantly enactive and two dominantly descriptive texts indicated significant differences especially in the number of verbs, with more verbs in enactment compared to descriptive texts. In a second study, participants read two texts (one theoretically cueing descriptive imagery, the other cueing enactment imagery) while their eye movements were recorded. After reading, participants completed questionnaires assessing aspects of the reading experience generally, as well as their text-elicited mental imagery specifically. Results show that readers experienced more difficulties conjuring up mental images during reading descriptive style texts and that longer fixation duration on words were associated with enactive style text. We propose that enactive style involves more imagery processes which can be reflected in eye movement behavior.
Visual Fixation Durations and Saccade Amplitudes: Shifting Relationship in a Variety of Conditions
Authors: Pannasch Sebastian , Helmert Jens R. , Roth Katharina , Herbold Ann-Katrin , Walter Henrik
Published: February 2021

Is there any relationship between visual fixation durations and saccade amplitudes in free exploration of pictures and scenes? In four experiments with naturalistic stimuli, we compared eye movements during early and late phases of scene perception. Influences of repeated presentation of similar stimuli (Experiment 1), object density (Experiment 2), emotional stimuli (Experiment 3) and mood induction (Experiment 4) were examined. The results demonstrate a systematic increase in the durations of fixations and a decrease for saccadic amplitudes over the time course of scene perception. This relationship was very stable across the variety of studied conditions. It can be interpreted in terms of a shifting balance of the two modes of visual information processing.
Transsaccadic Scene Memory Revisited: A 'Theory of Visual Attention (TVA)' Based Approach to Recognition Memory and Confidence for Objects in Naturalistic Scenes.
Authors: Võ Melissa L.-H. , Schneider Werner X. , Matthias Ellen
Published: February 2021

The study presented here introduces a new approach to the investigation of transsaccadic memory for objects in naturalistic scenes. Participants were tested with a whole-report task from which — based on the theory of visual attention (TVA) - processing efficiency parameters were derived, namely visual short-term memory storage capacity and visual processing speed. By combining these processing efficiency parameters with transsaccadic memory data from a previous study, we were able to take a closer look at the contribution of visual short-term memory capacity and processing speed to the establishment of visual long-term memory representations during scene viewing. Results indicate that especially the VSTM storage capacity plays a major role in the generation of transsaccadic visual representations of naturalistic scenes.
The Influence of Complex Distractors in the Remote Distractor Paradigm
Authors: Benson Valerie
Published: February 2021

Three experiments examined the influence of complex dis-tractors on the Remote Distractor Effect (RDE), a robust finding of an increase is saccade latencies when two, rather than one possible targets are presented simultaneously (Walker, Deubel, Schneider & Findlay, 1997). In Experiment 1 saccade onset latencies (SOL’s) were greater for central versus peripheral presentation for lexical distractors, but not for non-lexical distractors. Experiment 2 showed that repeated presentation of a distractor results in reduced SOL’s at central presentation, regardless of lexical status. In Experiment 3 differences in saccade onsets were obtained between two types of lexical distractor when presented at parafoveal locations. Detailed analysis revealed that although SOL's are modulated by distractor complexity, RDE magnitudes are not.
Cueing Visual Attention to Spatial Locations With Auditory Cues
Authors: Kean Matthew , Crawford Trevor J.
Published: February 2021

We investigated exogenous and endogenous orienting of visual attention to the spatial loca-tion of an auditory cue. In Experiment 1, significantly faster saccades were observed to vis-ual targets appearing ipsilateral, compared to contralateral, to the peripherally-presented cue. This advantage was greatest in an 80% target-at-cue (TAC) condition but equivalent in 20% and 50% TAC conditions. In Experiment 2, participants maintained central fixation while making an elevation judgment of the peripheral visual target. Performance was significantly better for the cued side of the display, and this advantage was equivalent across the three expectancy conditions. Results point to attentional processes, rather than simply ipsilateral response preparation, and suggest that orienting visual attention to a sudden auditory stimu-lus is difficult to avoid.
Did Javal measure eye movements during reading?
Authors: Wade Nicholas J. , Tatler Benjamin W.
Published: February 2021

Louis-Émile Javal is widely credited as the first person to record eye movements in read-ing. This is so despite the fact that Javal himself never made that claim but it is perpetu-ated in contemporary text books, scientific articles and on the internet. Javal did coin the term ‘saccades’ in the context of eye movements during reading but he did not measure them. In this article we suggest that a misreading of Huey’s (1908) book on reading led to the misattribution and we attempt to dispel this myth by explaining Javal’s contribution and also clarifying who did initially describe discontinuous eye movements during reading.
Speed and Accuracy of Gaze Gestures
Authors: Heikkilä Henna , Räihä Kari-Jouko
Published: February 2021

We conducted an experiment where participants carried out six gaze gesture tasks. The gaze paths were analyzed to find out the speed and accuracy of the gaze gestures. As a result, the gaze gestures took more time than we anticipated and only the very fastest participants got close to what was expected. There was not much difference in performance times between small and large gaze gestures, because the participants reached significantly faster speed when making large gestures than small gestures. Curved shapes were found difficult to follow and time-consuming when followed properly. In general, the accuracy in following shapes was sometimes very poor. We believe that to improve the speed and accuracy of gaze gestures, proper feedback must be used more than in our experiment.
Time Course and Hazard Function: A Distributional Analysis of Fixation Duration in Reading
Authors: Feng Gary
Published: February 2021

Reading processes affect not only the mean of fixation duration but also its distribution function. This paper introduces a set of hypotheses that link the timing and strength of a reading process to the hazard function of a fixation duration distribution. Analyses based on large corpora of reading eye movements show a surprisingly robust hazard function across languages, age, individual differences, and a number of processing variables. The data suggest that eye movements are generated stochastically based on a stereotyped time course that is independent of reading variables. High-level reading processes, however, modulate eye movement programming by increasing or decreasing the momentary saccade rate during a narrow time window. Implications to theories and analyses of reading eye movement are discussed.
Sampling frequency and eye-tracking measures: how speed affects durations, latencies, and more
Authors: Andersson Richard , Nyström Marcus , Holmqvist Kenneth
Published: February 2021

We use simulations to investigate the effect of sampling frequency on common dependent variables in eye-tracking. We identify two large groups of measures that behave differently, but consistently. The effect of sampling frequency on these two groups of measures are explored and simulations are performed to estimate how much data are required to overcome the uncertainty of a limited sampling frequency. Both simulated and real data are used to estimate the temporal uncertainty of data produced by low sampling frequencies. The aim is to provide easy-to-use heuristics for researchers using eye-tracking. For example, we show how to compensate the uncertainty of a low sampling frequency with more data and postexperiment adjustments of measures. These findings have implications primarily for researchers using naturalistic setups where sampling frequencies typically are low.
Microsaccade characterization using the continuous wavelet transform and principal component analysis
Authors: Bettenbühl Mario , Paladini Claudia , Mergenthaler Konstantin , Kliegl Reinhold , Engbert Ralf , Holschneider Matthias
Published: February 2021

During visual fixation on a target, humans perform miniature (or fixational) eye movements consisting of three components, i.e., tremor, drift, and microsaccades. Microsaccades are high velocity components with small amplitudes within fixational eye movements. However, microsaccade shapes and statistical properties vary between individual observers. Here we show that microsaccades can be formally represented with two significant shapes which we identfied using the mathematical definition of singularities for the detection of the former in real data with the continuous wavelet transform. For character-ization and model selection, we carried out a principal component analysis, which identified a step shape with an overshoot as first and a bump which regulates the overshoot as second component. We conclude that microsaccades are singular events with an overshoot component which can be detected by the continuous wavelet transform.
A Unifying Model-Based Hypothesis for the Diverse Waveforms of Infantile Nystagmus Syndrome
Authors: Wang Zhong I. , Dell'Osso Louis F.
Published: February 2021

We expanded the original behavioral Ocular Motor System (OMS) model for Infantile Nystagmus Syndrome (INS) by incorporating common types of jerk waveforms within a unifying mechanism. Alexander’s law relationships were used to produce desired INS null positions and sharpness. At various gaze angles, these relationships influenced the IN slow-phase amplitudes differently, thereby mimicking the gaze-angle effects of INS patients. Transitions from pseudopendular with foveating saccades to jerk waveforms required replacing braking saccades with foveating fast phases and adding a resettable neural integrator in the pursuit pre-motor circuitry. The robust simulations of accurate OMS behavior in the presence of diverse INS waveforms demonstrate that they can all be generated by a loss of pursuit-system damping, supporting this hypothetical origin.
Evidence for a Structural Analysis of Target Selection in Picture Viewing
Authors: Rasche Christoph , Tatler Benjamin W.
Published: February 2021

Spontaneous fixations onto shapes are driven by a structural analysis. But is such analysis also carried out during free viewing of real-world scenes? Here, we analyze how fixation locations in such scenes are related to their region using the region's symmetric axes as a reference. Each fixation location is compared with respect to its nearest symmetric-axis segment by a latitude and a longitude measure. Analyzing the distributions for the two measures we find that there exist fixation biases for L features and parallel contours, suggesting that structural analysis may play a role in saccadic target selection during free viewing.
Author index of the 16th European Conference on Eye Movements 2011
Authors: Vitu Françoise , Castet Eric , Goffart Laurent
Published: February 2021

This document contains the author index of the 16th European Conference on Eye Movements, August 21-25 2011 in Marseille, France
Rapid learning of pursuit target motion trajectories revealed by responses to randomized transient sinusoids
Authors: Barnes Graham R.
Published: February 2021

When humans pursue sinusoidal target motion they rapidly learn to track with minimal phase error despite inherent visuo-motor processing delays; prior evidence suggests that prediction might even occur within the first cycle. Here, this has been examined by evoking reactive responses to single cycle stimuli having randomised periodicity and peak velocity. Periodicity was varied within three specific ranges with differing average periodicity. Initial responses in the first half-cycle were remarkably similar within periodicity ranges, irrespective of target velocity or frequency, but differed between ranges. In contrast, in the second half-cycle eye velocity closely matched the target in velocity and timing, irrespective of differences in eye velocity in the first half. Abrupt transitions occurred between first and second half-cycles, consistent with the hypothesis that target motion information is sampled and stored within the first half-cycle, irrespective of actual eye velocity evoked, and then released as a predictive estimate in the second half.
Study of depth bias of observers in free viewing of still stereoscopic synthetic stimuli
Authors: Wang Junle , Callet Patrick Le , Tourancheau Sylvain , Ricordel Vincent , Silva Matthieu Perreira Da
Published: February 2021

Observers’ fixations exhibit a marked bias towards certain areas on the screen when viewing scenes on computer monitors. For instance, there exists a well-known “center-bias” which means that fixations are biased towards the center of the screen during the viewing of 2D still images. In the viewing of 3D content, stereoscopic displays enhance depth perception by the mean of binocular parallax. This additional depth cue has a great influence on guiding eye movements. Relatively little is known about the impact of binocular parallax on visual attention of the 3D content displayed on stereoscopic screen. Several studies mentioned that people tend to look preferably at the objects located at certain positions in depth. But studies proving or quantifying this depth-bias are still limited. In this paper, we conducted a binocular eye-tracking experiment by showing synthetic stimuli on a stereoscopic display. Observers were required to do a free-viewing task through passive polarized glasses. Gaze positions of both eyes were recorded and the depth of eyes’ fixation was determined. The stimuli used in the experiment were designed in such a way that the center-bias and the depth-bias affect eye movements individually. Results indicate the existence of a depth-bias: objects closer to the viewer attract attention earlier than distant objects, and the number of fixations located on objects varies as a function of objects’ depth. The closest object in a scene always attracts most fixations. The fixation distribution along depth also shows a convergent behavior as the viewing time increases.
Implicit prosody and contextual bias in silent reading
Authors: McCurdy Kate , Kentner Gerrit , Vasishth Shravan
Published: February 2021

Eye-movement research on implicit prosody has found effects of lexical stress on syntactic ambiguity resolution, suggesting that metrical well-formedness constraints interact with syntactic category assignment. Building on these findings, the present eyetracking study investigates whether contextual bias can modulate the effects of metrical structure on syntactic ambiguity resolution in silent reading. Contextual bias and potential stress-clash in the ambiguous region were crossed in a 2 2 design. Participants read biased context sentences followed by temporarily ambiguous test sentences. In the three-word ambiguous region, main effects of lexical stress were dominant, while early effects of context were absent. Potential stress clash yielded a significant increase in first-pass regressions and re-reading probability across the three words. In the disambiguating region, the disambiguating word itself showed increased processing difficulty (lower skipping and increased re-reading probability) when the disambiguation engendered a stress clash configuration, while the word immediately following showed main effects of context in those same measures. Taken together, effects of lexical stress upon eye movements were swift and pervasive across first-pass and second-pass measures, while effects of context were relatively delayed. These results indicate a strong role for implicit meter in guiding parsing, one that appears insensitive to higher-level constraints. Our findings are problematic for two classes of models, the two-stage garden-path model and the constraint-based competition-integration model, but can be explained by a variation on the two-stage model, the unrestricted race model.
Hearing loss and a supportive tactile signal in a navigation system: Effects on driving behavior and eye movements
Authors: Thorslund Birgitta , Peters Björn , Herbert Nicholas , Holmqvist Kenneth , Lidestam Björn , Black Alexander , Lyxell Björn
Published: February 2021

An on-road study was conducted to evaluate a complementary tactile navigation signal on driving behaviour and eye movements for drivers with hearing loss (HL) compared to drivers with normal hearing (NH). 32 participants (16 HL and 16 NH) performed two preprogrammed navigation tasks. In one, participants received only visual information, while the other also included a vibration in the seat to guide them in the correct direction. SMI glasses were used for eye tracking, recording the point of gaze within the scene. Analysis was performed on predefined regions. A questionnaire examined participant's experience of the navigation systems. Hearing loss was associated with lower speed, higher satisfaction with the tactile signal and more glances in the rear view mirror. Additionally, tactile support led to less time spent viewing the navigation display.
Visual vs. Spatial Contributions to Microsaccades and Visual-Spatial Working Memory
Authors: Gaunt Joshua T. , Bridgeman Bruce
Published: February 2021

Microsaccade rates and directions were monitored while observers performed a visual working memory task at varying retinal eccentricities. We show that microsaccades generate no interference in a working memory task, indicating that spatial working memory is at least partially insulated from oculomotor activity. Intervening tasks during the memory interval affected microsaccade patterns; microsaccade frequency was consistently higher during concurrent spatial tapping (no visual component) than during exposure to dynamic visual noise (no task). Average microsaccade rate peaked after appearance of a fixation cross at the start of a trial, and dipped at cue onset and offset, consistent with previous results. Direction of stimuli in choice tasks did not influence microsaccade direction,however.
Discriminating cognitive processes with eye movements in a decision-making driving task.
Authors: Lemonnier Sophie , Brémond Roland , Baccino Thierry
Published: February 2021

An experiment was conducted in a driving simulator to test how eye-movements patterns evolve over time according to the decision-making processes involved in a driving task. Participants had to drive up to crossroads and decide to stop or not. The decision-making task was considered as the succession of two phases associated with cognitive processes: Differentiation (leading to a prior decision) and Consolidation (leading to a final decision). Road signs (Stop, Priority and GiveWay) varied across situations, and the stopping behavior (Go and NoGo) was recorded. Saccade amplitudes and fixation durations were analyzed. Specific patterns were found for each condition in accordance with the associated processes: high visual exploration (larger saccade amplitudes and shorter fixation durations) for the Differentiation phase, and lower visual exploration (smaller saccades and longer fixations) for the Consolidation phase. These results support that eye-movements can provide good indexes of underlying processes occurring during a decision-making task in an everyday context.
Task-relevant spatialized auditory cues enhance attention orientation and peripheral target detection in natural scenes
Authors: Rummukainen Olli , Mendonça Catarina
Published: February 2021

Concurrent auditory stimuli have been shown to enhance detection of abstract visual targets in experimental setups with little ecological validity. We presented 11 participants, wearing an eye-tracking device, with a visual detection task in an immersive audiovisual environment replicating a real-world environment. The participants were to fixate on a visual target and to press a key when they were confident of having detected the target. The visual world was accompanied by a task-relevant or task-irrelevant spatialized sound scene with different onset asynchronies. Our findings indicate task-relevant auditory cues to aid in orienting to and detecting a peripheral but not central visual target. The enhancement is amplified with an increasing amount of audio lead.
Saccade Latency and Fixation Stability: Repeatability and Reliability
Authors: Horgen Gro , Langaas Trine
Published: February 2021

This study aimed to investigate the repeatability and reliability of saccadic latency and fixation stability as a function of sighting-dominance and contact lens wear. Eye movements were recorded in 12 healthy adults who performed a pro- saccade and a fixation task in four conditions; baseline, retest, non-sighting eye viewing and plano contact lens wear. The re-sults showed that saccadic latency and fixation stability (indexed via logBCEA) have good internal consistency, reliability and repeatability, which are not influenced by sighting- dominance or contact lens wear. For standard deviation of eye position, internal consistency was low to moderate. The results also indicated that the non-sighting eye is slightly less stable than the sighting eye and that wearing a contact lens decreases precision.
Social context modulates basic properties of oculomotor control
Authors: Strukelj Alexander , Foulsham Tom , Nyström Marcus
Published: February 2021

Experiments performed in a lab are often considered generalizable over both people and social settings. The problems with generalizing over different groups of people are well known, but it is only recently that changes in behavior depending on the social setting have been examined. Large changes in behavior can be seen in trivial cognitive tasks, depending on whether the participant is alone or if other people are present. However, there are very few studies which have measured eye movements in social settings. In this paper, we used the antisaccade task to test whether basic parameters of oculomotor control are sensitive to the size of an experimental group. 70 participants conducted 48 antisaccade trials in groups of one to seven people in a classroom equipped with multiple eye trackers. The results show that for horizontal saccades, but not for vertical saccades, participants make significantly more antisaccade errors when the group size become larger. The group size did however not significantly predict a change in antisaccade latency. These results are in line with a number of recent studies on social attention showing that the mere presence of other people in the room can modulate several aspects of performance, and show that behavior in a lab might not be easily generalizable to everyday life or social situations. Finally, from a methodological viewpoint, the results show that the group size should be considered when testing participants in a social setting.
Eye Pointing in Stereoscopic Displays
Authors: Lin Chiuhsiang Joe , Widyaningrum Retno
Published: February 2021

This study investigated eye pointing in stereoscopic displays. Ten participants performed 18 tapping tasks in stereoscopic displays with three different levels of parallax (at the screen, 20 cm and 50 cm in front of the screen). The results showed that parallax had significant effects on hand movement time, eye movement time, index of performance in hand click and eye gaze. The movement time was shorter and the performance was better when the target was at the screen, compared to the conditions when the targets were seen at 20 cm and 50 cm in front of the screen. Furthermore, the findings of this study supports that the eye movement in stereoscopic displays follows the Fitts’ law. The proposed algorithm was effective on the eye gaze selection to improve the good fit of eye movement in stereoscopic displays.
Eye tracking study of attention to print advertisements: Effects of typeface figuration
Authors: Puškarević Irma , Nedeljković Uroš , Dimovski Vladimir , Možina Klementina
Published: February 2021

The use of rhetorical figures has become a widely–accepted method for capturing attention and positively increasing cognitive effort in print advertisements. So far research studies mostly analyzed the effect of rhetorical figures in the written as well as pictorial elements of an ad. However, there have been few studies addressing the effect of rhetorical figuration in the specific area of typeface design. This study analyzes the effects of typeface figuration (i.e., regular vs. irregular stylization of the form) on attention and attitude of the viewers. The study also looks at how the effect of typeface figuration changes in relation to the type of a product (hedonistic vs. utilitarian) being advertised. Through the use of a 2 × 2 experimental design, the study measures data using a combination of eye tracking (an objective method) and attitude scaling (a subjective method). 65 volunteers participated in the study. The eye tracking results show that using rhetorical figures in typeface mainly affects attention of the viewers. We have also determined that they influence their attitude. Additionally, the study shows that a typeface and a type of products are correlated; it shows that the hedonistic type of products can benefit more from the figuration. In conclusion, our study builds on and expands the current understanding of the use of rhetorical figures by proving that there is a correlation between the use of rhetorical figures in typeface and viewers' attention, depending on the type of product being advertised.
Uncertainty visualization of gaze estimation to support operator-controlled calibration
Authors: Hassoumi Almoctar , Peysakhovich Vsevolod , Hurter Christophe
Published: February 2021

In this paper, we investigate how visualization assets can support the qualitative evaluation of gaze estimation uncertainty. Although eye tracking data are commonly available, little has been done to visually investigate the uncertainty of recorded gaze information. This paper tries to fill this gap by using innovative uncertainty computation and visualization. Given a gaze processing pipeline, we estimate the location of this gaze position in the world camera. To do so we developed our own gaze data processing which give us access to every stage of the data transformation and thus the uncertainty computation. To validate our gaze estimation pipeline, we designed an experiment with 12 participants and showed that the correction methods we proposed reduced the Mean Angular Error by about 1.32 cm, aggregating all 12 participants’ results. The Mean Angular Error is 0.25° (SD=0.15°) after correction of the estimated gaze. Next, to support the qualitative assessment of this data, we provide a map which codes the actual uncertainty in the user point of view.
Individualisation as a social-cultural process and morality
Authors: Mariański Janusz
Published: March 2021

In this article, the issue of structural individualisation, which is one of the results of social modernisation, is adopted as the subject-matter. In the processes of individualisation, it is, first and foremost, the importance of an individual human being and matters relevant to their life, including the obligation to make constant choices in all the aspects of life, that is placed emphasis upon. In the aspect of values, the process of individualisation means transfer from values seen as responsibilities (related to duties) to values connected with self-fulfilment (self-development). The consequence of individualisation is the significant changes in the realm of morality: departing from traditional moral values and standards, permissivism and moral relativism, the destruction of normativity, and the secularisation of morality. On the other hand, it creates the opportunity to determine one's own moral choices and shapean autonomous moral personality.