The Journal of Eye Movement Research is an open-access, peer-reviewed scientific periodical devoted to all aspects of oculomotor functioning including methodology of eye recording, neurophysiological and cognitive models, attention, reading, as well as applications in neurology, ergonomy, media research and other areas. It contains regular issues (usually six per year) and/or special issues.
Rudolf Groner, Professor emeritus, University of Bern
Abstracts of the 22th European Conference on Eye Movements, 25-29 August 2024, in Maynooth (Irland)
This document contains all abstracts of the 22th European Conference on Eye Movements, August 25-29, 2024, in Maynooth, Irland
Copyright (c) 2024 Ralph Radach, Ronan Reilly https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Understanding consumer perception and acceptance of AI art through eye tracking and Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers-based sentiment analysis
This study investigates public perception and acceptance of AI-generated art using an integrated system that merges eye-tracking methodologies with advanced bidirectional encoder representations from transformers (BERT)-based sentiment analysis. Eye-tracking methods systematically document the visual trajectories and fixation spots of consumers viewing AI-generated artworks, elucidating the inherent relationship between visual activity and perception. Thereafter, the BERT-based sentiment analysis algorithm extracts emotional responses and aesthetic assessments from numerous internet reviews, offering a robust instrument for evaluating public approval and aesthetic perception. The findings indicate that consumer perception of AI-generated art is markedly affected by visual attention behavior, whereas sentiment analysis uncovers substantial disparities in aesthetic assessments. This paper introduces enhancements to the BERT model via domain-specific pre-training and hyper- parameter optimization utilizing deep Gaussian processes and dynamic Bayesian optimization, resulting in substantial increases in classification accuracy and resilience. This study thoroughly examines the underlying mechanisms of public perception and assessment of AI-generated art, assesses the potential of these techniques for practical application in art creation and evaluation, and offers a novel perspective and scientific foundation for future research and application of AI art.
Copyright (c) 2024 Tao Yu, Junping Xu, Younghwan Pan https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Eye movement and recall of visual elements in eco-friendly product
This study aims to explore the distribution of visual attention on sustainability graphics when viewing an eco-friendly product and the recall of sustainability information afterward. Twenty-five students majoring in environmental studies and twenty-five students from non-environmental majors participated in the study. They were further divided into a higher group and a lower group based on their sustainability level. Participants viewed diagrams of an eco-trash boat design with sustainability graphics and a 15-page design description. Their eye-movement data and verbal reports on the recall of sustainability information were collected. Higher sustainability group had higher fixation count in sustainability graphics. Non-environmental majors had a shorter time to first fixation to sustainability graphics, and there was an interaction effect. Environmental students detected graphics faster in the lower group, but the opposite occurred in the higher group. Higher-sustainability non-environmental students were quicker, while the reverse was true for environmental students. In terms of recalling sustainability graphics, the higher group scored higher, while environmental majors scored higher in recalling sustainability features. In the recall coding, the most frequently mentioned terms were "green," "plant," "vivid," and "eco." The study offers new insights into sustainable development and provides design recommendations for eco-product designers.
Copyright (c) 2024 Jing Li, Myun Kim https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Impact of leading line composition on visual cognition: An eye-tracking study
Leading lines, a fundamental composition technique in photography, are crucial to guiding the viewer’s visual attention. Leading line composition is an effective visual strategy for influencing viewers’ cognitive processes. However, in-depth research on the impact of leading line composition on cognitive psychology is lacking. This study investigated the cognitive effects of leading line composition on perception and behavior. The eye movement behaviors of 34 participants while they viewed photographic works with leading lines were monitored through eye-tracking experiments. Additionally, subjective assessments were conducted to collect the participants’ perceptions of the images in terms of aesthetics, complexity, and directional sense. The results revealed that leading lines significantly influenced the participants’ attention to key elements of the work, particularly when prominent subject elements were present. This led to greater engagement, longer viewing times, and enhanced ratings on aesthetics and directional sense. These findings suggest that skilled photographers can employ leading lines to guide the viewer’s gaze and create visually compelling and aesthetically pleasing works. This research offers specific compositional strategies for photography applications and underscores the importance of leading lines and subject elements in enhancing visual impact and artistic expression.
Copyright (c) 2024 Hsien-Chih Chuang, Han-Yi Tseng, Chia-Yun Chiang https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Reading comics: The effect of expertise on eye movements
The theory of expertise suggests that there should be observable differences in the eye movement patterns between experts and non-experts. Previous studies have investigated how expertise influences eye movement patterns during cognitive tasks like reading. However, the impact of expertise on eye movements in comics, a multimodal form of text, remains unexplored. This article reports on a study that uses eye tracking to examine patterns in the ways that experts and non-experts read comics. Expert participants (14) with experience in reading comics than non-expert participants (17). When controlling for variables such as layout and text quantity, we found significant differences in visual scanning between experts and non-experts. Experts exhibited more frequent saccades and greater amplitude of saccades. Further analysis revealed distinct strategies in processing text and image content between the two groups: the interaction between expertise level and content type in specific AOI showed significant differences across multiple visual measurement metrics, including Average duration of fixations, number of fixations, and number of saccades within AOI. These findings not only support the applicability of the expertise level theory in the field of comic reading but also provide a new perspective for understanding the reading processing of multimodal texts.
Copyright (c) 2024 Hong Yang https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
An eye-tracking-based investigation on the principle of closure in logo design
This study employs subjective evaluation and eye movement experiments to explore the application and conveyance of logo graphics design, which conforms to the Gestalt principle of closure, to understand the psychological process of this principle in the perception of a logo. The study found that there is no significant difference between completely enclosed logos and unenclosed ones that conform to the principle of closure in their influence on sightline behavior due to the effects of closure, but the subjective evaluation favors unenclosed logos as more attractive and comfortable to perceive, which agrees with modern logo design trends. In addition, the sightline distribution of the image-type logos is more scattered and has the most extended fixation duration. In contrast, the sightline distribution of text-type logos is more concentrated. Designers who understand the principle of closure can intentionally incorporate imperfection into logo design, triggering the automatic mental filling of gaps and instilling new meaning and visual effect into a design.
Copyright (c) 2024 Han-Yi Tseng, Hsien-Chih Chuang https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Computational approaches to apply the String Edit Algorithm to create accurate visual scan paths
Eye movement detection algorithms (e.g., I-VT) require the selection of thresholds to identify eye fixations and saccadic movements from gaze data. The choice of threshold is important, as thresholds too low or large may fail to accurately identify eye fixations and saccades. An inaccurate threshold might also affect the resulting visual scan path, the time-ordered sequence of eye fixations and saccades, carried out by the participant. Commonly used approaches to evaluate threshold accuracy can be manually laborious, or require information about the expected visual scan paths of participants, which might not be available. To address this issue, we propose two different computational approaches, labeled as “between-participants comparisons” and “within-participants comparisons.” The approaches were evaluated using the open-source Gazebase dataset, which contained a bullseye-target tracking task, where participants were instructed to follow the movements of a bullseye-target. The predetermined path of the bullseye-target enabled us to evaluate our proposed approaches against the expected visual scan path. The approaches identified threshold values (220°/s and 210°/s) that were 83% similar to the expected visual scan path, outperforming a 30°/s benchmark threshold (41.5%). These methods might assist researchers in identifying accurate threshold values for the I-VT algorithm or potentially other eye movement detection algorithms.
Copyright (c) 2024 Ricardo Palma Fraga, Ziho Kang https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The interference effect of low-relevant animated elements on digital picture-book comprehension in preschoolers: An eye-movement study
Digital picture-book (DPB) with animated elements can enhance children’s engagement, but irrelevant animations may interfere with their comprehension. To determine the effect of the relevance of animated elements on preschoolers’ comprehension, an experimental study was conducted. Thirty-three preschoolers between the aged 4-5 years engaged with DPB in three conditions: high- and low-relevant animations and a static control while listening to the story; their eye movements were recorded simultaneously. The study found that preschoolers had lower comprehension when exposed to low-relevant animation, but had comparable scores to the static condition with high-relevant animation. The results of eye-movement analysis showed that children who focused less on high-relevant or more on low-relevant elements had poorer comprehension. Those exposed to low-relevant animations looked less at high-relevant elements and more at low-relevant elements than those in the static and high-relevant conditions. These results suggested that low-relevant animations in DPB interfered with children’s comprehension by directing their visual attention away from crucial, high-relevant elements and more to less relevant elements. Therefore, designers creating DPBs, as well as parents and caregivers selecting DPBs for children, should consider the importance of the relevance of animated elements. And the corresponding mechanism of animation effect in DPB comprehension was discussed.
Copyright (c) 2024 Nina Liu, Chen Chen, Yingying Liu, Shan Jiang, QianCheng Gao, Ruihan Wu https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Effect of action video games in eye movement behavior: A systematic review
Previous research shows that playing action video games seems to modify the behavior of eye movements such as eye fixations and saccades. The aim of the current work was to determine the effect of playing action video games on eye movements behavior such as fixations, saccades and pursuits. A systematic research review in PubMed and Scopus databases was conducted to identify articles published between 2010 and 2022 which referred to action video games and eye movements, including fixations, saccades and pursuits. We included those that were experimental and quasi-experimental, comparing at least two groups between action vs. non-action video games players. All the studies included used an eye tracker to study eye movements. A total of 97 scientific articles were found in the databases. After inclusion criteria, thirteen articles (N=13) were analyzed for the present work, of which ten (n=10) had a cross-sectional design, and three (n=3) were randomized intervention studies. Playing regularly or training with action video games is not likely to produce changes in eye movements, based on the literature research analyzed. For future research, more interventional studies, with less gender bias, more sample participants and general consensus on the distinction between the action and non-action video games is needed.
Copyright (c) 2024 Anna Montolio-Vila, Marc Argilés, Bernat Sunyer-Grau, Lluïsa Quevedo, Graham Erickson https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Relationship between ocular motility and motor skills
The primary aim of this descriptive cross-sectional study was to examine the relationship between ocular motility and motor skills in school-age children. Participants included 142 schoolchildren (mean age: 7.08 ± 0.61 years) who completed a computerised version of the Developmental Eye Movement (DEM) test while their eye movements were recorded, and Northeastern State University College of Optometry's Oculomotor test (NSUCO). Children were classified into three groups based on their level of motor performance, which was measured by the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2 (MABC-2). The group with typical motor performance had higher percentiles for both vertical and horizontal time, fewer errors, number of saccades, fixations, and regressions, and faster test performance. Visual test results correlate with the motor assessment outcomes; correlations are weak or moderate. Our findings emphasise the interconnectedness of motor and ocular motility. Hence, including evaluation of visual and motor proficiencies at school age would help to detect struggles in these crucial areas of development.
Northeastern State University College of Optometry's Oculomotor test (NSUCO)
Copyright (c) 2024 Carmen López de la Fuente, Eider Eider Bereau Iridoy, Paula Pardo Sofín, José Luis Cebrián Lafuente, Víctor Berdejo, Cristina Ruiz-Garros, María José López-de-la-Fuente https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The level of skills involved in an observation-based gait analysis
This study aimed to determine the visual assessment skills during an observation-based gait analysis. Participants (N=40) included 20 physiotherapists (PTs) with>10 years of clinical experience (physiotherapists) and 20 physiotherapy students. Both groups watched a video of the gait of a subject with Guillain–Barré syndrome before and after being provided with information regarding other movements. Further, visual lines were measured using an EMR-8 eye mark recorder, and the results were compared between both groups. The average gaze duration was longer for students than for PTs (F1,79=53.3; p<0.01), whereas PTs gazed more often than the students (F1,79=87.6; p< 0.01). Furthermore, the PTs moved their eyes vertically more often than the students (F1,151=9.1; P< 0.01). We found that being able to discriminate the relative physical relationship of body locations by frequent and rapid vertical gazes could be an indication of the level of skills as an index to express the visual assessment skill in an observation-based gait analysis.
Copyright (c) 2024 Shuzo Bonkohara https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Persistence of primitive reflexes associated with asymmetries in fixation and ocular motility values
This cross-sectional study examined eye movement performance in patients aged 4 to 16 years. Measurements of eye movements were obtained before and after performing therapy for inhibition of four primitive reflexes, asymmetric tonic neck reflex, symmetric tonic neck reflex, labyrinthine tonic reflex and Moro reflex. Subsequently the scores of the four primitive reflexes were compared with the results of five variables: fixation maintenance, % mean saccade size, motility excursions, fixations during excursions and mean duration of fixations. The comparisons showed a significant reduction in evidence of fixation maintenance as well as mean saccade size due to the inhibition of the four primitive reflexes. There was also a significant increase in ocular motility while fixations per saccade and average duration of fixations also decreased significantly. Visual balance between values of both eyes improved in all tests. A device called VisagraphTM III, which measures eye movements, was used for data collection. These results suggest that the oculomotor improvements reflect the involvement of other maturational processes such as the emergence and inhibition of primitive reflexes, the whole reorganization being key to future reading and attentional processes
Copyright (c) 2024 Vicente A. Domingo-Sanz https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The effect of expertise in music reading: cross-modal competence
We hypothesize that the fundamental difference between expert and learner musicians is the capacity to efficiently integrate cross-modal information. This capacity might be an index of an expert memory using both auditory and visual cues built during many years of learning and extensive practice. Investigating this issue through an eye-tracking experiment, two groups of musicians, experts and non-experts, were required to report whether a fragment of classical music, successively displayed both auditorily and visually on a computer screen (cross-modal presentation) was same or different. An accent mark, associated on a particular note, was located in a congruent or incongruent way according to musical harmony rules, during the auditory and reading phases. The cross-modal competence of experts was demonstrated by shorter fixation durations and less errors. Accent mark appeared for non-experts as interferences and lead to incorrect judgments. Results are discussed in terms of amodal memory for expert musicians that can be supported within the theoretical framework of Long-Term Working Memory (Ericsson and Kintsch, 1995).
Copyright (c) 2014 Veronique Drai-Zerbib, Baccino Thierry https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Influence of complexity and Gestalt principles on aesthetic preferences for building façades: An eye tracking study
Buildings are an integral part of our physical environment and have aesthetic significance with respect to the organizational integrity of architectural elements. While Gestalt principles are essential in design education, their relationship with architectural features remains understudied. The present study explored how Gestalt principles and complexity levels influence evaluations of building façades through the use of questionnaires and eye tracking. Twenty-four two-dimensional black and white façade drawings, manipulated using selected Gestalt principles (similarity and proximity) to achieve different levels of complexity (low, medium & high), were presented to 79 participants. The results suggested a negative linear relationship between aesthetic ratings and complexity levels across selected Gestalt principles. In addition, as expected, participants had the highest number of fixations, shortest fixation durations, and lowest aesthetic ratings for higher levels of complexity. Results involving Gestalt principles revealed that proximity-based designs received higher aesthetic ratings, demanded less time, elicited lower number of fixations, and resulted in shorter fixation durations. Conversely, similarity-based designs received lower aesthetic ratings, demanded more time, elicited higher number of fixations, and resulted in longer fixation durations. These findings offer insights into architectural aesthetic experiences and inform future research directions.
Copyright (c) 2024 Dilara Beder, Matthew Pelowski, Çağrı Imamoğlu https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Classification framework to identify similar visual scan paths using multiple similarity metrics
Analyzing visual scan paths, the time-ordered sequence of eye fixations and saccades, can help us understand how operators visually search the environment before making a decision. To analyze and compare visual scan paths, prior studies have used metrics such as string edit similarity, which considers the order used to inspect areas of interest (AOIs), as well as metrics that consider the AOIs shared between visual scan paths. However, to identify similar visual scan paths, particularly in tasks and environments in which operators may apply variations of a common underlying visual scanning behavior, using solely one similarity metric might not be sufficient. In this study, we introduce a classification framework using a combination of the string edit algorithm and the Jaccard coefficient similarity. We applied our framework to the visual scan paths of nine tower controllers in a high-fidelity simulator when a “clear-to-take-off” clearance was issued. The classification framework was able to provide richer and more meaningful classifications of the visual scan paths compared to the results when using either the string edit algorithm or Jaccard coefficient similarity.
Copyright (c) 2024 Ricardo Palma Fraga, Ziho Kang, Jerry Crutchfield https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Intelligent standalone eye blinking monitoring system for computer users
Purpose: Working on computers for long hours has become a regular task for millions of people around the world. This has led to the increase of eye and vision issues related to prolonged computer use, known as computer vision syndrome (CVS). A main contributor to CVS caused by dry eyes is the reduction of blinking rates. In this pilot study, an intelligent, standalone eye blinking monitoring system to promote healthier blinking behaviors for computer users was developed using components that are affordable and easily available in the market. Methods: The developed eye blinking monitoring system used a camera to track blinking rates and operated audible, visual and tactile alarm modes to induce blinks. The hypothesis in this study is that the developed eye blinking monitoring system would increase eye blinks for a computer user. To test this hypothesis, the developed system was evaluated on 20 subjects. Results: The eye blinking monitoring system detected blinks with high accuracy (95.9%). The observed spontaneous eye blinking rate was 43.1 ± 14.7 blinks/min (mean ± standard deviation). Eye blinking rates significantly decreased when the subjects were watching movie trailers (25.2 ± 11.9 blinks/min; Wilcoxon signed rank test; p<0.001) and reading articles (24.2 ± 12.1 blinks/min; p<0.001) on a computer. The blinking monitoring system with the alarm function turned on showed an increase in blinking rates (28.2 ± 12.1 blinks/min) compared to blinking rates without the alarm function (25.2 ± 11.9 blinks/min; p=0.09; Cohen’s effect size d=0.25) when the subjects were watching movie trailers. Conclusions: The developed blinking monitoring system was able to detect blinking with high accuracy and induce blinking with a personalized alarm function. Further work is needed to refine the study design and evaluate the clinical impact of the system. This work is an advancement towards the development of a profound technological solution for preventing CVS.
Copyright (c) 2024 Ahmad Jiman, Amjad Abdullateef, Alaa Almelawi, Khan Yunus, Yasser Kadah, Ahmad Turki, Mohammed Abdulaal, Nebras Sobahi, Eyad Attar https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Introduction to the Special Thematic Issue "Virtual Reality and Eye Tracking"
Technological advancements have made it possible to integrate eye tracking in virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). Many new VR/AR headsets already include eye tracking as a standard feature. While its application previously has been mostly limited to research, we now see installations of eye tracking into consumer level VR products in entertainment, training, and therapy. The combination of eye tracking and VR creates new opportunities for end users, creators, and researchers alike: The high level of immersion – while shielded from visual distractions of the physical environment – leads to natural behavior inside the virtual environment. This enables researchers to study how humans perceive and interact with three-dimensional environments in experimentally controlled, ecologically valid settings. Simultaneously, eye tracking in VR poses new challenges to gaze analyses and requires the establishment of new tools and best practices in gaze interaction and psychological research from controlling influence factors, such as simulator sickness, to adaptations of algorithms in various situations. This thematic special issue introduces and discusses novel applications, challenges and possibilities of eye tracking and gaze interaction in VR from an interdisciplinary perspective, including contributions from the fields of psychology, human-computer interaction, human factors, engineering, neuroscience, and education. It addresses a variety of issues and topics, such as practical guidelines for VR-based eye tracking technologies, exploring new research avenues, evaluation of gaze-based assessments, and training interventions.
Special thematic issue " Virtual Reality & Eye Tracking"
Copyright (c) 2024 Béatrice S. Hasler, Rudolf Groner https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Gender selection dilemma in FMCG advertising: Insights from eye-tracking research
Selecting the gender of a celebrity for fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) advertising presents a strategic challenge. Previous research has predominantly concentrated on comparing celebrity spokespersons with non-celebrities, frequently neglecting the intricate distinctions in the effectiveness of male versus female endorsers. This study addresses this research gap by employing both traditional and neuromarketing methodologies. By integrating eye-tracking technology via RealEye and questionnaire-based surveys, the results indicate that female celebrities are more effective in capturing visual attention, whereas male celebrities are more effective in enhancing perceived trustworthiness. These findings are pivotal for both academic research and commercial strategy, as they elucidate the optimal selection of celebrity gender for maximizing FMCG advertising efficacy.
Neuromarketing Webcam Based Eye-Tracking
Copyright (c) 2024 Minanshu Sinha, Madhvendra Misra, Saurabh Mishra https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
The observer's lens: The impact of personality traits and gaze on facial impression inferences
Previous studies on facial impression inference have focused on the physical features of faces, with only a few considering the effects of the observer. This study explored how participants’ personality traits directly and indirectly affect the impression inference of human faces. Specifically, we examined how observers’ personality traits impact their eye movements, which in turn influence impression inferences. Experiment 1 found relationships between participants’ personality traits and eye movements, but these did not significantly impact impression inferences. In Experiment 2, we manipulated observers’ observational behavior to control for the potential interactive effect between facial features and participants’ eye movements during impression inference. This manipulation suggested that focusing on different areas of faces leads to different impression inferences. It also suggests that the same person might have different impressions of the exact same face by changing their observational behavior. These results deepen our understanding of the impact of facial features and participants’ personality traits on impression inferences, indicating that observers’ personality traits and observational behavior play a significant role in impression formation.
Copyright (c) 2024 Kuangzhe Xu, Toshihiko Matsuka https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Gaze behavior reveals automaticity and attention allocation during music teaching vs. observing
In a unique case-study approach in which I served as both the research participant and the experimenter, I wore eye-tracking glasses while teaching a brief music lesson to two university students learning trumpet, then approximately two weeks later, I watched a video of the lesson and tracked my gaze again. To investigate unconscious perceptual processes engaged during music teaching, I compared my attention allocation while teaching to my attention allocation during self-observation. My gaze behavior while teaching revealed a high level of automaticity regarding lesson sequencing and allocation of attention. Strategic moment-to-moment shifts in attention between the two students occurred entirely below my conscious awareness, yet post hoc analyses revealed precisely timed changes that were related to momentary goals. While watching the video, absent the demands of behavioral interaction and momentary decision-making, I directed more sustained attention to both students than I had while teaching. These results reveal important features of “teacher thinking” that are not directly observable or typically construed as conscious behavior. That this component of teaching practice does not involve volitional control suggests that teachers’ descriptions of their thinking may not reveal to novices important elements of pedagogical expertise.
Copyright (c) 2024 Robin Heinsen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Accounting for visual field abnormalities when using eye-tracking to diagnose reading problems in neurological degeneration
State-of-the-art eye trackers provide valuable information for diagnosing reading problems by measuring and interpreting people’s gaze paths as they read through text. Abnormal conditions such as visual field defects, however, can seriously confound most of today’s existing methods for interpreting reading gaze patterns. Our objective was to research how visual field defects impact reading gaze path patterns, so the effects of such neurological pathologies can be explicitly incorporated into more comprehensive reading diagnosis methodologies. A cross-sectional, non-randomized, pilot clinical study including 45 patients with various neurologic disorders and 30 normal controls was designed. Participants underwent ophthalmologic/neuropsychologic and eye-tracker examinations using two reading tests of words and numbers. The results showed that the use of the eye tracker showed that patients with brain damage and an altered visual field require more time to complete a reading-text test by fixating a greater number of times (p < 0.001); with longer fixations (p = 0.03); and a greater number of saccades in these patients (p = 0.04). Our study showed objective differences in eye movement characteristics in patients with neurological diseases and an altered visual field who complained of reading difficulties. These findings should be considered as a bias factor and deserve further investigation.
Copyright (c) 2024 Carla Daniela Guantay, Laura Mena-García, Miguel Angel Tola-Arribas, María José Garea García-Malvar, Marta Para-Prieto, María Gloria González-Fernández, Agustín Mayo-Iscar , José Carlos Pastor-Jimeno https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Investigating the role of flight phase and task difficulty on low-time pilot performance, gaze dynamics and subjective situation awareness during simulated flight
Gaze behaviour has been used as a proxy for information processing capabilities that underlie complex skill performance in real-world domains such as aviation. These processes are highly influenced by task requirements, expertise and can provide insight into situation awareness (SA). Little research has been done to examine the extent to which gaze behaviour, task performance and SA are impacted by various task manipulations within the confines of early-stage skill development. Accordingly, the current study aimed to understand the impact of task difficulty on landing performance, gaze behaviour and SA across different phases of flight. Twenty-four low-time (<300 hours) pilots completed simulated landing scenarios under visual flight rules conditions. Traditional gaze metrics, entropy-based metrics, and blink rate provided meaningful insight about the extent to which information processing is modulated by flight phase and task difficulty. The results also suggested that gaze behavior changes compensated for increased task demands and minimized the impact on task performance. Dynamic gaze analyses were shown to be a robust measure of task difficulty and pilot flight hours. Recommendations for the effective implementation of gaze behaviour metrics and their utility in examining information processing changes are discussed.
Copyright (c) 2024 Naila Ayala, Suzanne Kearns, Elizabeth Irving, Shi Cao, Ewa Niechwiej-Szwedo https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Potential of a laser pointer contact lens to improve the reliability of video-based eye-trackers in indoor and outdoor conditions
Many video-based eye trackers rely on detecting and tracking ocular features, a task that can be negatively affected by a number of individual or environmental factors. In this context, the aim of this study was to practically evaluate how the use of a scleral contact lens with two integrated near-infrared lasers (denoted CLP) could improve the tracking robustness in difficult lighting conditions, particularly outdoor ones. We assessed the ability of the CLP (on a model eye) to detect the lasers and to deduce a gaze position with an accuracy better than 1° under four lighting conditions (1 lx, 250 lx, 50 klux and alternating 1lx /250 lx) on an artificial eye. These results were compared to the ability of a commercial eye tracker (Pupil Core) to detect the pupil on human eyes with a confidence score equal to or greater than 0.9. CLP provided good results in all conditions (tracking accuracy and detection rates). In comparison, the Pupil Core performed well in all indoor conditions (99% detection) but failed in outdoor conditions (9.85% detection). In conclusion, the CLP presents strong potential to improve the reliability of video-based eye-trackers in outdoor conditions by providing easy trackable feature.
Copyright (c) 2024 François-Maël Robert, Marion Otheguy, Vincent Nourrit, Jean-Louis de Bougrenet de la Tocnaye https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Intelligent evaluation method for design education and comparison research between visualizing heat-maps of class activation and eye-movement
The evaluation of design results plays a crucial role in the development of design. This study presents a design work evaluation system for design education that assists design instructors in conducting objective evaluations. An automatic design evaluation model based on convolutional neural networks has been established, which enables intelligent evaluation of student design works. During the evaluation process, the CAM is obtained. Simultaneously, an eye-tracking experiment was designed to collect gaze data and generate eye-tracking heat maps. By comparing the heat maps with CAM, an attempt was made to explore the correlation between the focus of the evaluation’s attention on human design evaluation and the CNN intelligent evaluation. The experimental results indicate that there is some certain correlation between humans and CNN in terms of the key points they focus on when conducting an evaluation. However, there are significant differences in background observation. The research results demonstrate that the intelligent evaluation model of CNN can automatically evaluate product design works and effectively classify and predict design product images. The comparison shows a correlation between artificial intelligence and the subjective evaluation of human eyes in evaluation strategy. Introducing artificial intelligence into the field of design evaluation for education has a strong potential to promote the development of design education.
Copyright (c) 2024 Jia Jiayi, Zhao Tianjiao, Yang Junyu, Wang Qian https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Quantifying dwell time with location-based augmented reality: Dynamic AOI analysis on mobile eye tracking data with vision transformer
Mobile eye tracking captures egocentric vision and is well-suited for naturalistic studies. However, its data is noisy, especially when acquired outdoor with multiple participants over several sessions. Area of interest analysis on moving targets is difficult because A) camera and objects move nonlinearly and may disappear/reappear from the scene; and B) off-the-shelf analysis tools are limited to linearly moving objects. As a result, researchers resort to time-consuming manual annotation, which limits the use of mobile eye tracking in naturalistic studies. We introduce a method based on a fine-tuned Vision Transformer (ViT) model for classifying frames with overlaying gaze markers. After fine-tuning a model on a manually labelled training set made of 1.98% (=7845 frames) of our entire data for three epochs, our model reached 99.34% accuracy as evaluated on hold-out data. We used the method to quantify participants’ dwell time on a tablet during the outdoor user test of a mobile augmented reality application for biodiversity education. We discuss the benefits and limitations of our approach and its potential to be applied to other contexts.
Copyright (c) 2024 Julien Mercier, Olivier Ertz, Erwan Bocher https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Advancing dynamic-time warp techniques for correcting eye tracking data in reading source code
<p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; margin: 6pt 0in; text-align: justify; break-after: avoid; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;">Background: Automated eye tracking data correction algorithms such as Dynamic-Time Warp always made a trade-off between the ability to handle regressions (jumps back) and distortions (fixation drift). At the same time, eye movement in code reading is characterized by non-linearity and regressions. <p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; margin: 6pt 0in; text-align: justify; break-after: avoid; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;">Objective: In this paper, we present a family of hybrid algorithms that aim to handle both regressions and distortions with high accuracy. <p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; margin: 6pt 0in; text-align: justify; break-after: avoid; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;">Method: Through simulations with synthetic data, we replicate known eye movement phenomena to assess our algorithms against Warp algorithm as a baseline. Furthermore, we utilize two real datasets to evaluate the algorithms in correcting data from reading source code and see if the proposed algorithms generalize to correcting data from reading natural language text. <p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; margin: 6pt 0in; text-align: justify; break-after: avoid; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; color: black; letter-spacing: 0.25pt;">Results: Our results demonstrate that most proposed algorithms match or outperform baseline Warp in correcting both synthetic and real data. Also, we show the prevalence of regressions in reading source code. Conclusion:<span style="caret-color: #000000; color: #000000; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; font-size: 9pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Our results highlight our hybrid algorithms as an improvement to Dynamic-Time Warp in handling regressions.
Copyright (c) 2024 Naser Al Madi https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Dynamics of eye dominance behavior in virtual reality
Prior research has shown that sighting eye dominance is a dynamic behavior and dependent on horizontal viewing angle. Virtual reality (VR) offers high flexibility and control for studying eye movement and human behavior, yet eye dominance has not been given significant attention within this domain. In this work, we replicate Khan and Crawford’s (2001) original study in VR to confirm their findings within this specific context. Additionally, this study extends its scope to study alignment with objects presented at greater depth in the visual field. Our results align with previous results, remaining consistent when targets are presented at greater distances in the virtual scene. Using greater target distances presents opportunities to investigate alignment with objects at varying depths, providing greater flexibility for the design of methods that infer eye dominance from interaction in VR.
Copyright (c) 2024 Franziska Prummer, Ludwig Sidenmark, Hans Gellersen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Integrating cognitive factors and eye movement data in reading predictive models for children with dyslexia and ADHD-I
This study reports on several specific neurocognitive processes and eye-tracking predictors of reading outcomes for a sample of children with Developmental Dyslexia (DD) and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder – inattentive subtype (ADHD-I) compared to typical readers. Participants included 19 typical readers, 21 children diagnosed with ADHD-I and 19 children with DD. All participants were attending 4th grade and had a mean age of 9.08 years. The psycholinguistic profile of each group was assessed using a battery of neuropsychological and linguistic tests. Participants were submitted to a silent reading task with lexical manipulation of the text. Multinomial logistic regression was conducted to evaluate the predictive capability of developing dyslexia or ADHD-I based on the following measures: (a) a linguistic model that included measures of phonological awareness, rapid naming, and reading fluency and accuracy; (b) a cognitive neuropsychological model that included measures of memory, attention, visual processes, and cognitive or intellectual functioning, and (c) an additive model of lexical word properties with manipulation of word-frequency and word-length effects trough eye-tracking. The additive model in conjunction with the neuropsychological model classification improved the prediction of who develops dyslexia or ADHD-I having as baseline normal readers. Several of the neuropsychological and eye-tracking variables have power to predict the degree of reading outcomes in children with learning disabilities.
Special thematic issue "Eye Tracking in Poetry and Narrative Texts“
Copyright (c) 2024 Norberto Pereira, Maria Armanda Costa, Manuela Guerreiro https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Analysis of risk factors associated with pre-myopia among primary school students in the Mianyang Science City Area
Objectives To find out the prevalence rate of pre-myopia among primary school students in the Mianyang Science City Area, analyze its related risk factors, and thus provide a reference for local authorities to formulate policies on the prevention and control of myopia for primary school students. Methods From September to October 2021, Cluster sampling was adopted by our research group to obtain the vision levels of primary school students employing a diopter test in the Science City Area. In addition, questionnaires were distributed to help us find the risk factors associated with pre-myopia. Through the statistical analysis, we identify the main risk factors for pre-myopia and propose appropriate interventions. Results The prevalence rate of pre-myopia among primary school students in the Science City Area was 45.27% (1020/2253), of which 43.82% were boys and 46.92% were girls, with no statistically significant difference in the prevalence rate of myopia between boys and girls (2 =2.171, P=0.141). The results of the linear trend test showed that the prevalence rate of pre-myopia tends to decrease with increasing age (Z=296.521, P=0.000). Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that the main risk factors for pre-myopia were having at least one parent with myopia, spending less than 2 hours a day outdoors, using the eyes continuously for more than 1 hour, looking at electronic screens for more than 2 hours, and having an improper reading and writing posture. Conclusion The Science City Area has a high prevalence rate of pre-myopia among primary school students. It is proposed that students, schools, families, and local authorities work together to increase the time spent outdoors, reduce digital screens and develop scientific use of eye habits.
Copyright (c) 2024 xiaoyin wang, Yi-bin Deng, Li-ge Xiao , Hui-Min Wang , Guo-Zhong Zhao , Lian Ye, Da-Wei Men, Mei Yan https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Selecting the appropriate speed for rotational elements in human-machine interfaces: A quantitative study
The motion of rotation, which served as a dynamic symbol within human-computer interfaces, has garnered extensive attention in interface and graphic design. This study aimed to establish speed benchmarks for interface design by exploring visual system preferences for the perception of both simple and complex rotating icons within the velocity range of 5-1800 degrees per second. The research conducted two experiments with 12 participants to examine the observers’ just noticeable difference in speed (JNDS) and perceived speed for rotational icons. Experiment one measured the JNDS over eight-speed levels using a constant stimulus method, achieving a range of 14.9-29%. Building on this, experiment two proposed a sequence of speeds within the given range and used a rating scale method to assess observers ' subjective perception of the speed series' rapidity. The findings indicated that speed increases impacted the ability to differentiate between speeds; key points for categorizing low, medium, and high speeds were identified at 10, 180, and 720 degrees/s, respectively. Shape complexity was found to modulate the visual system's perception of actual speed, such that at rotation speeds above 180 degrees/s, complex icons appeared to rotate faster than simpler ones. Most importantly, the study applied quantitative methods and metrology to interface design, offering a more scientific approach to the design workflow.
Copyright (c) 2024 Mu Tong, Shanguang Chen, Yu Zhang, Chengqi Xue https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0