Digital Commons Network^™

Target Selection And Enhancement During Attentional Tracking, Marvin R. Maechler

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

At any waking moment, we are bombarded with more sensory information than we can fully process. Attention is necessary to deal with the dynamic world we live in. One fundamental function of vision and attention is to keep track of moving objects, but what are the targets of attention during tracking?

One of the first theories of attentional tracking predicted that targets would be selected at early processing stages. By employing the double-drift illusion, which dissociates physical and perceived positions of moving objects, we investigated which of these positions is selected for tracking. Contrary to earlier theories and in line …

Investigation Of Pilots' Visual Entropy And Eye Fixations For Simulated Flights Consisted Of Multiple Take-Offs And Landings, Salem M. Naeeri Ph.D., Ziho Kang Ph.D., Ricardo Palma Fraga M.S.

Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research

Eye movement characteristics might provide insights on pilots' mental fatigue during prolonged flight. The visual entropy, eye fixation numbers, and eye fixation durations of ten novice pilots and ten expert pilots were analyzed for a four-hour simulated flight task consisting of four consecutive flight legs. Each flight leg lasted approximately one hour and contained five flight phases: takeoff, climb, cruise, descend, and landing. The pilots maneuvered the simulated B-52 aircraft following instrument flight rules (IFR) in a moderate-fidelity Microsoft Flight Simulator environment. Our results indicate that experts’ eye movement characteristics were significantly different from those of novices. In detail, novices' …

Behavioral And Neural Correlates Of Episodic Memory Regulation, Mrinmayi Kulkarni

Theses and Dissertations

Episodic memory retrieval, while critical for daily living, needs to be regulated to maintain goal-directed behavior. Past work has shown that episodic memory regulation engages brain regions involved in cognitive control, such as the dorsolateral and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex. These regions interact with the medial temporal lobe structures to control retrieval processes. In the current study, I paired eye-tracking, a sensitive index of memory, with fMRI in a novel paradigm to address several open questions in the field of episodic memory regulation. Participants initially encoded three celebrity faces and three tools with multiple indoor and outdoor scenes. In a subsequent …

What's In A Chunk? : Investigating Expertise Effects On Memory For Complex Visual Search Targets, Kinnera Savitri Maturi

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Across two experiments, I examined the extent to which three predictions of the chunking and template framework of expertise generalize to the music-reading domain: 1) Experts show perceptual advantages that allow for superior performance in a domain-specific task; 2) Experts’ can identify familiar patterns, which allow them to rapidly detect relevant regions of a stimulus; and 3) Experts’ superior perceptual abilities are domain-specific. In Study 1, the eye movements of expert musicians and non-musicians were recorded while they searched for a complex visual search target (i.e., a bar of piano sheet music) that was located within a search array (i.e., …

The Effect Of Map Orientation On Wayfinding, Danielle A. Cabiran

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

Wayfinding is a term used to describe navigational problem solving. There are a number of factors on a map that can effect wayfinding ability. This experiment studied three variables; the complexity of the map, the orientation of the map, and certain cartographical features of the map on wayfinding ability. We predicted that there would be a significant main effect for all three variables, and a significant interaction effect between all three. Participants were given a map with a starting point and destination, they were asked to look at the map until they planned a route from their starting point to …

Ethical Decision Making Behind The Wheel – A Driving Simulator Study, Siby Samuel, Sarah Yahoodik, Yusuke Yamani, Krishna Valluru, Donald L. Fisher

Psychology Faculty Publications

Over the past several years, there has been considerable debate surrounding ethical decision making in situations resulting in inevitable casualties. Given enough time and all other things being equal, studies show that drivers will typically decide to strike the fewest number of pedestrians in scenarios where there is a choice between striking several versus one or no pedestrians. However, it is unclear whether drivers behave similarly under situations of time pressure. In our experiment in a driving simulator, 32 drivers were given up to 2 s to decide which group of pedestrians to avoid among groups of larger (5) or …

Visual Saliency Influences Ethical Blind Spots And (Dis)Honesty, Andrea Pittarello, Marcella FrăTescu, Sebastiaan MathôT

Publications and Research

Recent work suggests that dishonesty results from ethical blind spots: people’s lack of attention to ethical information. In two experiments (one pre-registered) we used eye tracking to investigate when ethical blind spots emerge, and whether they can be reduced through a simple, non-invasive intervention. Participants reported a Target Digit indicated by a jittery cue that was slightly biased in the direction of another digit (the Second-Cued Digit), which could be either higher or lower than the Target Digit. Participants were paid more for reporting higher digits, and were not penalized for making mistakes, thus providing an incentive to cheat. Results …

A Survey Of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Identification Using Psychophysiological Data, S. De Silva, S. Dayarathna, G. Ariyarathne, D. Meedeniya, Sampath Jayarathna

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common neurological disorders among children, that affects different areas in the brain that allows executing certain functionalities. This may lead to a variety of impairments such as difficulties in paying attention or focusing, controlling impulsive behaviours and overreacting. The continuous symptoms may have a severe impact in the long-term. This paper explores the ADHD identification studies using eye movement data and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). This study discusses different machine learning techniques, existing models and analyses the existing literature. We have identified the current challenges and possible future directions …

Discovery Of Activities Via Statistical Clustering Of Fixation Patterns, Jeffrey B. Mulligan

MODVIS Workshop

No abstract provided.

Stage Salience And Situational Likelihood In The Formation Of Situation Models During Sentence Comprehension, David Townsend

Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Two experiments examined the relation between event structure, situational likelihood and eye fixation time while reading predicate modifiers in isolated sentences. Experiment 1 used activity predicates and preparatory process predicates (climbed a mountain), which make salient the process that leads to a culmination. Preparatory process predicates increased first pass time on durative modifiers (for several years) and decreased total time on frequency modifiers (e.g., every year). Situational likelihood was associated with fixation times on frame modifiers (last year) but not with fixation times on durative or frequency modifiers. Experiment 2 used activity predicates and result state predicates (halted a class), …

A Generative Model Of Cognitive State From Task And Eye Movements, W. Joseph Macinnes, Amelia R. Hunt, Alasdair D. F. Clarke, Michael D. Dodd

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The early eye tracking studies of Yarbus provided descriptive evidence that an observer’s task influences patterns of eye movements, leading to the tantalizing prospect that an observer’s intentions could be inferred from their saccade behavior. We investigate the predictive value of task and eye movement properties by creating a computational cognitive model of saccade selection based on instructed task and internal cognitive state using a Dynamic Bayesian Network (DBN). Understanding how humans generate saccades under different conditions and cognitive sets links recent work on salience models of low-level vision with higher level cognitive goals. This model provides a Bayesian, cognitive …

Print Exposure Modulates The Effects Of Repetition Priming During Sentence Reading, Matthew W. Lowder, Peter C. Gordon

Psychology Faculty Publications

Individual readers vary greatly in the quality of their lexical representations and consequently in how quickly and efficiently they can access orthographic and lexical knowledge. This variability may be explained, at least in part, by individual differences in exposure to printed language, as practice at reading promotes the development of stronger reading skills. The current eye-tracking experiment tests the hypothesis that the efficiency of word recognition during reading improves with increases in print exposure by determining whether the magnitude of the repetition priming effect is modulated by individual differences in scores on the Author Recognition Test (ART). Lexical repetition of …

Saccade Adaptation Deficits In Developmental Dyslexia Suggest Disruption Of Cerebellar-Dependent Learning, Edward G. Freedman, Sophie Molholm, Michael J. Gray, Daniel Belyusar, John J. Foxe

Publications and Research

Background: Estimates of the prevalence of developmental dyslexia in the general population range from 5% to as many as 10%. Symptoms include reading, writing, and language deficits, but the severity and mix of symptoms can vary widely across individuals. In at least some people with dyslexia, the structure and function of the cerebellum may be disordered. Saccadic adaptation requires proper function of the cerebellum and brainstem circuitry and might provide a simple, noninvasive assay for early identification and sub-phenotyping in populations of children who may have dyslexia.

Methods: Children between the ages of 7 and 15 served as participants in …

Human Classifier: Observers Can Deduce Task Solely From Eye Movements, Brett Bahle, Mark Mills, Michael Dodd

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Computer classifiers have been successful at classifying various tasks using eye movement statistics. However, the question of human classification of task from eye movements has rarely been studied. Across two experiments, we examined whether humans could classify task based solely on the eye movements of other individuals. In Experiment 1, human classifiers were shown one of three sets of eye movements: Fixations, which were displayed as blue circles, with larger circles meaning longer fixation durations; Scanpaths, which were displayed as yellow arrows; and Videos, in which a neon green dot moved around the screen. There was an additional Scene manipulation …

Eye-Tracking And Corpus-Based Analyses Of Syntax-Semantics Interactions In Complement Coercion, Matthew W. Lowder, Peter C. Gordon

Psychology Faculty Publications

Previous work has shown that the difficulty associated with processing complex semantic expressions is reduced when the critical constituents appear in separate clauses as opposed to when they appear together in the same clause. We investigated this effect further, focusing in particular on complement coercion, in which an event-selecting verb (e.g., began) combines with a complement that represents an entity (e.g., began the memo). Experiment 1 compared reading times for coercion versus control expressions when the critical verb and complement appeared together in a subject-extracted relative clause (SRC) (e.g., The secretary that began/wrote the memo) compared to …

Focusing On Selection For Fixation, John K. Tsotsos, Calden Wloka, Yulia Kotseruba

MODVIS Workshop

Building on our presentation at MODVIS 2015, we continue in our quest to discover a functional, computational, explanation of the relationship among visual attention, interpretation of visual stimuli, and eye movements, and how these produce visual behavior. Here, we focus on one component, how selection is accomplished for the next fixation. The popularity of saliency map models drives the inference that this is solved; we suggested otherwise at MODVIS 2015. Here, we provide additional empirical and theoretical arguments. We then develop arguments that a cluster of complementary, conspicuity representations drive selection, modulated by task goals and history, leading to a …

Inferring Task Based On Eye Movements: The Living Classifier, Jordan E. Marshall, Mallory Richert, Mark Mills, Michael D. Dodd

UCARE Research Products

Several studies, including Yarbus (1967), have found that various task instructions for viewing images influence visual behavior. This holds true for both experimenter driven and participant driven tasks. Research has also shown that classifier technology is capable of determining the task that was being performed based on the individual’s eye movements. Typically classifier technology is designed to perform tasks humans are known to be cable of performing. However, little research has been done on the human ability, or lack thereof, to determine task based on eye movements.

Purpose: To determine to what extent humans are able to classify task performed …

Early Verb Learning: How Do Children Learn How To Compare Events?, Jane B. Childers, Rebecca Parrish, Christina V. Olson, Clare Burch, Gavin Fung, Kevin Mcintyre

Psychology Faculty Research

An important problem verb learners must solve is how to extend verbs. Children could use cross-situational information to guide their extensions, however comparing events is difficult. Two studies test whether children benefit from initially seeing a pair of similar events (‘progressive alignment’) while learning new verbs, and whether this influence changes with age. In Study 1, 2 ½- and 3 ½-year-old children participated in an interactive task. Children who saw a pair of similar events and then varied events were able to extend verbs at test, differing from a control group; children who saw two pairs of varied events did …

Large Reductions Are Possible In Older Driver Crashes At Intersections, Siby Samuel, Yusuke Yamani, Danald L. Fisher

Psychology Faculty Publications

Among all crash types, the largest percentage of older driver fatalities occur at intersections. Many explanations have been offered for older drivers' increased risks of crashing at intersections; however, only recently was it determined that older drivers were much less likely to glance for latent threats after entering an intersection than middle-aged drivers. In response, training programmes were designed to increase the frequency of such glances. The programmes have proven effective, doubling the frequency of these glances for up to a period of two years post-training. The programmes take only an hour to administer and are not directly targeted at …

Effects Of Task And Task-Switching On Temporal Inhibition Of Return, Facilitation Of Return, And Saccadic Momentum During Scene Viewing, Mark S. Mills, Edwin S. Dalmaijer, Stefan Van Der Stigchel, Michael D. Dodd

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

During scene viewing, saccades directed toward a recently fixated location tend to be delayed relative to saccades in other directions (“delay effect”), an effect attributable to inhibition-of-return (IOR) and/or saccadic momentum (SM). Previous work indicates this effect may be task-specific, suggesting that gaze control parameters are task-relevant and potentially affected by task-switching. Accordingly, the present study investigated task-set control of gaze behavior using the delay effect as a measure of task performance. The delay effect was measured as the effect of relative saccade direction on preceding fixation duration. Participants were cued on each trial to perform either a search, memory, …

Accelerated Resolution Therapy For Treatment Of Pain Secondary To Symptoms Of Combat-Related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Kevin E. Kip, Laney Rosenzweig, Diego F. Hernandez, Amy Shuman, David M. Diamond, Sue Ann Girling, Kelly L Sullivan, Trudy Wittenberg, Ann M. Witt, Cecile A. Lengacher, Brian Anderson, Susan C. Mcmillan

Psychology Faculty Publications

Background: As many as 70% of veterans with chronic pain treated within the US Veterans Administration (VA) system may have posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and conversely, up to 80% of those with PTSD may have pain. We describe pain experienced by US service members and veterans with symptoms of PTSD, and report on the effect of Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART), a new, brief exposure-based therapy, on acute pain reduction secondary to treatment of symptoms of PTSD.

Methods: A randomized controlled trial of ART versus an attention control (AC) regimen was conducted among 45 US service members/veterans with symptoms of combat-related …

The Politics Of The Face-In-The-Crowd, Mark S. Mills, Kevin B. Smith, John R. Hibbing, Michael Dodd

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Recent work indicates that the more conservative one is, the faster one is to fixate on negative stimuli, whereas the less conservative one is, the faster one is to fixate on positive stimuli. The present series of experiments used the face-in-the-crowd paradigm to examine whether variability in the efficiency with which positive and negative stimuli are detected underlies such speed differences. Participants searched for a discrepant facial expression (happy or angry) amid a varying number of neutral distractors (Experiments 1 and 4). A combination of response time and eye movement analyses indicated that variability in search efficiency explained speed differences …

Investigating Intrinsic And Extrinsic Variables During Simulated Internet Search, Molly M. Liechty, Poornima Madhaven

Psychology Faculty Publications

Using an eye tracker we examined decision-making processes during an internet search task. Twenty experienced homebuyers and twenty-five undergraduates from Old Dominion University viewed homes on a simulated real estate website. Several of the homes included physical properties that had the potential to negatively impact individual perceptions. These negative externalities were either easy to change (Level 1) or impossible to change (Level 2). Eye movements were analyzed to examine the relationship between participants' "stated preferences"[verbalized preferences], "revealed preferences" [actual decisions[, and experience. Dwell times, fixation durations/counts, and saccade counts/amplitudes were analyzed. Results revealed that experienced homebuyers demonstrated a more refined …

Bold Signal In Both Ipsilateral And Contralateral Retinotopic Cortex Modulates With Perceptual Fading, Po-Jang Hsieh, Peter U. Tse

Dartmouth Scholarship

Under conditions of visual fixation, perceptual fading occurs when a stationary object, though present in the world and continually casting light upon the retina, vanishes from visual consciousness. The neural correlates of the consciousness of such an object will presumably modulate in activity with the onset and cessation of perceptual fading.

Method: In order to localize the neural correlates of perceptual fading, a green disk that had been individually set to be equiluminant with the orange background, was presented in one of the four visual quadrants; Subjects indicated with a button press whether or not the disk was subjectively visible …

The Role Of Eye Movements In The Relationship Between Rapid Automatized Naming And Reading Ability, Rebecca Eisenberg Doyle

Psychology Theses

The Rapid Automatized Naming test (RAN) has been shown to be a strong predictor of reading ability (Bowers and Wolf, 1993), however, the nature of this relationship remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the visual scanning and sequential components of the continuous RAN format are similar to those same visual scanning processes required in reading, and whether these processes partially account for the relationship. The sample consisted of 57 undergraduate students (63.2% female). The majority of the sample was either Caucasian (33.3%) or African American (29.8%). The eye movement measures consisted of three short stories …