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Do Different Tests of Spatial Navigation Measure the Same Ability?

Our knowledge about the principles of human spatial navigation, their deficits in aging and disease, and the efficiency of countermeasures is still in its early phase. One factor that hindered more rapid progress in this field of research the bewildering variety of tests by which navigation was assessed in the past. For example, available tests assessed participants’ landmark knowledge (Rosenbaum et al. 2004), mental-imagery abilities (Ino et al. 2002), knowledge of ego- or allocentric directions or distances (Wolbers et al. 2004), path integration abilities (Allen et al. 2004; Goeke et al. 2013) or route generation abilities (Moffat et al. 2006), but it remained unclear to what extent those tests quantify similar versus distinct underlying abilities. The aim of the present study was to establish the feasibility of a factor analytical approach to determine the underlying latent variables.

3 versions available

Effect of sport-vision training and mindfulness on vision perception and decision-making accuracy of basketball’s referees

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of sports-vision training and mindfulness on visual perception and decision-making accuracy of basketball referees. The participants of this study consisted of 52 (20 females and 32 males) basketball referees who were selected using convenience sampling method and matched based on gender and degree of judgment in four groups: sports-vision training, mindfulness training, combined (sports-vision training and mindfulness training), and control group. The sports-vision training and combined groups participated in an eight week sports vision training three sessions per week. Mindfulness and combined groups received mindfulness training for eight weeks one session per week. During this period, the control group performed their daily activities. Before intervention and one day and also one month after the intervention, the accuracy of referees’ decision making was evaluated using video test and visual perception by eye tracking device. Data were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA. Findings of the study showed that visual perception and decision-making accuracy in sports vision training, mindfulness training and combined groups were significantly better than the control group in the post-test and follow up, but no significant difference was observed between the training groups. Therefore, it is suggested that sports-vision training and mindfulness training be used to increase visual perception and accuracy of referee’s decision making.

1 version available:

Effect of Technical and Quiet Eye Training on the gaze behavior and long-term learning of volleyball serve reception in 10 to 12-year-old female

Background: A quiet eye is the final fixation or tracking before moving on, which requires concentration and attention, and is an effective way of teaching interceptive tasks. Methods: In the current semi-experimental study, 20 volunteer female students from a volleyball center of Shiraz District 1 (mean age = 12.10, SD = 0.718) were selected as the participants from February 2017 to February 2018. After taking the pre-test, they were randomly divided into two groups of 10 (technical training and quiet eye training). The intended task was to receive volleyball serve with the forearm from three receiving areas of the mini-volleyball court. To measure the accuracy of the volleyball serve reception, a volleyball Serve Reception Test by forearm was used in mini-volleyball court. Ergoneers eye tracking (EET) was used to record the visual data. After the pre-test, the participants took part in 9 separate training sessions three sessions a week, and 48 hours after the last training session, the first retention test and one month later the second retention test was performed. Data were analyzed by 2 × 3 mixed analysis of variance (ANOVA) of quiet eye duration and performance, using SPSS software at a significant level of P ≤ 0.05. Results: The results showed that the mean performance of the quiet eye training group increased from 4.30 ± 1.76 in pre-test to 11 ± 1.76 in the first retention and 12 ± 2 in long-term retention in comparison to the technical training group (P = 0.007). However, there was no significant difference between the mean quiet eye duration of the quiet eye and technical training groups (P = 0.512). Conclusions: It seems that quiet eye training has a significant effect on the long-term learning of beginners compared to technical training, but it does not have a significant difference in the duration of beginners’ quiet eye compared to technical training.

6 versions available

Effect on mode awareness when changing from conditionally to partially automated driving

Future vehicles will combine different levels of capable driving automation characterized by varying responsibilities for users. This development will lead to an increase in system complexity which poses the risk of confusing the driver. Based on the theory of proactive interference, we hypothesize that the users’ mode awareness suffers especially when changing from Level 3 “Conditional Automation” to Level 2 “Partial Automation”. Consequently, a mode transition intermitted by a short phase of manual driving acts as a countermeasure for a loss of mode awareness. Assumptions were tested in a driving simulator study with 45 valid participants. Mode awareness was operationalized by the visual attention towards driving-relevant areas and a qualitative analysis of an interview. Results indicate that in partial automation, visual attention does not deteriorate due to a lack of mode awareness, but rather to the development of overreliance arising from the experience with a very reliable partially automated system.

4 versions available

ElectroOculoGraphy (EOG) Eye-Tracking for Virtual Reality

Virtual reality (VR) is an immersive computer simulation of a three-dimensional environment where the user experiences visual, auditory and sensory feedbacks and can interact with the surrounding through various kinds of controllers. Virtual Reality is achieved through VR headsets that project images with a pair of displays and lenses placed few centimetres from the user's eyes in order to create the illusion of a three-dimensional world. Most diffused VR headsets are HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Oculus Go. The key factor for the success of VR is immersion, which is the condition where the user loses awareness of being in an environment which is not real. Immersion is achieved by virtually replicating human senses stimuli. One of the biggest factors for achieving a high level of immersion is the ability to accurately simulate human vision. For this purpose, new technologies are being developed to achieve higher screens resolutions and bigger fields of view. In this context, eye-tracking is taking place in virtual reality. Eye tracking is the ability to sense the position of user's eye gaze point in the surroundings. In virtual reality, it then comes to being able to live track the coordinates of the eye gaze point on the screen(s) placed in front of the users’ face. Such eye-tracking can bring many advantages to virtual reality. One of them is foveated rendering, which consists on the possibility to render parts of the VR 3d scene that are not focused by the user’s eyes at a lower resolution, resulting in big savings of computational power. Moreover, it is possible to control VR interfaces with eyes, or conduct more accurate researches on consumers’ focus and behaviour. Other applications are training people for complex jobs (for example astronauts or surgeons) or enhancing virtual avatars with human-like eye movements. Eye tracking is achieved through three methods: tracking contact lenses, camera systems and ElectroOculoGraphy (EOG). The first two provide accurate results but are relatively expensive, big, and battery/computation hungry while EOG appears to be also suitable for compact products (as virtual reality headsets) at reduced costs. EOG consists in capturing and analysing the electrical properties of the skin around the eyes through small electrodes placed in strategic points of the user’s face. Since virtual reality headsets integrate a mask that makes large contact with the user’s face, it is possible to integrate the necessary electrodes to enable EOG.

1 version available:

Embodied viewing and Degas’s

This paper presents a cross-disciplinary project based on an experiment in eye-tracking and motion capture (Sainsbury’s Centre for Visual Arts), which aimed to study viewers’ movements around an iconic sculpture: Edgar Degas’s Little Dancer Aged Fourteen. The experiment studies how viewers respond to this three-dimensional artwork not only by looking at it but also through their own bodily reactions to it, such as by unconsciously mimicking a represented attitude or gesture. We compared two groups of viewers: classically trained dancers and non-dancers. Our hypothesis was that the skills and embodied experiences of the dancers would alter the ways in which they engage bodily with the work compared to the non-dancers. Our underlying research question was: how are vision and the body interlinked in esthetic and kinesthetic experience? This paper does not give results, which are forthcoming. It focuses on methodology and provides a commentary on the design and development of the interdisciplinary collaboration behind the project. It explores an interdisciplinary collaboration that bridges the humanities and experimental sciences and asks how being confronted with unfamiliar methodologies forces researchers in a given field to critically self-examine the limits and presuppositions of their practices.

4 versions available

Ergonomics Studies on Non-Traditional In-Vehicle Displays for Reducing Information Access Costs

Ergonomics Studies on Non-Traditional In-Vehicle Displays for Reducing Information Access Costs Donghyun Beck Department of Industrial Engineering The Graduate School Seoul National University Drivers should keep their eyes forward most of the time during driving to be in full control of the vehicle and to be aware of the dynamic road scene. Thus, it is important to locate in-vehicle displays showing information required for a series of driving tasks close to the driver’s forward line-of-sight, and therefore, to reduce the eyes-off-the-road time. Automotive head-up display (HUD) system and camera monitor system (CMS) are promising non-traditional in-vehicle display systems that can reduce information access costs. HUD presents various information items directly on the driver’s forward field of view, and allows the drivers to acquire necessary information while looking at the road ahead. CMS consists of cameras capturing vehicle’s side and rear views and in-vehicle electronic displays presenting the real-time visual information, allowing the driver to obtain it inside a vehicle. Despite the potential benefits and promising applications of HUD system and CMS, however, there are some important research questions to be addressed for their ergonomics design. As for HUD system, presenting many information items indiscriminately can cause undesirable consequences, such as information overload, visual clutter and cognitive capture. Thus, only the necessary and important information must be selected and adequately presented according to the driving situation at hand. As for CMS, the electronic displays can be placed at any positions inside a vehicle and this flexibility in display layout design may be leveraged to develop systems that facilitate the driver’s information processing, and also, alleviate the physical demands associated with checking side and rear views. Therefore, the following ergonomics research questions were considered: 1) ‘Among various information items displayed by the existing HUD systems, which ones are important?’, 2) ‘How should the important HUD information items be presented according to the driving situation?', 3) ‘What are the design characteristics of CMS display layouts that can facilitate driver information processing?’, and 4) ‘What are the design characteristics of CMS display layouts that can reduce physical demands of driving?’ As an effort to address some key knowledge gaps regarding these research questions and contribute to the ergonomics design of these non-traditional in-vehicle display systems, two major studies were conducted – one on HUD information items, and the other on CMS display layouts. In the study on HUD information items, a user survey was conducted to 1) determine the perceived importance of twenty-two information items displayed by the existing commercial automotive HUD systems, and to 2) examine the contexts of use and the user-perceived design improvement points for high-priority HUD information items. A total of fifty-one drivers with significant prior HUD use experience participated. For each information item, the participants subjectively evaluated its importance, and described its contexts of use and design improvement points. The information items varied greatly in perceived importance, and current speed, speed limit, turn-by-turn navigation instructions, maintenance warning, cruise control status, and low fuel warning were of highest importance. For eleven high-priority information items, design implications and future research directions for the ergonomics design of HUD systems were derived. In the study on CMS display layouts, a driving simulator experiment was conducted to comparatively evaluate three CMS display layouts with the traditional side-view mirror arrangement in terms of 1) driver information processing and 2) physical demands of driving. The three layouts placed two side-view displays inside the car nearby the conventional side-view mirrors, on the dashboard at each side of the steering wheel, and on the center fascia with the displays joined side-by-side, respectively. Twenty-two participants performed a safety-critical lane changing task with each layout design. Compared to the traditional mirror system, all three CMS display layouts facilitated information processing and reduced physical demands. Design characteristics leading to such beneficial effects were placing CMS displays close to the normal line-of-sight to reduce eye gaze travel distance and locating each CMS display on each side of the driver to maintain compatibility. Keywords: head up display (HUD), experienced users, importance of information items, contexts of information use, design improvement points, camera monitor system (CMS), in-vehicle side-view displays, display layout, information processing, physical demands Student Number: 2013-21072

1 version available:

Evaluation of the index of cognitive activity (ICA) as an instrument to measure cognitive workload under differing light conditions

A straightforward and valid instrument for measuring cognitive workload would be heavily appreciated in many research areas, such as human-machine-interaction, driver behavior (e.g. automation and fatigue), usability and UI design (e.g. adaptive displays), training and education, or other areas, that are interested in the assessment of the cognitive state of a person. The Index of Cognitive Activity (ICA) is a promising but also controversially discussed instrument that could be of high relevance if it keeps its promises. The ICA is a patent from the year 2000, which claims to be an effective, light-independent recording method of mental workload. On the basis of a literature research, we carried out a lab experiment to evaluate the ICA. Participants were equipped with an Eyetracking device and worked on a mental rotation task and a Stroop task under varying light conditions. The NASA-TLX was to be answered after each test condition to evaluate the subjective workload of the participants in each condition. If the ICA is truly light-independent, the ICA should show the same mental workload for each light condition. Results show expected ICA values for the Spatial Task, but inconclusive ICA values for the Stroop Task. Possible explanations and future work is discussed.

2 versions available

Eye Gaze and Body Motion Synchronization in Dyadic Interaction

Understanding the behavior alignment in dyadic human-human interaction and human-in-the-loop control in human-robot interaction relies on reliable tracking of the human motion. The gaze tracking and motion capture are common techniques that are used nowadays, but they are usually used separately. In this work we combined two Pupil-labs gaze tracker with a Vicon optical motion capture system. To synchronize the recordings of all devices we developed the solution that utilized Lab Streaming Layer for unified collection of measurement time series in research experiments that handles both the networking, time-synchronization and (near-) real-time access of the data. The aim of the experimental setup is to study the interaction of two humans while performing a joint task that requires interpersonal motion coupling.

1 version available:

Eye Movement Analysis System in Relation to Biomechanical Perturbations

Behavior in its totality has apparent cognitive and observable findings, such as language, gesture, body, head, upper or lower limbs, facial and ocular expressions, etc., or subconscious, physiological, inappropriate such as micro-modulation of heart rate and physiological parameters, modification of ideo-motor activity etc. Analysis of eye movements is an objective way of assessing the state of concentration and attention in cognitive processes. Fundamental and applicative research in this field has highlighted a number of defining aspects of the cognitive process that relate to the different positions and movements of the eyeball. In this regard, a portable eye analysis system, correlated with biomechanical disturbances induced by the posture of the subjects was developed in the paper. The system is used to simulate synchronized postural disturbances at the same time as recording changes in human body stability and eye movement changes. The second part of the paper describes the experimental system; the sample of subjects is chosen according to the criteria established by the analysis procedure and also the recording procedures under stable and reproducible environment are developed. In the final part of the paper, results from applications and some conclusions are presented. Experimental application can determine the mode of response of eye movements in relation to the type and level of biomechanical perturbation. This response defined by the eyeball eye movement parameters can characterize the state of focus, attention or involvement by assessing behavioral coefficients. The results of the determinations are at the same time a mechanism of cognitive training and evaluation of adaptability capacity to the conditions of action of random perturbations.

3 versions available

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Do Different Tests of Spatial Navigation Measure the Same Ability?

Effect of sport-vision training and mindfulness on vision perception and decision-making accuracy of basketball’s referees

Effect of Technical and Quiet Eye Training on the gaze behavior and long-term learning of volleyball serve reception in 10 to 12-year-old female

Effect on mode awareness when changing from conditionally to partially automated driving

ElectroOculoGraphy (EOG) Eye-Tracking for Virtual Reality

Embodied viewing and Degas’s

Ergonomics Studies on Non-Traditional In-Vehicle Displays for Reducing Information Access Costs

Evaluation of the index of cognitive activity (ICA) as an instrument to measure cognitive workload under differing light conditions

Eye Gaze and Body Motion Synchronization in Dyadic Interaction

Eye Movement Analysis System in Relation to Biomechanical Perturbations

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