The effect of Quiet eye Training on Selective Attention, Gaze Behavior, and Free Throw Performance of Basketball under Stressful Conditions
The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of quiet eye training on selective attention, gaze behavior and free throwing performance of basketball under stressful conditions. The statistical population of the present study was all youth basketball players who participated in competitions in Tehran province. According to the purpose of the study, a total of 24 people were selected as a sample and randomly and equally divided into two groups of 12 people (quiet eye and control training group). The study included a pre-test, post-test, first retention, pressure test and second retention. In the pre-test phase, participants performed 10 free basketball throws and at the same time their gaze behavior and performance were recorded. The training phase consisted of 3 sessions based on Vickers quiet eye training. The post-test and first retention phase were similar to the pre-test with a difference of 24 hours from each other were performed and the pressure test was performed 48 hours after the first retention and the second retention phase was performed 48 hours after the pressure test. To analyze the data, combined analysis of variance test and Benferoni follow-up test were used and independent t-test was used to compare the groups. The results showed that quiet eye training had a significant effect on selective attention, gaze behavior and free throw performance under stressful conditions. From the results of this study, it can be pointed out that quiet eye training, which is a type of perceptual-motor training, can be used as a technique to strengthen the performance of cognitive-perceptual factors on professional athletes. It can also be concluded that finding perceptual training methods, especially quiet eye training, can very likely play a positive role in improving performance and cognitive-perceptual factors such as selective attention and gaze behavior.
The role of geovisualisation to support decision-making in major engineering projects
Within large engineering consultancies, multi-disciplinary projects are common, incorporating large volumes of varied and volatile high-dimensional data usually geospatial in nature, and often exhibiting uncertainty. Attached to such projects are Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs), which are legally embedded in engineering practice as an EU directive and use a combination of data types, sourced from numerous disciplines. These provide information for stakeholders, including planners, local authorities, and the public, in projects which affect neighbourhoods, districts, and landscapes. Contemporary geovisualisations can incorporate and help users of the outputs from a variety of analyses and models, including EIAs, enhancing decision-making processes inherent in all engineering projects. This research project considers three main themes: cognition (decision making), visualisation and EIAs. Although discrete, these all contribute to decision making in an engineering consultancy for large development projects. A major aim is to understand how users interact with spatial data, in terms of considering the role of spatial data in decision making within the industrial practice and assess methods of visualising this data effectively. This requires investigation of user interaction with such visual, graphical, and map-based representations. Synthetic decision-making scenarios were created, which examined participants' use of geospatial data on a web map for three different environmental impact-based scenarios. Embedded within each scenario was a series of tasks for the participants to complete. Eye-tracking was used as the main method for data collection within this project, which is supported by information about the participant which will help segment up the data during analysis. Eye-tracking was chosen as a major research methodology because by analysing eye movements within realistic decision-making scenarios, we can gain an objective insight into the behaviour of that participant and what information they use to come to a decision. This information can then be used to personalise and improve outputs within EIAs in the form of tailored geovisualisations. The study itself took place in-situ, which is both a novel and key element to this research. The research found that participants' preferences should be considered when designing tools to facilitate decision making. By looking at participants' map usage, layer-usage, decision making and interactions we were able to gain a greater understanding of participants’ requirements for decision support tools. The quantitative analysis looked at key eye-tracking metrics, segmenting the map, and looking at the different map elements (legend and map). Participants interacted with elements in different amounts depending on which task was being completed. We also concluded that the choice of basemap does not impact the decision being made, where possible the user should have the option of a variety of different basemaps to suit their preference. The qualitative analysis examined the participants’ use of different layers, establishing that participants interacted less with existing data on the map than the optional layers which were available to be used to help aid decision making. This research utilises eye-tracking to understand how decision support tools can be improved and altered. In turn, this allows for consideration of the role in spatial data and how it is presented when individuals are making decisions on large multidisciplinary engineering projects. Observations from this research are relevant for cartography, for Atkins, for online interactive mapping practices, and for the geospatial industry in general.
Visual fixation on the thorax predicts bystander breathing detection in simulated out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, but video debriefing with eye tracking gaze overlay does …
Introduction Bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is associated with higher survival rates. Even trained health care staff cannot assess breathing well enough to detect cardiac arrest. Recognition of cardiac arrest by lay rescuers might be overlooked in adult basic life support resuscitation guidelines, which explain what to do, but not how to do it. The 2015 Adult Advanced Life Support Resuscitation Guidelines recommend to “look for chest movement.” We hypothesize (1) that instructing lay rescuers to look for chest movement allows detecting breathing (or lack thereof); (2) that showing a person their own recorded gaze overlay during a video debriefing intervention enhances breathing detection at postallocation; and (3) that the more time spent looking at a cardiac arrest victim's chest, the greater the probability of detecting breathing (or lack thereof). Methods Monocentric, blinded, prospective, 2-arm parallel randomized controlled trial with balanced randomization (1:1). The design entailed a preallocation simulation, an intervention (video debriefing with or without gaze overlay), and a postallocation simulation. A follow-up simulation took place after 6 months. The main outcome measured was success in detecting breathing. Participants were all prospective students of a bachelor's degree program in nursing. Results All participants performed better at postallocation (success rate at preallocation = 59%, postallocation = 79%, χ2 = 7.22, P < 0.01) regardless of viewing their own gaze overlay during video debriefing. We failed to obtain a sufficient number of participants for the follow-up simulation. Instructing lay rescuers to look for chest movement allows them to detect breathing (or lack thereof). Each second spent looking at the thorax increased the odds of successfully detecting breathing by 38%. Mean thorax gaze duration significantly increased by 5.95 seconds (95% confidence interval = 4.71–7.31) from preallocation (3.46 seconds, SD = 4.16) to postallocation (9.41 seconds, SD = 5.98). Laypersons' median diagnosis time was 15.5 seconds (range = 2–63 seconds), similar to another study (13 seconds, range = 5–40 seconds). Conclusions This is the second study in which the median time to decision exceeded the maximum 10 seconds recommended. International guidelines should consider increasing the time allowed for the “check breathing” step of bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation procedures.
Visual search during dynamic displays: Effects of velocity and motion direction
The visual search performance during dynamic environment has been demonstrated that could be affected by the motion of target and distractors. In present study, two experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of motion direction and velocity on visual search on screen. In Experiment 1, participants were required to complete the search task at three velocities(2, 8, and 16 deg/s) and four directions of motion(up, down, left, right). In Experiment 2, participants finished the more difficult visual search tasks within two directions (right, left) at higher velocities (16, 24, and 32 deg/s). The experiments revealed that the increase of velocity on the screen has a negative effect on the visual search performance, and when the velocity is higher than 8 deg/s, search times for horizontally moving images were shorter than those for vertically moving images. Furthermore, the difference in search performance could also be found in left-moving and right-moving images with the increase of velocity. Right-moving images were proved to correspond to higher visual search performance. In addition, eye movement data indicated that saccade amplitude and saccade velocity might be responsible for this difference. The results of this study can be applied to industrial inspection, safety inspection, driving, and other fields.
Visuomotor lag and the intermanual speed advantage
Previous research has found evidence for the Intermanual Speed Advantage (ISA), wherein novice actors perform a visually-guided, two-handed task faster with one hand from each partner (i.e., intermanually) compared to when one actor completes the task with their own two hands (i.e., bimanually). The ISA is erased, however, after the task has been well-practiced by both actors bimanually. Visuomotor coupling (i.e., coordination between eye and hand movements) has been found to account for the moderating effect of practice on the ISA. Through a lag analysis, this study uses secondary data to further investigate visuomotor coupling and the ISA. Findings show that the time lag between the gaze and the hands of novice actors entrains to the partner with lower visuomotor coupling (i.e., the less coupled partner) in the intermanual trials. However, for experienced actors with previous bimanual practice, dyads entrain to the more coupled partner.
A missing link between fidelity and realism: an experts’ assessment of an advanced motion-based driving simulator
A major concern about advanced motion-based simulators is their level of fidelity i.e., how close the motion sensation in a simulator is to the one perceived in a real vehicle. In this study, we collect the assessment from an exceptional sample composed by n = 33 automotive industry experts who were asked to evaluate the fidelity in terms of steering, braking and speed. Given the subjective nature of our measure, we propose a censored-data Tobit regression model that accounts for this issue, thus providing more accurate estimations. Our results show that, on average, experts evaluated the steering actions close to the maximum level of fidelity. However, braking and speed were evaluated lower in realism, and in fact both diminished the overall fidelity judgement by up to 50%. Moreover, coefficients indicate that steering contributes more to the judgement of fidelity than braking and speed actions. Heterogeneity in the experts' responses and general implications are discussed.
Addressing unpredictability may be the key to improving performance with current clinically prescribed myoelectric prostheses
The efferent control chain for an upper-limb myoelectric prosthesis can be separated into 3 key areas: signal generation, signal acquisition, and device response. Data were collected from twenty trans-radial myoelectric prosthesis users using their own clinically prescribed devices, to establish the relative impact of these potential control factors on user performance (user functionality and everyday prosthesis usage). By identifying the key factor(s), we can guide future developments to ensure clinical impact. Skill in generating muscle signals was assessed via reaction times and signal tracking. To assess the predictability of signal acquisition, we inspected reaction time spread and undesired hand activations. As a measure of device response, we recorded the electromechanical delay between electrode stimulation and the onset of hand movement. Results suggest abstract measures of skill in controlling muscle signals are poorly correlated with performance. Undesired activations of the hand or incorrect responses were correlated with almost all kinematics and gaze measures suggesting unpredictability is a key factor. Significant correlations were also found between several measures of performance and the electromechanical delay; however, unexpectedly, longer electromechanical delays correlated with better performance. Future research should focus on exploring causes of unpredictability, their relative impacts on performance and interventions to address this.
