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Eye-tracking Technology and its Application in Chinese Teaching and Learning Research.

This study explores the effects of different types of social media on mental health. By analyzing data from 5,000 participants, the researchers found that excessive use of certain platforms can lead to increased levels of anxiety and depression, while moderated use can have positive effects on social well-being.

1 version available:

Fast and robust ellipse detection algorithm for head-mounted eye tracking systems

In head-mounted eye tracking systems, the correct detection of pupil position is a key factor in estimating gaze direction. However, this is a challenging issue when the videos are recorded in real-world conditions, due to the many sources of noise and artifacts that exist in these scenarios, such as rapid changes in illumination, reflections, occlusions and an elliptical appearance of the pupil. Thus, it is an indispensable prerequisite that a pupil detection algorithm is robust in these challenging conditions. In this work, we present one pupil center detection method based on searching the maximum contribution point to the radial symmetry of the image. Additionally, two different center refinement steps were incorporated with the aim of adapting the algorithm to images with highly elliptical pupil appearances. The performance of the proposed algorithm is evaluated using a dataset consisting of 225,569 head-mounted annotated eye images from publicly available sources. The results are compared with the better algorithm found in the bibliography, with our algorithm being shown as superior.

4 versions available

From reading to driving: priming mobile users for take-over situations in highly automated driving

Highly automated vehicles, occasionally require users to resume vehicle control from non-driving related tasks by issuing cues called take-over request (TOR). Due to being engaged in non-driving related tasks (NDRT), users have a decreased level of situational awareness of the driving context. Therefore, user interface designs for TORs should ensure smooth transitions from the NDRTs to vehicle control. In this paper, we investigated the role of decision priming cues as TORs across different levels of NDRT engagement. In a driving simulator, users performed a reading span task while driving in automated mode. They received audio-visual TORs which primed them with an appropriate maneuver (steering vs. braking), depending on the traffic situation. Our results showed that priming users with upcoming maneuvers results in faster responses and longer time to collision to obstacles. However, the level of engagement in NDRT does not affect user responses to TORs.

2 versions available

Gaze and body capture system under VR experiences

This paper proposes a novel system to simultaneously capture gaze behavior and the whole body motion of a person experiencing 6-DOF VR contents. This system consists of a VR goggle, eye-trackers attached to the goggle, and multiple Kinects. Measurements of those devices are all described in the consistent global coordinate system. Since the Kinects are robustly calibrated, whichever position and pose a user is located, his/her whole body pose as well as gaze directions is correctly measured. Using this system, we can easily capture gaze behaviors as well as body motion of people under any VR scenes, which is helpful for physiological researches.

3 versions available

Gaze tracking using common webcams

Eye and gaze tracking have long been methods to study visual attention. Many devices for gaze tracking are expensive and require specific setup and calibration procedures. For many gaze tracking setups, it is even mandatory to use multiple computers, for showing stimuli and for tracking gaze, respectively. Today, modern laptops are equipped with enough processing power to process a video stream live. Additionally, many laptops come with a built-in webcam for teleconferencing and video chats. In this thesis, the possibility of performing gaze tracking using a calibration free, feature-based approach on laptops using built-in webcams is explored. To try the model, the free and open source software library Gaze is implemented and evaluated. It is shown that Gaze reaches very good eye tracking capabilities and manages to be easily usable and extendable. Its gaze tracking abilities are still to be improved, but because of its modular structure existing solutions like pre-trained neural networks can be integrated to leverage their strengths.

1 version available:

Handbook of Behavioral and Cognitive Geography

Geographic information technologies facilitate people’s decision making in space and time. Providing useful and usable decision support requires that the users’ cognition is taken into account during the design of such technology and when specifying the various interaction processes between humans and technologies. This chapter provides an overview of geographic information technologies, explains why cognition is important for these technologies, and examines research and methods for investigating cognitive aspects during people’s use of geographic information technologies. Examples demonstrate the importance of cognition for geographic information technologies.

4 versions available

Head-mounted eye gaze tracking devices: An overview of modern devices and recent advances

An increasing number of wearable devices performing eye gaze tracking have been released in recent years. Such devices can lead to unprecedented opportunities in many applications. However, staying updated regarding the continuous advances and gathering the technical features that allow to choose the best device for a specific application is not trivial. The last eye gaze tracker overview was written more than 10 years ago, while more recent devices are substantially improved both in hardware and software. Thus, an overview of current eye gaze trackers is needed. This review fills the gap by providing an overview of the current level of advancement for both techniques and devices, leading finally to the analysis of 20 essential features in six head-mounted eye gaze trackers commercially available. The analyzed characteristics represent a useful selection providing an overview of the technology currently implemented. The results show that many technical advances were made in this field since the last survey. Current wearable devices allow to capture and exploit visual information unobtrusively and in real time, leading to new applications in wearable technologies that can also be used to improve rehabilitation and enable a more active living for impaired persons.

8 versions available

How to warn drivers in various safety-critical situations–Different strategies, different reactions

Technological advances allow supporting drivers in a multitude of occasions, ranging from comfort enhancement to collision avoidance, for example through driver warnings, which are especially crucial for traffic safety. This psychological driving simulator experiment investigated how to warn drivers visually in order to prevent accidents in various safety-critical situations. Collision frequencies, driving behavior and subjective evaluations of situation criticality, warning understandability and helpfulness of sixty drivers were measured in two trials of eight scenarios each (within-subjects factors). The warning type in the head-up display (HUD) varied (between-subjects) in its strategy (attention-/reaction-oriented) and specificity (generic/specific) over four warning groups and a control group without a warning. The results show that the scenarios differed in their situation criticality and drivers adapted their reactions accordingly, which underlines the importance of testing driver assistance systems in diverse scenarios. Besides some learning effects over the trials, all warned drivers showed faster and stronger brake reactions. Some warning concepts were understood better than others, but all were accepted. Generic warnings were effective, yet the warning strategy should adapt to situation requirements and/or driver behavior. A stop symbol as reaction generic warning is recommendable for diverse kinds of use cases, leading to fast and strong reactions. However, for rather moderate driver reactions an attention generic approach with a caution symbol might be more suitable. Further research should investigate multi-stage warnings with adaptive strategies for application to various situations including other modalities and false alarms.

7 versions available

Influence of vehicle speed on the characteristics of driver’s eye movement at a highway tunnel entrance during day and night conditions: A pilot study

The aim of this study was to investigate how vehicle speed influences the characteristics of driver’s eye movement at highway tunnel entrances during day and night. In this study, six drivers’ eye movement data (from 200 m before tunnel entrance to 200 m inside tunnel entrance) under five predetermined vehicle speeds (40, 50, 60, 70 and 80 km/h) in the daytime and three predetermined vehicle speeds (40, 60 and 80 km/h) in the nighttime were recorded using the non-intrusive Dikablis Professional eye-tracking system. Pupil size, the average fixation duration time and the average number of fixation were analyzed and then the influence of the vehicle speed on these parameters was evaluated by means of IBM SPSS Statistics 20.0. The results for pupil size in daytime increased when approaching the tunnel entrance, while as for nighttime, pupil size decreased when approaching the tunnel entrance and then increased after entering the tunnel. The pupil size in daytime has a significant negative correlation with vehicle speed, while the pupil size in nighttime did not show a significant association with vehicle speed. Furthermore, the average fixation duration in daytime increased when entering the tunnel, and had a significant negative correlation with vehicle speed. Also, the average number of fixations in daytime decreased when entering the tunnel and has a significant negative correlation with vehicle speed. However, the average fixation duration and the average number of fixations in nighttime did not show any significant association with vehicle speed. Moreover, limitations and future directions of the study are discussed for the further investigation.

12 versions available

Introduction matters: Manipulating trust in automation and reliance in automated driving

Trust in automation is a key determinant for the adoption of automated systems and their appropriate use. Therefore, it constitutes an essential research area for the introduction of automated vehicles to road traffic. In this study, we investigated the influence of trust promoting (Trust promoted group) and trust lowering (Trust lowered group) introductory information on reported trust, reliance behavior and take-over performance. Forty participants encountered three situations in a 17-min highway drive in a conditionally automated vehicle (SAE Level 3). Situation 1 and Situation 3 were non-critical situations where a take-over was optional. Situation 2 represented a critical situation where a take-over was necessary to avoid a collision. A non-driving-related task (NDRT) was presented between the situations to record the allocation of visual attention. Participants reporting a higher trust level spent less time looking at the road or instrument cluster and more time looking at the NDRT. The manipulation of introductory information resulted in medium differences in reported trust and influenced participants' reliance behavior. Participants of the Trust promoted group looked less at the road or instrument cluster and more at the NDRT. The odds of participants of the Trust promoted group to overrule the automated driving system in the non-critical situations were 3.65 times (Situation 1) to 5 times (Situation 3) higher. In Situation 2, the Trust promoted group's mean take-over time was extended by 1154 ms and the mean minimum time-to-collision was 933 ms shorter. Six participants from the Trust promoted group compared to no participant of the Trust lowered group collided with the obstacle. The results demonstrate that the individual trust level influences how much drivers monitor the environment while performing an NDRT. Introductory information influences this trust level, reliance on an automated driving system, and if a critical take-over situation can be successfully solved.

14 versions available

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