Video Eye Tracker Research Articles

Evaluating the Value of Eye-Tracking Augmented Debriefing in Medical Simulation-A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.

Debriefing after simulation facilitates reflective thinking and learning. Eye-tracking augmented debriefing (ETAD) may provide advantages over traditional debriefing (TD) by leveraging video replay with first-person perspective. This multisite randomized controlled trial compared the impact of ETAD with TD (without eye-tracking and without video) after simulation on 4 outcomes: (1) resident metacognitive awareness (the primary outcome), (2) cognitive load (CL) of residents and debriefers, (3) alignment of resident self-assessment and debriefer assessment scores, and (4) resident and debriefer perceptions of the debriefing experience. Fifty-four emergency medicine residents from 2 institutions were randomized to the experimental (ETAD) or the control (TD) arm. Residents completed 2 simulation stations followed by debriefing. Before station 1 and after station 2, residents completed a Metacognition Awareness Inventory (MAI). After each station, debriefers and residents rated their CL and completed an assessment of performance. After the stations, residents were interviewed and debriefers participated in a focus group. There were no statistically significant differences in mean MAI change, resident CL, or assessment alignment between residents and debriefers. Debriefer CL was lower in the experimental arm. Interviews identified 4 themes: (1) reflections related to debriefing approach, (2) eye-tracking as a metacognitive sensitizer, (3) translation of metacognition to practice, and (4) ETAD as a strategy to manage CL. Residents reported that eye tracking improved the specificity of feedback. Debriefers relied less on notes, leveraged video timestamps, appreciated the structure of the eye-tracking video, and found the video useful when debriefing poor performers. There were no significant quantitative differences in MAI or resident CL scores; qualitative findings suggest that residents appreciated the benefits of the eye-tracking video review. Debriefers expended less CL and reported less perceived mental effort with the new technology. Future research should leverage longitudinal experimental designs to further understand the impact of eye-tracking facilitated debriefing.

Towards Automatic Object Detection and Activity Recognition in Indoor Climbing

Rock climbing has propelled from niche sport to mainstream free-time activity and Olympic sport. Moreover, climbing can be studied as an example of a high-stakes perception-action task. However, understanding what constitutes an expert climber is not simple or straightforward. As a dynamic and high-risk activity, climbing requires a precise interplay between cognition, perception, and precise action execution. While prior research has predominantly focused on the movement aspect of climbing (i.e., skeletal posture and individual limb movements), recent studies have also examined the climber’s visual attention and its links to their performance. To associate the climber’s attention with their actions, however, has traditionally required frame-by-frame manual coding of the recorded eye-tracking videos. To overcome this challenge and automatically contextualize the analysis of eye movements in indoor climbing, we present deep learning-driven (YOLOv5) hold detection that facilitates automatic grasp recognition. To demonstrate the framework, we examined the expert climber’s eye movements and egocentric perspective acquired from eye-tracking glasses (SMI and Tobii Glasses 2). Using the framework, we observed that the expert climber’s grasping duration was positively correlated with total fixation duration (r = 0.807) and fixation count (r = 0.864); however, it was negatively correlated with the fixation rate (r = −0.402) and saccade rate (r = −0.344). The findings indicate the moments of cognitive processing and visual search that occurred during decision making and route prospecting. Our work contributes to research on eye–body performance and coordination in high-stakes contexts, and informs the sport science and expands the applications, e.g., in training optimization, injury prevention, and coaching.

Evaluation of Saccadic Component Measure on Smooth Pursuit Tests.

Despite the advancement of eye-tracking technology for smooth pursuit (SP) eye movement evaluation, qualitative observation offers much information that is not captured by computers; hence, both objective and qualitative information should be utilized to evaluate SP. This study examined the consistency among our clinicians when evaluating SP using normal (N), grossly normal (GN), mildly abnormal (MA), and abnormal (AB) as classifications. We then evaluated the effect of combining GN and MA into a single subclinical (SUBC) category. We also evaluated the computerized percent saccade (PS) metric by determining its sensitivity and specificity in classifying SP. Retrospective horizontal and vertical SP test videos and numerical data for 70 participants were obtained from the Neuro Kinetics Neuro-Otologic Test Center and de-identified. From this, eye-tracking videos, time plots of eye-tracking positional data, and tables of SP eye-tracking performance data were generated for 0.1, 0.3, and 0.5 Hz in both horizontal and vertical planes, totaling 6 tests per subject. Three clinicians rated each subject's SP performance as N, GN, MA, or AB for a total of 6 ratings (3 frequencies, horizontal and vertical). This process was repeated using N, SUBC, and AB as rating categories. Clinicians also provided an overall SP rating for each plane as follows: AB if the results were abnormal for 2 or more frequencies tested. Alternatively, if fewer than 2 frequencies presented with a rating of AB, then an overall rating of MA, GN, or N was determined at the respective clinician's discretion. When the 3 clinicians were tasked with classifying SP videos using 4 clinical categories, fair overall agreement was demonstrated. However, when MA and GN categories were combined into an SUBC category, the overall agreement for the 3 clinicians improved slightly for both horizontal SP (HSP) and vertical SP (VSP). This pattern of agreement did not differ considerably when comparing HSP versus VSP, and good consistency and reliability was observed across clinicians. Again, inter-rater consistency was smaller for VSP versus HSP despite the reduction in clinical categories. Cut-off values were generated for the PS metric and demonstrated good specificity and sensitivity when they were exceeded for 2 or more frequencies in a particular plane when evaluating a subject's SP test.

Reading Comprehension Tests: Students’ Question Reading and Responding Behavior

ABSTRACT Reading comprehension tests involve not only reading passages and answering questions but also making choices such as the test-taking strategy to use, whether to search passages for answers, and where to begin searching. We examined the associations between student characteristics, passage type, test-taking strategies, and students’ time searching texts for answers. We also examined differences in the characteristics of students with high precision in finding text that supported correct answer choices compared to students who lacked precision. Students in grades three (n = 76), five (n = 86), and eight (n = 86) read narrative and expository passages and responded to questions. We used eye-tracking videos to code test-taking strategies and question-reading and responding behaviors (QRRBs). Student characteristics of reading achievement and working memory were measured. Results indicated that test-taking strategies and QRRB impacted the effort and time required by students to complete the tests and the processes measured.

Temporal dynamics of ocular torsion and vertical vergence during visual, vestibular, and visuovestibular rotations.

Ocular torsion and vertical divergence reflect the brain's sensorimotor integration of motion through the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) and the optokinetic reflex (OKR) to roll rotations. Torsion and vergence however express different response patterns depending on several motion variables, but research on their temporal dynamics remains limited. This study investigated the onset times of ocular torsion (OT) and vertical vergence (VV) during visual, vestibular, and visuovestibular motion, as well as their relative decay rates following prolonged optokinetic stimulations. Temporal characteristics were retrieved from three separate investigations where the level of visual clutter and acceleration were controlled. Video eye-tracking was used to retrieve the eye-movement parameters from a total of 41 healthy participants across all trials. Ocular torsion consistently initiated earlier than vertical vergence, particularly evident under intensified visual information density, and higher clutter levels were associated with more balanced decay rates. Additionally, stimulation modality and accelerations affected the onsets of both eye movements, with visuovestibular motion triggering earlier responses compared to vestibular motion, and increased accelerations leading to earlier onsets for both movements. The present study showed that joint visuovestibular responses produced more rapid onsets, indicating a synergetic sensorimotor process. It also showed that visual content acted as a fusional force during the decay period, and imposed greater influence over the torsional onset compared to vergence. Acceleration, by contrast, did not affect the temporal relationship between the two eye movements. Altogether, these findings provide insights into the sensorimotor integration of the vestibulo-ocular and optokinetic reflex arcs.

Learning from (re)experience: What mobile eye-tracking video can help us learn about the cognitive processes of teaching

IntroductionClassroom teachers need to monitor a group of students varying in interest, knowledge, and behavior at the same time that they present a lesson and adapt it on the fly to student questions and understanding. Many areas of expertise are associated with special kinds of perceptual skills, and teaching presents its own perceptual challenges. We discuss the special nature of the expert looking that teachers must develop and how it relates to more general models of expertise. Standard methods of classroom video are limited in their support of teacher professional looking, and we explore an alternative using mobile eyetracking that overcomes many of these limits. The combination of mobile eyetracking records and standard video enables the participant to “re-experience” a situation in a vivid way, while also seeing things they missed the first time through.MethodsWe report a study in which pairs of novice and experienced teachers teaching the same students watched their own mobile eyetracking recordings while performing a retrospective think-aloud task.ResultsExperienced teachers were better able to describe high-level features and their significance in the lessons, while novices were more likely to talk about in-the-moment events such as things they failed to see while teaching. This is consistent with work on expertise that suggests there are both costs and benefits to expert looking.DiscussionOur results suggest that the ability to quickly grasp the meaning of a classroom situation may be associated with less awareness of some of the lower-level features on which those inferences are based. Novice and experienced teachers notice different things and have different perspectives on classroom processes; understanding the cognitive process of teachers will require combining insights from each. The methods used in this study are quickly becoming less costly and more accessible, and they have a unique role to play in research and in teacher professional development.

Non-Invasive Recording of Ocular-Following Responses in Children: A Promising Tool for Stereo Deficiency Evaluation.

Background: The ability to merge the two retinal images to perceive depth (stereopsis) plays an important role in human vision. Its proper development requires binocular alignment and good visual acuity in both eyes during childhood. Because treatments are more effective when applied early, early diagnosis is important. Unfortunately, assessing stereo deficiencies in infants and young children remains challenging. Recently, it has been shown that ocular-following responses (OFRs; reflexive, short-latency eye movements induced by the sudden motion of a large textured pattern) are sensitive to changes in interocular correlation, making them potentially useful for stereo deficiency assessments. To test this hypothesis, we measured OFRs elicited by dichoptic stimulation in children with normal and compromised stereopsis (due to amblyopia). Methods: Two groups of six children (age- and sex-matched: 3M/3F aged 7-12 yo), one with compromised stereopsis and one with normal stereopsis, were included. OFRs were recorded using a custom high-resolution video eye-tracking system. The relative differences between eye displacement induced by correlated stimuli (up-correlated-down-correlated) and anticorrelated (up-anticorrelated-down-anticorrelated) were compared. Results: We found significant differences between OFRs induced by two dichoptic conditions (correlated and anticorrelated stimuli) in most children with normal stereopsis, whereas no differences were observed in children with compromised stereopsis, indicating a lack of disparity detectors. Conclusions: OFRs might thus be exploited as a diagnostic tool for the objective identification of stereo deficiencies in children. This might lead to improved early diagnosis and treatment outcomes for conditions like amblyopia and strabismus.

Expert Performance in Action Anticipation: Visual Search Behavior in Volleyball Spiking Defense from Different Viewing Perspectives.

Volleyball spiking requires defenders to possess exceptional anticipatory skills. However, most volleyball defense video eye-tracking studies have used fixed or off-court perspectives, failing to replicate real-world environments. This study explored different visual search behaviors between elite and novice volleyball players from various viewing perspectives using video eye tracking. We examined spiking anticipation in 14 competitive elite, 13 semi-elite, and 11 novice players. We captured spiking videos from three on-court perspectives using GoPro cameras mounted on the defenders' heads, closely replicating real game scenarios. For comparison, we recorded baseline videos using a fixed camera. The present study revealed that competitive and semi-elite players demonstrated higher accuracy than novices. Competitive elite players used fewer fixations, indicating that their superior performance was related to stable visual search patterns. All participant groups, regardless of skill level, showed similar visual allocation among areas of interest (AOIs). However, notable differences in visual search patterns and AOI allocation were observed between baseline and on-court perspective videos. From the baseline perspective, the participants primarily utilized global perception and peripheral vision, focusing more on the setter zone or the spiker's trunk. Conversely, from the on-court perspective, they employed more fixations, focusing more intensely on the spiker's detailed movements.

EYE-ECG: An RCT of the influence of student characteristics and expert eye-tracking videos with cued retrospective reporting on students' ECG interpretation skills.

Teaching of ECG interpretation frequently relies on visual schemas. However, subsequent student ECG interpretation skills are often poor. Expertise research shows that expert looking patterns frequently deviate from the steps taught in schema learning. The present study made a cardiology expert's gaze interpreting ECGs visible - through eye-tracking videos with cued retrospective reporting (CRR) - and investigated the potential as an additional expert-driven route to improve medical students' ECG interpretation skills. N=91 Medical students participated in the RCT of an ECG e-learning session aimed at medical students' ECG interpretation skills gain, either receiving the newly developed eye-tracking video with CRR audio commentary materials (n=47) or studying via four clinical cases only (n=44). Three outcome scores relating to different aspects of ECG interpretation skills were derived from pre-post MCQ ECG tests. The effect of the EYE-ECG training and additional characteristics (e.g., prior experience, interest) on student ECG interpretation skills were evaluated using t-tests and multivariate linear regression. A small, non-significant advantage of the EYE-ECG training signifying a tendency for greater knowledge gain was observed, compared to training as usual. In multivariate regression models, the predictive value of clinical case 1 was an unexpected finding warranting further exploration. Additional gains after an only 9-minute intervention using videos of expert's real-time gaze pattern in combination with hearing their thought processes during ECG interpretation is a promising finding. Furthermore, a number of specific performance characteristics enabling students to best benefit from ECG training were identified and possible modifications to the learning intervention suggested.

Poster Session I: Characteristics and coordination of microsaccades in 6 Dimensions.

The study of microsaccades, the small and rapid eye movements that occur during fixation, has focused on horizontal and vertical movements, while their torsional component remains relatively uncharted territory in vision research. We used video eye tracking to investigate microsaccades binocularly with horizontal and vertical movements tracked by pupil and corneal reflection and torsion by iris pattern. Five participants looked at a central dot for 20 trials of 20 seconds while seated, and their heads rested on a chin rest. For each microsaccade (N=2040), we measured the displacement of the eye along each dimension, and defined version as the average and vergence as the difference between the motion of the left and right eye. The average horizontal vertical and torsional components were 0.7, 0.3, and 0.1 deg for version and 0.1, 0.1, and 0.1 deg for vergence, respectively. Next, we measured the correlation between each component pair. We found that when the eyes moved to the left or right together, they also rotated by 0.3 deg (top towards the same side) for each degree of horizontal movement (R = 0.94, p < 0.01). When the eyes moved up (down), for each degree of vertical movement, they diverged (converged) 0.08 deg horizontally (R = -0.53, p < 0.01) and rotated 0.09 deg outward (inward; R = -0.47, p < 0.01). There was no strong correlation between other combinations. These results show that microsaccades follow similar kinematics at a minute scale as larger saccades.

Poster Session I: Digital dual-Purkinje-image eye tracking enables precise determination of visual receptive fields in fixating macaques.

Understanding the relationship between visual stimuli and neural activity is a fundamental goal in visual neuroscience. However, the study of visual neurophysiology in awake primates is complicated by the constant occurrence of eye movements, even during periods of nominal fixation. To address this challenge, we adapted a recently developed high-resolution digital dual-Purkinje-image (dDPI) eye tracker (Wu et al., 2023) for use with macaque monkeys. In addition to tracking the Purkinje images, we simultaneously estimate the pupil center and size: a first for video eye tracking. We then sought to evaluate the efficacy of dDPI eye tracking for studying visual processing in fixating macaques by recording single neurons from the lateral geniculate nucleus while a spatially-correlated noise stimulus was displayed. Our analyses show that, as a result of properly accounting for eye movements post-hoc, the predictive performance of generalized linear models improves and the estimates center radii contract to values equal to or smaller than those reported in the literature. Notably, correcting for eye movements using the locations of the pupil center and corneal reflection-the standard method in video eye tracking-yielded worse model fits and larger receptive field sizes. This finding implies that the pupil center is an inaccurate reporter of small eye movements, while the Purkinje images may be veridical during fixations.

Teaching practices mediating the effect of teachers’ psychological stress, and not physiological on their visual focus of attention

The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between teachers’ (N = 53) physiological and psychological stress and their visual focus of attention as well as the mediating effect of teaching practices on this association in authentic classroom settings. Data were collected using multimodal methods of measurement: salivary cortisol levels for physiological stress, a self-reported questionnaire for psychological stress, observed teaching practices during one school day, and eye-tracking video recordings of classroom teachers during one lesson for teachers’ visual focus of attention. The results showed that neither teachers’ physiological nor psychological stress was directly related to their visual focus of attention. However, using more child-centered teaching practices compared with teacher-directed ones was related to a higher number of fixations on students, longer total fixation duration, and more individualized distribution of visual focus of attention on students. Teacher’s teaching practices mediated the effect of teachers’ psychological stress on their fixation counts on students and distribution of visual focus of attention. The results suggest that teaching practices are related to the visual attention teachers’ give to students and that teachers’ stress affects their visual focus of attention through teaching practices. The practical implications of this study suggest that teachers should receive training and support to recognize their stress level and its association with their teaching.

Understanding Consumers’ Visual Attention in Mobile Advertisements: An Ambulatory Eye-Tracking Study with Machine Learning Techniques

As mobile devices have become a necessity in our daily lives, mobile advertising is also prevalent. Accordingly, it is critical for practitioners to understand how consumers visually attend to mobile advertisements. One popular way of doing so is via eye-tracking methodology. However, scant eye-tracking research exists in mobile settings due to technical challenges, e.g., cumbersome data annotation. To tackle these challenges, the authors propose an object-detection machine learning (ML) algorithm—You Only Look Once (YOLO) v3—to analyze eye-tracking videos automatically. Moreover, we extend the original YOLO v3 model by developing a novel algorithm to optimize the analysis of eye-tracking data collected from mobile devices. Through a lab experiment, we investigate how two types of ad elements (i.e., textual vs. pictorial) and shopping devices (i.e., mobile vs. PC) affect consumers’ visual attention. Our findings suggest that (1) textual ad elements receive more attention than pictorial ones, and such differences are more pronounced in ads on mobile devices than those on PCs; and (2) mobile ads receive less attention than PC ads. Our findings provide managerial insights into developing effective digital advertising strategies to improve consumers’ visual attention in online and mobile advertisements.

Changes in saccadic eye movement and smooth pursuit gain in patients with acquired comitant esotropia after strabismus surgery.

This study investigates the change in horizontal saccadic eye movement and smooth pursuit in patients with acquired comitant esotropia (ACE), before and after strabismus surgery. The horizontal saccades and pursuit in 11 patients with ACE were recorded using a video eye-tracker under binocular viewing before and after strabismus surgery. Participants were instructed to fixate on the new target as rapidly as possible when it randomly appeared at either 18.3° rightward or 18.3° leftward. For smooth pursuit, participants were asked to track, as accurately as possible, a step-ramp target moving at ±6.1°/s. The asymmetry of adduction-abduction and the binocular coordination in gains of saccade and pursuit were compared between the pre- and post-surgical data. The asymmetry of adduction-abduction saccade gain in each eye after surgery tended to be smaller than that before surgery. The binocular coordination of saccade showed significant improvement after surgery in only the non-dominant eye direction. Adduction-abduction asymmetry in the smooth pursuit gain in each eye after surgery tended to be smaller than before surgery. After surgery, the binocular coordination of pursuit was improved significantly in both directions. In patients with ACE, binocular coordination of saccade and smooth pursuit was poor. Binocular coordination of saccade and pursuit seems to be improved due to the improvement in ocular deviation angle and binocular visual function after surgery.

Efficacy οf Wet Age-related Macular Degeneration Treatment οn Reading: A Pilot Study Using Eye-movement Analysis.

Functional vision, as evaluated with silent passage reading speed, improves after anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) treatment in patients with wet age-related macular antidegeneration (wAMD), reflecting primarily a concomitant reduction in the number of fixations. Implementing eye movement analysis when reading may better characterize the effectiveness of therapeutic approaches in wAMD. This study aimed to evaluate silent reading performance by means of eye fixation analysis before and after anti-VEGF treatment in wAMD patients. Sixteen wAMD patients who underwent anti-VEGF treatment in one eye and visual acuity (VA) better than 0.5 logMAR served as the AMD group. Twenty adults without ocular pathology served as the control group. Central retinal thickness and near VA were assessed at baseline and 3 to 4 months after their first visit. Reading performance was evaluated using short passages of 0.4-logMAR print size. Eye movements were recorded using EyeLink II video eye tracker. Data analysis included computation of reading speed, fixation duration, number of fixations, and percentage of regressions. Frequency distributions of fixation durations were analyzed with ex-Gaussian fittings. In the AMD group, silent reading speed in the treated eye correlated well with central retinal thickness reduction and improved significantly by an average of 15.9 ± 28.5 words per minute (P = .04). This improvement was accompanied by an average reduction of 0.24 ± 0.38 in fixations per word (P = .03). The corresponding improvement in monocular VA was not statistically significant. Other eye fixation parameters did not change significantly after treatment. No statistically significant differences were found in the control group. Visual acuity tests may underestimate the potential therapeutic effects after anti-VEGF treatment in patients with relatively good acuity who are being treated for wAMD. Evaluating silent reading performance and eye fixation parameters may better characterize the effectiveness of therapeutic approaches in wAMD patients.

Covert Tracking to Immersive Stimuli in Traumatic Brain Injury Subjects With Disorders of Consciousness.

Eye tracking assessments are clinician dependent and can contribute to misclassification of coma. We investigated responsiveness to videos with and without audio in traumatic brain injury (TBI) subjects using video eye-tracking (VET). We recruited 20 healthy volunteers and 10 unresponsive TBI subjects. Clinicians were surveyed whether the subject was tracking on their bedside assessment. The Coma Recovery Scale-Revised (CRS-R) was also performed. Eye movements in response to three different 30-second videos with and without sound were recorded using VET. The videos consisted of moving characters (a dancer, a person skateboarding, and Spiderman). Tracking on VET was defined as visual fixation on the character and gaze movement in the same direction of the character on two separate occasions. Subjects were classified as "covert tracking" (tracking using VET only), "overt tracking" (VET and clinical exam by clinicians), and "no tracking". A k-nearest-neighbors model was also used to identify tracking computationally. Thalamocortical connectivity and structural integrity were evaluated with EEG and MRI. The ability to obey commands was evaluated at 6- and 12-month follow-up. The average age was 29 (± 17) years old. Three subjects demonstrated "covert tracking" (CRS-R of 6, 8, 7), two "overt tracking" (CRS-R 22, 11), and five subjects "no tracking" (CRS-R 8, 6, 5, 6, 7). Among the 84 tested trials in all subjects, 11 trials (13%) met the criteria for "covert tracking". Using the k-nearest approach, 14 trials (17%) were classified as "covert tracking". Subjects with "tracking" had higher thalamocortical connectivity, and had fewer structures injured in the eye-tracking network than those without tracking. At follow-up, 2 out of 3 "covert" and all "overt" subjects recovered consciousness versus only 2 subjects in the "no tracking" group. Immersive stimuli may serve as important objective tools to differentiate subtle tracking using VET.

Istradefylline Improves Impaired Smooth Pursuit Eye Movements in Parkinson's Disease.

Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) exhibit alterations in eye movement control, primarily diverse oculomotor deficits which include hypometric saccade and impaired smooth pursuit with reduced pursuit-gain necessitating catch-up saccades. The effects of dopaminergic treatment of PD on eye movements are controversial. Previous studies suggest that smooth pursuit eye movements (SPEMs) are not directly influenced by the dopaminergic system. The nondopaminergic drug istradefylline, a selective adenosine A2A receptor antagonist, reduces the OFF time and improves somatomotor function in levodopa-treated PD. Here, we investigated whether istradefylline improves SPEMs in PD, and determined whether oculomotor performance is associated with somatomotor performance. Using an infrared video eye tracking system, we quantified horizontal SPEMs in six patients with PD before and 4-8weeks after initiation of istradefylline administration. A further five patients with PD were tested before and after a 4-week interval without istradefylline to control for practice effects. We evaluated smooth pursuit gain (eye velocity/target velocity), accuracy of smooth pursuit velocity, and saccade rate during pursuitbefore and after istradefylline administration during the ON state. Patients received istradefylline by single daily oral administration at 20 to 40mg. Eye tracking data were obtained 4-8weeks after initiation of istradefylline administration. Istradefylline increased smooth pursuit gain and the accuracy of smooth pursuit velocity, and tended to decrease saccade rates during pursuit. Istradefylline ameliorated the oculomotor deficit in SPEM of patients with PD, although differences in somatomotor performance before and after istradefylline treatment were not significant during ON periods. The discrepancy observed between the oculomotor and somatomotor responses to istradefylline supports previous findings that SPEM is at least partially under nondopaminergic control.

Visual search with finding car task in Alzheimer's Disease and mild cognitive impairment

AbstractBackgroundWe evaluated visual search patterns in finding a car test in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI).Method29 AD patients (mean age 72,5±7.9 years), 34 aMCI patients (mean age 70,6±6,7 years), and 32 healthy controls (HC) (mean age 68,5±6,2 years) were applied to detailed neuropsychological tests (NT). The visual scan task consisted of 16 pictures divided into 9 parts and the car was hidden in the given pictures. The picture with the car was designated as an area of interest. Participants were asked to find the car hidden in shown pictures. EyeLink 1000 Plus video eye tracker was used to record fixation duration, the number of fixation and saccade and, first fixation duration.ResultThere was no statistically significant difference in demographric features between groups (p&lt;0,05). For the area of interest, fixation durations (p = 0,006), number of fixations, and saccades (p&lt;0,001) were significantly decreased in AD patients than aMCI patients and HCs. Besides, the number of fixations in the area out of interest was significantly decreased in AD patients than HC’s (p = 0,001). The number of saccades was significantly decreased in AD patients compared to aMCI (p = 0,005). Moreover, the visual search was correlated to NT measurements (r = 0,2‐0,4).ConclusionScanning patterns in this visuospatial task‐ car finding were significantly different in AD than aMCI and HC. Visual search is a tool of documenting what and how people look at things in real life which might be used as a valid tool to distinguish AD from aMCI and HCs.

Vision-Based Global Localization of Points of Gaze in Sport Climbing

Investigating realistic visual exploration is quite challenging in sport climbing, but it promises a deeper understanding of how performers adjust their perception-action couplings during task completion. However, the samples of participants and the number of trials analyzed in such experiments are often reduced to a minimum because of the time-consuming treatments of the eye-tracking data. Notably, mapping successive points of gaze from local views to the global scene is generally performed manually by watching eye-tracking video data frame by frame. This manual procedure is not suitable for processing a large number of datasets. Consequently, this study developed an automatic method for solving this global point of gaze localization in indoor sport climbing. Particularly, an eye-tracking device was used for acquiring local image frames and points of gaze from a climber’s local views. Artificial landmarks, designed as four-color-disk groups, were distributed on the wall to facilitate localization. Global points of gaze were computed based on planar homography transforms between the local and global positions of the detected landmarks. Thirty climbing trials were recorded and processed by the proposed methods. The success rates (Mean[Formula: see text]±[Formula: see text]SD) were up to 85.72%[Formula: see text]±[Formula: see text]13.90%, and the errors (Mean[Formula: see text]±[Formula: see text]SD) were up to [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]m. The proposed method will be employed for computing global points of gaze in our current climbing dataset for understanding the dynamics intertwining of gaze and motor behaviors during the climbs.

Clinical analysis of eye movement-based data in the medical diagnosis of amblyopia

Amblyopia is an abnormal visual processing-induced developmental disorder of the central nervous system that affects static and dynamic vision, as well as binocular visual function. Currently, changes in static vision in one eye are the gold standard for amblyopia diagnosis. However, there have been few comprehensive analyses of changes in dynamic vision, especially eye movement, among children with amblyopia. Here, we proposed an optimization scheme involving a video eye tracker combined with an "artificial eye" for comprehensive examination of eye movement in children with amblyopia; we sought to improve the diagnostic criteria for amblyopia and provide theoretical support for practical treatment. The resulting eye movement data were used to construct a deep learning approach for diagnostic and predictive applications. Through efforts to manage the uncooperativeness of children with strabismus who could not complete the eye movement assessment, this study quantitatively and objectively assessed the clinical implications of eye movement characteristics in children with amblyopia. Our results indicated that an amblyopic eye is always in a state of adjustment, and thus is not "lazy." Additionally, we found that the eye movement parameters of amblyopic eyes and eyes with normal vision are significantly different. Finally, we identified eye movement parameters that can be used to supplement and optimize the diagnostic criteria for amblyopia, providing a diagnostic basis for evaluation of binocular visual function.