Visual Gaze Research Articles

Optimal visual gaze pattern of endoscopists for improving adenoma detection during colonoscopy (with video)

Background and aimsVisual gaze pattern (VGP) analysis quantifies endoscopists’ specific eye movements. VGP during colonoscopy may be associated with polyp detection. However, the optimal VGP to maximize detection performance remains unclear. This study evaluated the optimal endoscopic VGP that enabled the highest colorectal adenoma detection. MethodsThis randomized controlled trial was conducted between July and December 2023. We developed an eye-tracking and feedback (ETF) system that instructed endoscopists to correct their gaze toward the periphery of an endoscope screen with an audible alert. Patients who underwent colonoscopy were randomly assigned to four groups: three intervention groups in which the endoscopist’s gaze was instructed to a different level of the peripheral screen area using the ETF system (the periphery of 4×4, 5×5, and 6×6 divisions of the screen) and a control group in which the endoscopist did not receive instructions. The primary outcome was the number of adenomas detected per colonoscopy (APC). ResultsIn total, 189 patients were enrolled. APC and adenoma detection rate were significantly higher in the 6×6 group than in the control group (1.82±2.41 vs. 0.59±1.17, P=0.002; 68.9% vs. 30.8%, P=0.002). The APC and the number of screen divisions were positively correlated (R=0.985, P=0.0152). The rate at which the endoscopist gazed at the periphery of the screen was positively correlated with the number of divisions (R=0.964, P=0.0363). ConclusionsColorectal adenoma detection was improved by correcting the endoscopist’s gaze to the periphery of the screen, especially by dividing the screen into 6×6 segments.

Visual object detection system based on augmented reality and steady-state visual evoked potential

This study investigates a brain-computer interface (BCI) system based on an augmented reality (AR) environment and steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEP). The system is designed to facilitate the selection of real-world objects through visual gaze in real-life scenarios. By integrating object detection technology and AR technology, the system augmented real objects with visual enhancements, providing users with visual stimuli that induced corresponding brain signals. SSVEP technology was then utilized to interpret these brain signals and identify the objects that users focused on. Additionally, an adaptive dynamic time-window-based filter bank canonical correlation analysis was employed to rapidly parse the subjects' brain signals. Experimental results indicated that the system could effectively recognize SSVEP signals, achieving an average accuracy rate of 90.6% in visual target identification. This system extends the application of SSVEP signals to real-life scenarios, demonstrating feasibility and efficacy in assisting individuals with mobility impairments and physical disabilities in object selection tasks.

Eye-Tracking Insights into the Perception of Buttocks.

Aesthetic enhancements to the buttock region have grown in demand due to media influence and evolving beauty standards. Using eye-tracking technology, we sought to uncover subconscious visual preferences regarding the buttock aesthetic. The objective of this investigation was to assess visual gaze patterns in assessing female buttocks among Caucasian and Asians through eye-tracking technology. 67 participants viewed photographs of buttocks from various angles, and eye movements were analyzed using the Tobii Pro Nano eye-tracker. Males fixated on the intergluteal cleft for 0.96 ± 1.1s and the thigh gap for 0.07 ± 0.2s; while, females fixated for 0.81 ± 0.9s and 0.06 ± 0.2s on the same regions, respectively. Significant gender differences were observed in the intergluteal cleft (p = 0.002) and upper lateral buttock (p < 0.001). This study offers new insights into the observation of buttocks. The consistent attention toward the intergluteal cleft across demographics could be of potential significance in the aesthetic perception of buttocks. However, diverse gaze patterns also underscore the multifaceted nature of human attraction. These findings hold implications for plastic surgery, aesthetic medicine, and the sociocultural understanding of beauty. A deeper dive into aesthetic preferences is pivotal for a holistic understanding of human perceptions of attractive buttocks. This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to Table of Contents or the online instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .

With sensitive eyes: ECEC teachers’ visual gaze and related reflections on pedagogical actions in toddler groups using eye-tracking glasses

This study explored early childhood education and care (ECEC) teachers’ visual gaze and related reflections on pedagogical actions during pedagogical activities in groups of children under three years of age in Finland. The data were collected from play and teacher-guided activities using mobile eye-tracking glasses, the retrospective thinking aloud (RTA) method, and semi-structured interviews. The results showed that even though the teachers were surprised about some aspects of the visual gaze metrics, they reflected on and gave reasons for their visual gazes on children. When observing gaze data from play, teachers explained the high amount of gaze by citing children’s particular needs. When observing gaze data from guided activities, teachers reflected on children’s unpredictable behavior and noted that the children’s need for support in concentration was linked to more gazes by the teacher. The findings showed that both during play and guided activities, children seeking a gaze and the position of children in the classroom influenced the number of teachers’ gazes. In the teachers’ explanations of their visual gaze and related pedagogical actions, five categories were identified: protection; physical and emotional availability, teaching and learning; facilitation; and initiatives. This explorative study showed that teachers utilize their knowledge concerning children’s individuality, development, and learning when they explain their decisions concerning their visual gaze and pedagogical activities with toddlers. The use of mobile eye-tracking technology is relatively new; therefore, its applications to ECEC are pioneering for the development of the field in relation to the practices and research of toddlers’ groups and groups with older children in ECEC

Early Childhood Education and Care Teachers’ Gaze Behavior Across Pedagogical Episodes in Toddler Groups in Finland

AbstractTeacher–child interaction is central in pedagogical activities in early childhood education and care (ECEC). In these activities, teachers’ visual gaze is a valuable tool for communication, but this has received little attention in ECEC research. Recent technological advancements in eye-tracking provide an approach to take a deeper look at how teachers focus their visual gaze during activities. Our study focused on three ECEC teachers’ visual gaze behavior during pedagogical activities in a group of children under three years of age (later toddlers) in Finland, to gain understanding of how teachers use their gaze to facilitate interactions and pedagogy. The data were collected using eye-tracking glasses in two types of activities: play and guided activity. From these eye-tracking recordings, we identified pedagogical episodes (e.g., guidance). To analyze teachers’ visual gaze behavior, we also coded the fixations to the different areas of interest (e.g., teaching materials). The findings showed that the teachers’ aim for interaction with children was associated with their visual gaze behavior on teacher- and child-initiated episodes. Moreover, the activity's structure and the teacher's position also played a role in how teachers focus their visual gaze. In this article, we also discuss the potential of eye-tracking technology in reflection of practices implemented in ECEC and we argue that the use of eye-tracking technology is an area that merits further exploration.

Where do Egyptian fruit bats fly when auditory and visual spatial information conflicts?

Egyptian fruit bats, Rousettus aegyptiacus, present a distinct opportunity to unravel the relative contributions of auditory and visual stimuli for navigation. This species has evolved lingual echolocation, but also uses rod vision to navigate. Echolocation and visual gaze are anchored to the head, but the bat's active control over sonar beam aim, ear, and eye position can influence sampling of sensory space. We investigated the relative weighting of echolocation and vision in free-flying Egyptian fruit bats. In this experiment, we used stereo IR video and microphone array recordings to quantify the bat’s trajectory, head direction and sonar beam as it flew to a landing perch. We introduced sensory conflict by equipping the bats with goggles fit with prisms that shifted visual images by 23 degrees to the left or right. In control trials, prisms were replaced with clear or light-blocking lenses. When bats were presented with conflicting visual and echolocation information, they flew in the direction of the prism shift and often missed the perch. Preliminary analyses of sonar beam aim suggests that their navigation is largely guided by vision. These findings underscore the dominant role of vision in bats that have also evolved auditory specializations to operate in darkness.

Confirmation Method for Flight Operators’ Interaction Based on the Improved Lightweight DenseNet

Rapid and accurate confirmation of operational intent can improve the efficiency of flight operators in handling sudden emergencies. A lightweight DenseNet flight operator blink interaction confirmation method based on visual gaze is proposed to address the issues of low accuracy and long-time consumption in traditional methods for confirming operational intentions. After determining whether the visual gaze of the flight operator is located at the confirmation button, this method uses two consecutive blinks to confirm the intention of the operation. When performing blink recognition, an improved lightweight DenseNet network model is used, which only uses one block and introduces attention SEBlocks in its [Formula: see text]1 and [Formula: see text]2 layers. Through testing experiments on our own dataset with open and closed eye images, it has been shown that this method has higher accuracy and lower loss compared to the classical DenseNet for open and closed eye recognition. The interactive experiment of flight operation intention confirmation showed that this method requires a shorter time for operation intention confirmation.

Visual Gaze Patterns in the Analysis of Glottic Lesions: Does Experience Increase Diagnostic Accuracy?

The purpose of this study was to evaluate visual gaze patterns and the ability to correctly identify cancer among participants of different experience levels when viewing benign and malignant vocal cord lesions. Thirty-one participants were divided into groups based on level of experience. These included novice (medical students, PGY1-2 otolaryngology residents), intermediate (PGY3-5 otolaryngology residents, gastroenterology fellow), advanced practice providers (physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and speech language pathologists), and experts (board-certified otolaryngologists). Each participant was shown 7 images of vocal cord pathology including glottic cancer, infectious laryngitis, and granuloma and asked to determine the likelihood of cancer on a scale of certain, probable, possible, and unlikely. Eye tracking data were collected and used to identify the area of interest (AOI) that each participant fixated on first, fixated on the longest, and had the greatest number of fixations. No significant differences were seen among groups when comparing AOI with first fixation, AOI with longest fixation, or AOI with most fixations. Novices were significantly more likely to rate a low likelihood of cancer when viewing infectious laryngitis compared to more experienced groups (P < .001). There was no difference in likelihood of cancer rating among groups for the remaining images. There was no significant difference in gaze targets among participants of different experience levels evaluating vocal cord pathology. Symmetric appearance of vocal cord lesions may explain differences seen in likelihood of cancer rating among groups. Future studies with larger sample sizes will better elucidate gaze targets that lead to accurate diagnosis of vocal cord pathology.

Diversity of Ganglion Cell Responses to Saccade-Like Image Shifts in the Primate Retina.

Saccades are a fundamental part of natural vision. They interrupt fixations of the visual gaze and rapidly shift the image that falls onto the retina. These stimulus dynamics can cause activation or suppression of different retinal ganglion cells, but how they affect the encoding of visual information in different types of ganglion cells is largely unknown. Here, we recorded spiking responses to saccade-like shifts of luminance gratings from ganglion cells in isolated marmoset retinas and investigated how the activity depended on the combination of presaccadic and postsaccadic images. All identified cell types, On and Off parasol and midget cells, as well as a type of Large Off cells, displayed distinct response patterns, including particular sensitivity to either the presaccadic or the postsaccadic image or combinations thereof. In addition, Off parasol and Large Off cells, but not On cells, showed pronounced sensitivity to whether the image changed across the transition. Stimulus sensitivity of On cells could be explained based on their responses to step changes in light intensity, whereas Off cells, in particular, parasol and the Large Off cells, seem to be affected by additional interactions that are not triggered during simple light-intensity flashes. Together, our data show that ganglion cells in the primate retina are sensitive to different combinations of presaccadic and postsaccadic visual stimuli. This contributes to the functional diversity of the output signals of the retina and to asymmetries between On and Off pathways and provides evidence of signal processing beyond what is triggered by isolated steps in light intensity.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Sudden eye movements (saccades) shift our direction of gaze, bringing new images in focus on our retinas. To study how retinal neurons deal with these rapid image transitions, we recorded spiking activity from ganglion cells, the output neurons of the retina, in isolated retinas of marmoset monkeys while shifting a projected image in a saccade-like fashion across the retina. We found that the cells do not just respond to the newly fixated image, but that different types of ganglion cells display different sensitivities to the presaccadic and postsaccadic stimulus patterns. Certain Off cells, for example, are sensitive to changes in the image across transitions, which contributes to differences between On and Off information channels and extends the range of encoded stimulus features.

Object identification in cerebral visual impairment characterized by gaze behavior and image saliency analysis

Individuals with cerebral visual impairment (CVI) have difficulties identifying common objects, especially when presented as cartoons or abstract images. In this study, participants were shown a series of images of ten common objects, each from five possible categories ranging from abstract black & white line drawings to color photographs. Fifty individuals with CVI and 50 neurotypical controls verbally identified each object and success rates and reaction times were collected. Visual gaze behavior was recorded using an eye tracker to quantify the extent of visual search area explored and number of fixations. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was also carried out to compare the degree of alignment between the distribution of individual eye gaze patterns and image saliency features computed by the graph-based visual saliency (GBVS) model. Compared to controls, CVI participants showed significantly lower success rates and longer reaction times when identifying objects. In the CVI group, success rate improved moving from abstract black & white images to color photographs, suggesting that object form (as defined by outlines and contours) and color are important cues for correct identification. Eye tracking data revealed that the CVI group showed significantly greater visual search areas and number of fixations per image, and the distribution of eye gaze patterns in the CVI group was less aligned with the high saliency features of the image compared to controls. These results have important implications in helping to understand the complex profile of visual perceptual difficulties associated with CVI.

Is visual gaze in children with autism spectrum disorder related to sequence of emotion intensity presentation? An eye-tracking study of natural emotion perception processes.

Emotion cognitive remediation is a critical component of social skills training for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Visual perception of emotions is highly correlated with the intensity and sequence of presented emotions. However, few studies examined the effect of presentation sequence and intensity on emotion perception. The present study examined the gaze patterns of children with ASD in receiving different sequences of emotion presentation using eye-tracking technologies. Gaze patterns of ecologically-valid video clips of silent emotion stimuli by 51 ASD children and 34 typically developing (TD) children were recorded. Results indicated that ASD and TD children showed opposite visual fixation during different intensity presentation modes: children with ASD showed better emotion perception with a weak-to-strong emotion sequence when presented. The visual reductions in emotion perception in children with ASD may due to different perceptual threshold to emotional intensity. The extent of the reductions could be related to an individual's Personal-Social ability. The present study supports the importance of intensity of emotions and the order at which the emotional stimuli were presented in yielding better emotion perceptions in children with ASD, suggesting that the order of emotion presentation may potentially influence emotion processing during ASD rehabilitation. It is anticipated that the present findings could bring more insights to clinicians for intervention planning in the future.

Visual Interpretation of Vocal Fold Paralysis in Flexible Laryngoscopy Using Eye Tracking Technology

Interpretation of laryngoscopy is an important diagnostic skill in otolaryngology. There is, however, limited understanding of the specific visual strategies used while assessing flexible laryngoscopy video. Eye-tracking technology allows for objective study of eye movements during dynamic tasks. The purpose of the present study was to explore visual gaze strategies during laryngoscopy interpretation of unilateral vocal fold paralysis (UVFP) across clinician experience from novice to expert. Thirty individuals were shown five flexible laryngoscopy videos, each 10 seconds long. After viewing each video, participants reported their impressions of "left vocal fold paralysis," "right vocal fold paralysis," or "no vocal fold paralysis." Eye tracking data were collected and analyzed for duration of fixation and number of fixations on select areas of interest (AOI). Diagnostic accuracy and visual gaze patterns were compared between novice, experienced, and expert groups. Diagnostic accuracy among learners in the novice group was significantly lower than those in the more experienced groups (P=0.04). All groups demonstrated similar visual gaze patterns when viewing the video with normal bilateral vocal fold mobility, spending the greatest percentage of time viewing the trachea. There were differences among groups when viewing the videos of left or right VFP, but the trachea was always in the top three structures for greatest fixation duration and highest number of fixations. Eye-tracking is a novel tool in the setting of laryngoscopy interpretation. With further study it has the potential to be useful for the training of otolaryngology learners to improve diagnostic skills.

Molecular and Functional Changes to Postsynaptic Cholinergic Signaling in the Vestibular Sensory Organs of Aging C57BL/6Mice.

Cholinergic circuits in the central nervous system are vulnerable to age-related functional decline, but it is not known if aging impacts cholinergic signaling in the vestibular sensory organs, which are critically important to balance maintenance and visual gaze stability. We have previously shown cholinergic neurotransmission between vestibular efferent terminals and type II mechanosensory hair cells requires the alpha9 (Chrna9) nicotinic receptor subunit. Homozygous knockout of the alpha9 subunit causes vestibulo-ocular reflex adaptation deficits that mirror those observed in aged mice. This prompted examination of cholinergic signaling in the vestibular sensory organs of aged mice. We confirmed older (>24months) mice had impaired performance in a balance beam task compared to young (3-4months) adult mice. While there was no qualitative loss of cholinergic axon varicosities in the crista ampullaris of old mice, qPCR analysis revealed reduced expression of nicotinic receptor subunit genes Chrna1, Chrna9, and Chrna10 in the cristae of old relative to young mice. Functionally, single-cell patch clamp recordings taken from type II vestibular hair cells exposed to acetylcholine show reduced conductance through alpha9/10 subunit-containing nicotinic receptors in older mice, despite preserved passive membrane properties and voltage-activated conductances. These findings suggest that cholinergic signaling in the peripheral vestibular sensory organs is vulnerable to aging processes, manifesting in dynamic molecular and functional age-related changes. Given the importance of these organs to our everyday activities, and the dramatic increase in fall incidence in the older, further investigation into the mechanisms of altered peripheral vestibular function in older humans is warranted.

Do we know our visual preferences?

Humans differ in the amount of time they direct their gaze toward different types of stimuli. Individuals' preferences are known to be reliable and can predict various cognitive and affective processes. However, it remains unclear whether humans are aware of their visual gaze preferences and are able to report it. In this study, across three different tasks and without prior warning, participants were asked to estimate the amount of time they had looked at a certain visual content (e.g., faces or texts) at the end of each experiment. The findings show that people can report accurately their visual gaze preferences. The implications are discussed in the context of visual perception, metacognition, and the development of applied diagnostic tools based on eye tracking.

Analyzing students' attention by gaze tracking and object detection in classroom teaching

PurposeAttention is one of the most important factors to affect the academic performance of students. Effectively analyzing students' attention in class can promote teachers' precise teaching and students' personalized learning. To intelligently analyze the students' attention in classroom from the first-person perspective, this paper proposes a fusion model based on gaze tracking and object detection. In particular, the proposed attention analysis model does not depend on any smart equipment.Design/methodology/approachGiven a first-person view video of students' learning, the authors first estimate the gazing point by using the deep space–time neural network. Second, single shot multi-box detector and fast segmentation convolutional neural network are comparatively adopted to accurately detect the objects in the video. Third, they predict the gazing objects by combining the results of gazing point estimation and object detection. Finally, the personalized attention of students is analyzed based on the predicted gazing objects and the measurable eye movement criteria.FindingsA large number of experiments are carried out on a public database and a new dataset that is built in a real classroom. The experimental results show that the proposed model not only can accurately track the students' gazing trajectory and effectively analyze the fluctuation of attention of the individual student and all students but also provide a valuable reference to evaluate the process of learning of students.Originality/valueThe contributions of this paper can be summarized as follows. The analysis of students' attention plays an important role in improving teaching quality and student achievement. However, there is little research on how to automatically and intelligently analyze students' attention. To alleviate this problem, this paper focuses on analyzing students' attention by gaze tracking and object detection in classroom teaching, which is significant for practical application in the field of education. The authors proposed an effectively intelligent fusion model based on the deep neural network, which mainly includes the gazing point module and the object detection module, to analyze students' attention in classroom teaching instead of relying on any smart wearable device. They introduce the attention mechanism into the gazing point module to improve the performance of gazing point detection and perform some comparison experiments on the public dataset to prove that the gazing point module can achieve better performance. They associate the eye movement criteria with visual gaze to get quantifiable objective data for students' attention analysis, which can provide a valuable basis to evaluate the learning process of students, provide useful learning information of students for both parents and teachers and support the development of individualized teaching. They built a new database that contains the first-person view videos of 11 subjects in a real classroom and employ it to evaluate the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed model.

Improvement of detection sensitivity of upper gastrointestinal epithelial neoplasia in linked color imaging based on data of eye tracking.

Linked color imaging (LCI) is useful for screening in the gastrointestinal tract; however, its true clinical benefit has not been determined. The aim of this study was to determine the objective advantage of LCI for detection of upper gastrointestinal neoplasms. Nine endoscopists, including three novices, three trainees, and three experts, prospectively performed eye tracking. From 30 cases of esophageal or gastric neoplasm and 30 normal cases without neoplasms, a total of 120 images, including 60 pair images of white light imaging (WLI) and LCI taken at the same positions and angles, were randomly shown for 10s. The sensitivity of tumor detection as a primary endpoint was evaluated and sensitivities by organ, size, and visual gaze pattern were also assessed. Color differences (ΔE using CIE1976 [L*a*b*]) between lesions and surrounding mucosa were measured and compared with detectability. A total of 1080 experiments were completed. The sensitivities of tumor detection in WLI and LCI were 53.7% (50.1-56.8%) and 68.1% (64.8-70.8%), respectively (P=0.002). LCI provided higher sensitivity than WLI for the novice and trainee groups (novice: 42.2% [WLI] vs 65.6% [LCI], P=0.003; trainee: 54.4% vs 70.0%, P=0.045). No significant correlations were found between sensitivity and visual gaze patterns. LCI significantly increased ΔE, and the diagnostic accuracy with WLI depended on ΔE. In conclusion, LCI significantly improved sensitivity in the detection of epithelial neoplasia and enabled epithelial neoplasia detection that is not possible with the small color difference in WLI. (UMIN000047944).

Looking fear in the face: Adults but not adolescents gaze at social threat during observational learning

Observational threat learning is an indirect pathway to learn about what is safe versus dangerous. Visual gaze patterns may be an important measure to understand the underlying mechanisms of social threat learning. However, little research has considered this type of learning or attention allocation during observational learning, and even less has examined it across development. The study examined visual gaze patterns during observational threat acquisition amongst adolescents and adults. Ninety-three adolescents (13–17 years) and 78 adults (18–34 years) underwent a differential observational acquisition task by watching a video wherein a learning model was presented with colored bells. One bell (conditioned stimulus, CS+) was associated with an electric stimulation to the learning model's arm (social unconditioned stimulus, social US), while the other bell was not (CS-). Eye tracking was used during each trial. First, all participants, regardless of age, fixated longer on the face of the learning model when the CS+ was presented than when the CS- was presented. Second, adolescents averted their gaze from the learning model's face when the learning model received an electrical stimulation, whereas adults fixated more on the learning model's face when the stimulation was administered. Finally, adolescents understood the CS+-US contingency less than adults, stemming from the different gaze pattern for the age groups to the social US. Results replicate previous findings in adults and extend them to adolescents, emphasizing the importance of the learning model's facial expressions in conveying information on what is safe versus dangerous in the environment. Moreover, results showed developmental differences in gaze patterns during observational threat learning; this translated into poorer understanding of the CS+-US association amongst adolescents.

Multimodal Analysis of Handshake Etiquette at a State Visit Welcome Ceremony based on the ELAN Program

The handshake is an important element of etiquette in many cultures. It is used in various, not only official, but also informal situations that express greetings, farewells, gratitude, etc. In this work, the object of study is the etiquette of shaking hands during the welcome ceremony of a state visit. The subjects of the study are various modalities and their meanings when performing a handshake. The authors consider in detail such aspects as the requirements of a handshake in official communication: the duration of the handshake, the distance between the communicants, the types of modalities: facial expressions, visual gaze, body movement. Particular attention is paid to highlighting and analyzing the significance of handshake modalities during the welcoming ceremony. The conducted research provides information about the meaning of the handshake and the role of other non-verbal modalities: distance, gestures, gaze and facial expressions, which are designed to demonstrate politeness in a communicative situation. A special contribution of the authors to the study of the topic is to identify the function and meaning of various modalities during a handshake. The study helps to study the expression of politeness in various modalities during a welcome ceremony. The novelty of the study lies in the analysis of etiquette in terms of multimodality. Using the ELAN software, the modalities of the handshake at the ceremony are displayed visually, which allows statistical methods to match verbal and non-verbal elements during the handshake.

Predatory cue use in flush responses of a colonial nesting seabird during polar bear foraging

Nest predation is a primary cause of reproductive failure in birds; thus, predators apply strong selective pressure on nesting behaviour, especially risk assessment behaviours during predator encounters at nests. Prey's risk assessments are not static; rather, dynamic risk assessment theory predicts that prey assess risk in real-time and update it according to changes in cues posed by the predator(s). We used drone videography to film nest-flushing behaviours of common eiders, Somateria mollissima, in response to foraging polar bears, Ursus maritimus, on East Bay Island (Nunavut, Canada). We assessed how cue use influenced flushing behaviour and nest fate in a path analysis using 200 observations of 193 eiders in 2017. Our most supported model found that more direct angles of visual gaze and travel angle by polar bears resulted in conspicuous nest flushes by eiders (β = −0.236 ± 0.059), whereas the presence of herring gulls, Larus argentatus, resulted in more discrete flushes of hens walking from their nests (β = −0.181 ± 0.059). Shorter flush initiation distances between eiders and approaching bears resulted in greater nest predation by polar bears (β = −0.203 ± 0.076). We found no support that an eider's visibility from the nest influenced any component of flushing behaviour. We suggest that during encounters with bears, eiders are capable of assessing risk and making appropriate behavioural decisions to reduce the chances of nest loss. However, as the colony experienced heavy predation by bears in 2017, behavioural responses alone appear to be insufficient to mitigate polar bear predation at the population level.

Mental Workload Artificial Intelligence Assessment of Pilots’ EEG Based on Multi-Dimensional Data Fusion and LSTM with Attention Mechanism Model

EEG has been proved to be an effective tool for researchers’ cognition and mental workload by detecting the changes of brain activity potential. The mental workload of pilots in aviation flight is closely related to the characteristics of flight tasks. The previous methods have problems such as lack of objectivity, low EEG analysis ability and lack of real-time analysis ability. In order to solve these problems, this paper proposes a multi-dimensional data fusion brain workload calculation method based on flight effect evaluation, which integrates vision, operational behavior and visual gaze, and classifies and analyzes them in combination with EEG data. This method evaluates the mental workload of pilots from three aspects: visual gaze behavior, control behavior and flight effect in the simulated flight experimental environment, and realizes a more objective mental workload analysis. Then, the synchronously collected EEG data are segmented and sampled to form a dataset, and an LSTM neural network model integrating attention mechanism is established, in which the attention mechanism is used to improve the feature processing ability of the network model for the classification of complex EEG data. After machine learning training, the final model can achieve 94% detection accuracy for 2-s EEG data, and has the ability of real-time analysis in the application environment. Compared with the previous similar LSTM model, the accuracy is improved by 6%, which also shows the effectiveness of the model.