平滑追踪眼动及其对运动物体时空特征表征和预测的影响

平滑追踪眼动是人们对环境中感兴趣的运动物体进行持续视觉追踪的一种眼动行为, 它受个体在其过程中获得的视觉信息和眼动反馈信息等感知觉因素, 以及心理表征和期待等高水平认知因素的影响。同时, 平滑追踪眼动过程影响着个体的预测性眼动追踪、追赶性眼跳、空间定位和接触时间估计等涉及运动物体时空特征表征和预测的行为。未来的研究应注意探讨在平滑追踪眼动过程中获得的感知觉信息和高水平认知因素对上述时空特征表征和预测行为的影响。     

视听通道双任务对多目标追踪的影响:干扰还是促进?

通过3个实验分别考察了视觉和听觉任务对同时进行的多目标追踪任务干扰程度的差异,以及当视觉与听觉任务的信息加工与多目标追踪的身份特征相一致时,视觉与听觉任务是否会对多目标追踪产生促进作用。在控制眼动的情况下,听觉任务对多目标追踪的干扰程度大于视觉任务;而在不控制眼动的情况下,听觉任务对多目标追踪的干扰程度小于视觉任务。说明多目标追踪过程既要占用编码阶段的视觉注意资源,又要占用中央加工阶段的中央注意资源。当视觉或听觉数字判断任务中的数字与多身份追踪任务中目标的数字身份相一致时,该相容性会对追踪表现产生促进作用并降低两任务间的干扰程度。这是由于追踪过程中目标的数字身份被储存在视觉工作记忆中,节约了用于数字加工的认知资源,从而促进了两项任务的表现。最后,对多目标追踪中的注意分配机制进行了讨论。     

质量表征和眼动过度追踪对表征动量的影响

人们对运动目标最终位置的记忆常常会向运动方向发生偏移, 这种偏移被称为“表征动量”。现有研究对表征动量的解释涉及从低水平的知觉加工到高水平的认知加工等多个方面。本研究采用不同材质和滚动声音的球体作为刺激材料, 考察高水平的质量表征对表征动量的影响以及知觉水平的眼动信息在其中的作用。实验1探讨了对目标质量的主观表征对眼动追踪和表征动量的影响。结果显示, 质量表征会同时影响眼动追踪和表征动量。实验2通过不同的提示线索控制眼动追踪, 进一步探讨眼动过度追踪对表征动量的影响。我们发现, 非自然追踪的条件下, 表征动量会减小, 且质量表征对表征动量的影响不再显著。本研究结果表明, 高水平的质量表征对表征动量的影响会通过知觉水平的眼动过度追踪起作用; 然而, 表征动量还受其它因素影响, 眼动信息并非决定表征动量的唯一因素。     

目标大小变化对多目标视觉追踪的影响

采用多目标追踪任务（MOT）对追踪过程中被试（16名）的眼动进行记录,探讨目标特征变化对视觉追踪的影响。结果表明：视觉追踪机制能够对物体的特征属性进行编码加工,但加工程度受制于目标物与分心物之间的特征竞争关系;追踪过程中,视觉系统采用知觉组织加工策略,以被追踪目标构成的多边形中心为注意中心;物体大小特征没有引起较多的外源性注意,在物体大小特征的变化条件下,视觉追踪主要是内源性的注意控制加工过程。     

多目标视觉追踪中物体属性加工的眼动研究*

采用多目标视觉追踪任务(MOT),探讨物体颜色特征对视觉追踪的影响,同时记录被试的眼动情况,探讨追踪过程中颜色特征对眼动模式的影响。结果发现,视觉追踪机制能够对物体的颜色特征进行加工,但加工程度受制于目标物与分心物之间的特征竞争关系。在物体颜色特征条件下,视觉系统采用知觉组织加工策略,以被追踪目标构成的多边形中心为注意中心。在对物体颜色特征的加工中,内源性注意与外源性注意相互影响。     

多目标视觉追踪的现象、规律和认知加工机制

传统注意研究多基于单个注意焦点和采用静态视觉信息。由Pylyshyn(1988)提出的多目标追踪范式则基于动态场景,是研究同时追踪多个目标的容量有限的注意机制比较常用的范式。在多目标追踪基础上发展起来的多身份追踪范式中的对象带有身份信息,涉及到较复杂的认知机制,如注意、视觉工作记忆等。探讨以上两种视觉追踪的认知加工机制对真实或模拟情境中动态信息的认知加工活动有重要的理论价值和实践指导意义。     

利用视觉情境范式揭示口语加工的时间进程

视觉情境范式是一种通过追踪、测量人眼在视觉物体上的注视轨迹来研究实时口语加工的眼动实验范式。该范式运用于语言理解类研究的理论基础是眼动连接假设(如:协同互动理论、基于目标的连接假设理论等),这些连接假设在眼动轨迹与口语加工进程之间建立起了有意义的关联。使用视觉情境范式所获取的数据能够为口语加工提供精确的时间信息,常用的数据分析方法包括:时间兴趣区内注视比例均值分析、分叉点分析、生长曲线分析等。该范式为研究词汇语音识别、句法解歧、语义理解、语篇语用信息加工等问题提供了关键性证据。     

不同方向视觉运动追踪的特性

对向左、向右、向上与向下4个方向的平滑运动视觉追踪的眼动特点进行了探讨,并采用了频谱分析的方法对4个方向上视觉追踪的眼动参数进行了分析。结果表明,(1)水平追踪与垂直追踪之间的差异较为普遍,几乎存在于所有的眼动参数上;(2)左右追踪之间、上下追踪之间也分别都存在差异,它们主要表现在数据分布结构上;(3)眼睛跳动距离是视觉追踪的敏感指标。另外,不同方向的差异在不同眼动参数之间并不具有一致性。这反映了视觉追踪眼动的复杂性,不同类型眼动之间存在相互关联,这种关联性还有待于进一步研究。     

多目标视觉追踪的注意策略及其眼动模式

该研究采用多目标追踪任务(MOT)对追踪过程中被试的眼动进行记录,探讨追踪过程中的眼动模式及目标数量与刺激物大小变化对眼动模式的影响。结果表明,在追踪过程中,视觉系统采用知觉组织加工策略,以被追踪目标构成的多边形中心为注意中心;追踪成绩受到注意资源限制,随着目标数量的增加,每个目标获得的资源减少;获得较多注意资源的目标更容易被有效追踪,获得资源较少的目标更容易丢失;目标与非目标属性的共同变化不影响追踪眼动模式和追踪成绩。     

目标刺激运动特征对自闭症谱系障碍儿童平滑追踪眼动的影响

选取3~5岁自闭症谱系障碍儿童(Autism Spectrum Disorder,ASD)与正常儿童各18名,采集其观看目标刺激沿不同垂直幅度、水平速度正弦曲线运动视频的眼动数据,考察振幅、速度等目标运动特征对被试平滑追踪眼动的影响。结果发现:(1)ASD儿童平滑追踪目标刺激的视觉位置误差显著大于正常儿童,其追踪目标的眼动轨迹不如正常组儿童平滑均匀,平滑追踪眼动存在明显不足。(2)正常儿童追踪目标刺激大振幅运行的位置误差显著大于小振幅运行条件,但ASD儿童却与之相反。(3)与正常儿童一样,目标刺激运行速度越快,ASD儿童平滑追踪的位置误差越大。总之,ASD儿童存在平滑追踪能力的不足;相比追踪大振幅运动的目标,ASD儿童追踪小振幅运动目标的能力更差。     

视觉正常的自闭症儿童双眼注视点间距的特点及其意义

视网膜上物象对应的外在注视点之间的距离, 即双眼注视点间距(distance of binoculars point of regard, DBPR)在自闭症谱系障碍(autism spectrum disorders, ASD)个体上存在异常的表现, 而ASD个体伴随较高的斜视发病率, 可能会对其双眼注视点间距产生影响。研究采用正弦曲线平滑追踪任务范式, 探索视觉正常的ASD儿童在动态刺激加工过程中DBPR的鉴别意义。结果发现, ASD儿童DBPR过大且具有跨任务类型的稳定性, 且与斜视无关。DBPR在大振幅、快速度的条件下具有优良的鉴别力, 并与自闭症行为量表总分以及感知觉维度显著正相关。结果表明, 双眼注视点间距具有良好的鉴别价值。     

How do humans group non-rigid objects in multiple object tracking?: Evidence from grouping by self-rotation

Previous studies on perceptual grouping found that people can use spatiotemporal and featural information to group spatially separated rigid objects into a unit while tracking moving objects. However, few studies have tested the role of objects’ self-motion information in perceptual grouping, although it is of great significance to the motion perception in the three-dimensional space. In natural environments, objects always move in translation and rotation at the same time. The self-rotation of the objects seriously destroys objects’ rigidity and topology, creates conflicting movement signals and results in crowding effects. Thus, this study sought to examine the specific role played by self-rotation information on grouping spatially separated non-rigid objects through a modified multiple object tracking (MOT) paradigm with self-rotating objects. Experiment 1 found that people could use self-rotation information to group spatially separated non-rigid objects, even though this information was deleterious for attentive tracking and irrelevant to the task requirements, and people seemed to use it strategically rather than automatically. Experiment 2 provided stronger evidence that this grouping advantage did come from the self-rotation per se rather than surface-level cues arising from self-rotation (e.g. similar 2D motion signals and common shapes). Experiment 3 changed the stimuli to more natural 3D cubes to strengthen the impression of self-rotation and again found that self-rotation improved grouping. Finally, Experiment 4 demonstrated that grouping by self-rotation and grouping by changing shape were statistically comparable but additive, suggesting that they were two different sources of the object information. Thus, grouping by self-rotation mainly benefited from the perceptual differences in motion flow fields rather than in deformation. Overall, this study is the first attempt to identify self-motion as a new feature that people can use to group objects in dynamic scenes and shed light on debates about what entities/units we group and what kinds of information about a target we process while tracking objects.     

Close coupling between eye movements and serial attentional refreshing during multiple-identity tracking

Multiple-identity tracking (MIT) is a dynamic task in which observers track multiple moving objects of distinct identities and then report the location of each target object. The present study examined participant’ eye movements during MIT in order to investigate the relationship between eye movements and attentional performance during the task. The results showed that fixations were predominately directed to individual targets during tracking. When successfully landed on targets, the fixations dwelled for longer duration; otherwise, they were terminated quickly. As the attentional demands for processing the targets increased, fixations landed on the targets more frequently while fixations outside targets decreased both in number and duration. The attentionally more demanding targets were fixated more frequently than the attentionally less demanding ones. The most recently fixated target was tracked with higher performance, while the tracking accuracy for the more previously fixated targets gradually decreased. Taken together, the results indicate that fixations are tightly coupled with attention during MIT, switching serially from target to target for refreshing each object representation to facilitate the tracking of identities and locations of multiple targets.     

靶刺激变换与情景信息属性对真实情景再认的影响

采用眼动研究范式,通过两个实验考察靶刺激变换与情景信息属性对情景再认的影响。实验一结果显示,靶刺激变换对情景再认、靶刺激所属兴趣区的凝视时间均有显著影响,这表明在情景再认过程中,观察者会有意识地搜索靶刺激,靶刺激具有诊断效应;实验二应用了知觉信息与语义信息重合和分离两种情景材料。结果显示,观察者对语义信息的首次注视次数显著多于知觉信息;观察者对知觉信息和语义信息分离条件下语义信息的首次注视时间显著长于重合条件下。这一结果提示,在情景识别过程中,语义信息具有注意优先性,但其优先性会受到知觉信息启动的干扰。     

Task-dependent sensitisation of perceptual and semantic processing during visual search for words

Two experiments examined the impact of task-set on people's use of the visual and semantic features of words during visual search. Participants' eye movements were recorded while the distractor words were manipulated. In both experiments, the target word was either given literally (literal task) or defined by a semantic clue (categorical task). According to Kiefer and Martens, participants should preferentially use either the visual or semantic features of words depending on their relevance for the task. This assumption was partially supported. As expected, orthographic neighbours of the target word attracted participants' attention more and took longer to reject, once fixated, during the literal task. Conversely, semantic associates of the target word took longer to reject during the categorical task. However, they did not attract participants' attention more than in the literal task. This unexpected finding is discussed in relation to the processing of words in the peripheral visual field.     

Self‐generated variability in object images predicts vocabulary growth

Object names are a major component of early vocabularies and learning object names depends on being able to visually recognize objects in the world. However, the fundamental visual challenge of the moment‐to‐moment variations in object appearances that learners must resolve has received little attention in word learning research. Here we provide the first evidence that image‐level object variability matters and may be the link that connects infant object manipulation to vocabulary development. Using head‐mounted eye tracking, the present study objectively measured individual differences in the moment‐to‐moment variability of visual instances of the same object, from infants’ first‐person views. Infants who generated more variable visual object images through manual object manipulation at 15 months of age experienced greater vocabulary growth over the next six months. Elucidating infants’ everyday visual experiences with objects may constitute a crucial missing link in our understanding of the developmental trajectory of object name learning.     

Effects of linear and angular velocity on 2-, 4-, and 6-month-olds'' visual pursuit behaviors

We report on a study with 12 infants at each of 2, 4, and 6 months of age which examines the effects on infant visual pursuit of varying the target linear velocity (m/s) and the target angular velocity (deg/s) independently. Tracking performance is described in terms of five behaviors which characterize infant performance as a tracking trial unfolds: time to initial capture, duration of initial tracking, duration of initial break in tracking, frequency of interruptions in tracking, and mean duration of all tracking intervals. Interruptions in tracking become more frequent as linear velocity increases but less frequent as angular velocity increases. The mean duration of later tracking intervals is diminished relative to the duration of earlier tracking intervals in 4- and 6-month-olds, but not in the 2-month-olds. Differences in angular velocity may account for the conflicting reports of disruptions in object permanence studies relying on a visual tracking paradigm.     

Eye gaze as a means of giving and seeking information during musical interaction

During skilled music ensemble performance, a multi-layered network of interaction processes allows musicians to negotiate common interpretations of ambiguously-notated music in real-time. This study investigated the conditions that encourage visual interaction during duo performance. Duos recorded performances of a new piece before and after a period of rehearsal. Mobile eye tracking and motion capture were used in combination to map uni- and bidirectional eye gaze patterns. Musicians watched each other more during temporally-unstable passages than during regularly-timed passages. They also watched each other more after rehearsal than before. Duo musicians may seek visual interaction with each other primarily, but not exclusively, when coordination is threatened by temporal instability. Visual interaction increases as musicians become familiar with the piece, suggesting that they visually monitor each other once a shared interpretation of the piece is established. Visual monitoring of co-performers’ movements and attention may facilitate feelings of engagement and high-level creative collaboration.