A low‐cost platform for eye‐tracking research: Using Pupil© in behavior analysis

Tracking eye movements is being increasingly recognized as a valuable source of information about stimulus control. So far, however, eye‐tracking research has suffered from accessibility issues, with expensive hardware and closed‐source software. In this article we review Pupil©, an eye‐tracking platform developed by Pupil Labs and that combines open‐source software with low‐cost hardware components. We offer concrete recommendations about Pupil use in stimulus‐control research and we show how the software can be extended to automatize the analysis of gaze data. Finally, we present the results of a study of visual discrimination and conditioned reinforcement conducted with Pupil, establishing the usefulness of this platform as a research tool in behavior analysis.     

IBM research in interactive data mining and scientific computing

A number of research and development efforts from IBM are described in the areas of data mining and visualization of large data sets. Some useful principles for data mining and visualization are discussed, and a few research programs and available products are described. In addition, the current IBM line of hardware and support software for scientific computing is briefly described.     

Intuition and Visualization in Mathematical Problem Solving

In this article, I will discuss the relationship between mathematical intuition and mathematical visualization. I will argue that in order to investigate this relationship, it is necessary to consider mathematical activity as a complex phenomenon, which involves many different cognitive resources. I will focus on two kinds of danger in recurring to visualization and I will show that they are not a good reason to conclude that visualization is not reliable, if we consider its use in mathematical practice. Then, I will give an example of mathematical reasoning with a figure, and show that both visualization and intuition are involved. I claim that mathematical intuition depends on background knowledge and expertise, and that it allows to see the generality of the conclusions obtained by means of visualization.     

Building a System for Finding Objections to an Argument

This paper addresses the role that argumentation schemes and argument visualization software tools can play in helping to find and counter objections to a given argument one is confronted with. Based on extensive analysis of features of the argumentation in these two examples, a practical four-step method of finding objections to an argument is set out. The study also applies the Carneades Argumentation System to the task of finding objections to an argument, and shows how this system has some capabilities that are especially useful.     

Multidimensional data visualization

Historically, data visualization has been limited primarily to two dimensions (e.g., histograms or scatter plots). Available software packages (e.g., Data Desk 6.1, MatLab 6.1, SAS-JMP 4.04, SPSS 10.0) are capable of producing three-dimensional scatter plots with (varying degrees of) user interactivity. We constructed our own data visualization application with the Visualization Toolkit (Schroeder, Martin, & Lorensen, 1998) and Tcl/Tk to display multivariate data through the application of glyphs (Ware, 2000). A glyph is a visual object onto which many data parameters may be mapped, each with a different visual attribute (e.g., size or color). We used our Multi-Dimensional Data Viewer to explore data from several psycholinguistic experiments. The graphical interface provides flexibility when users dynamically explore the multidimensional image rendered from raw experimental data. We highlight advantages of multidimensional data visualization and consider some potential limitations.     

Using an Apple II microcomputer for real-time control in a behavioral laboratory

This report describes the hardware and software developed to implement an Apple II (48 KB) as a real-time control device for operant experiments. The hardware has a straightforward design, so that it is readily understandable and can be built by individuals with only minimal experience in the use of integrated circuits and other electronic components. The software routines listed below represent an approach to controlling and handling the data generated by an operant experiment. Using these routines, we are able to record each response and experimental event, the time of the occurrence, and the conditions at that time.     

The use of on-line computers in psychobiology

This paper examines several areas in the use of laboratory computers in psychobiology, specifically how they are being used, the problems in languages and software, in interfacing computers to experimental configurations, and in the hardware involved. The paper defines the experimental tasks and data requirements which tend to distinguish computer usage in physiological research from other areas of psychology and the tasks which absolutely necessitate the use of a computer and in what mode. Finally we present our views of the dangers of computer use and misuse and make our own subjective evaluation of how well computers are living up to their end of the bargain, how well scientists are doing at their end, and where we should go from here.     

Computer programming for generating visual stimuli

Critical to vision research is the generation of visual displays with precise control over stimulus metrics. Generating stimuli often requires adapting commercial software or developing specialized software for specific research applications. In order to facilitate this process, we give here an overview that allows nonexpert users to generate and customize stimuli for vision research. We first give a review of relevant hardware and software considerations, to allow the selection of display hardware, operating system, programming language, and graphics packages most appropriate for specific research applications. We then describe the framework of a generic computer program that can be adapted for use with a broad range of experimental applications. Stimuli are generated in the context of trial events, allowing the display of text messages, the monitoring of subject responses and reaction times, and the inclusion of contingency algorithms. This approach allows direct control and management of computer-generated visual stimuli while utilizing the full capabilities of modern hardware and software systems. The flowchart and source code for the stimulus-generating program may be downloaded from www.psychonomic.org/archive.     

Can we imagine how objects look from other viewpoints?

Many psychologists who study cognition believe that perception achieves object-centered representations that make it possible to extract representations of how the object would appear from differing viewpoints. Others believe we can achieve representations of how an object would appear by a process of visualization or mental rotation. We report experiments in which the subject tries to imagine how three-dimensional novel wire objects would appear from positions other than the one they are in. Subjects are unable to perform this task unless they make use of strategies that circumvent the process of visualization. It is suggested that the linear increase in time required to succeed in mental rotation tasks as a function of the angular discrepancy between the figures compared is the result of increasing difficulty rather than of the time required for rotation.     

A computer-based Personalized System of Instruction course in applied behavior analysis

Microcomputer laboratories are becoming more common in psychology departments because they provide an alternative instructional medium and a resource to help combat decreasing funding and increasing student:teacher ratios. By using microcomputers to perform the testing, we were able to conduct a Personalized System of Instruction course for 51 students, without the five proctors that would normally be required. Students had low rates of procrastination and positive attitudes toward the course, and none of the students dropped out. This paper describes how the course was organized and the hardware and software employed. Difficulties arising in the course and how they might be overcome are also discussed.     

Introduction to the special issue on the intersection of professional selling and service

As organizational operations continue to evolve in response to increasing customer demands, frontline research has begun to consider how traditionally separate organizational functions may be complementary to firm performance. Specifically, as sales and service activities become increasingly intertwined within the frontline role, this special issue explores how the sales and service functions interact within an organization. The articles contained in this special issue consider the interaction of sales and service with respect to customer, employee, and firm outcomes. After introducing evolving thought in the area, we provide an overview of five articles that make up this special issue. We conclude by offering additional areas of research.     

Using proton magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy to understand brain "activation"

Upon stimulation, areas of the brain associated with specific cognitive processing tasks may undergo observable physiological changes, and measures of such changes have been used to create brain maps for visualization of stimulated areas in task-related brain "activation" studies. These perturbations usually continue throughout the period of the stimulating event, and then subside when the event is terminated. In this communication, we consider the nature and meaning of these task-related brain activations. Since stimulation usually results in an increase in the frequency of neuron depolarizations or "spikes", an energy expensive activity that requires ATP for restoration of ionic gradients, additional energy supplies must be rapidly deployed to the stimulated areas or rates of re-polarization could be decreased, and refractory periods between spikes increased. As a result, maximum spiking rates may be decreased and some frequency-encoded information lost. The energy available to brain cells to re-synthesize ATP from ADP is a function of levels of glucose and oxygen in blood, and their availability to stimulated neurons is a function of the rate at which focal blood supplies can be increased (hyperemia). In this review we explore how neurons transmit meaningful encoded information; how the integrity of that information is dependent on a continuous supply of energy, and how proton magnetic imaging and spectroscopy may aid in understanding the process. Finally, evidence is presented that the neuropeptide, N-acetylaspartylglutamate, is a neuronal astrocyte-vascular feedback signal that regulates activation induced focal hyperemic responses.     

Analysis and visualization of complex psychophysiological data: Coordinated use of multiple applications on a microcomputer

Personal computers have become ubiquitous for data analysis and visualization. Complex analyses and visualizations of large data sets prove challenging for microcomputer environments and highlight a tradeoff between customized programming to enhance specificity and processing speed and the use of commercially available software packages. We frame this choice in terms of a continuum that exists from low-level programming languages to higher-level languages, and beyond this to object-oriented programming environments and other advanced software products; we argue that there is no sharp conceptual distinction between programming and not programming. In this light, we discuss the pros and cons of using several commercial software packages in concert on a single platform to facilitate complex research tasks and discuss the implications of this choice for innovative research.     

The Chemnitz LogAnalyzer: A tool for analyzing data from hypertext navigation research

Computer-based studies usually produce log files as raw data. These data cannot be analyzed adequately with conventional statistical software. The Chemnitz LogAnalyzer provides tools for quick and comfortable visualization and analyses of hypertext navigation behavior by individual users and for aggregated data. In addition, it supports analogous analyses of questionnaire data and reanalysis with respect to several predefined orders of nodes of the same hypertext. As an illustration of how to use the Chemnitz LogAnalyzer, we give an account of one study on learning with hypertext. Participants either searched for specific details or read a hypertext document to familiarize themselves with its content. The tool helped identify navigation strategies affected by these two processing goals and provided comparisons, for example, of processing times and visited sites. Altogether, the Chemnitz LogAnalyzer fills the gap between log files as raw data of Web-based studies and conventional statistical software.     

How to make your own response boxes: A step-by-step guide for the construction of reliable and inexpensive parallel-port response pads from computer mice

Psychological research is based in large parts on response latencies, which are often registered by keypresses on a standard computer keyboard. Recording response latencies with a standard keyboard is problematic because keypresses are buffered within the keyboard hardware before they are signaled to the computer, adding error variance to the recorded latencies. This can be circumvented by using external response pads connected to the computer's parallel port. In this article, we describe how to build inexpensive, reliable, and easy-to-use response pads with six keys from two standard computer mice that can be connected to the PC's parallel port. We also address the problem of recording data from the parallel port with different software packages under Microsoft's Windows XP.     

Image analysis of small animal feeding behavior: An update

Recently we published a design for an automated feeding behavior system (Rowley, Stitt, & Hanson, 2003). One disadvantage of this system is that it relied on expensive, custom hardware. Here we present a modified version that replaces the custom hardware with a simple, commercially available webcam and modified the MATLAB analysis software as well. The new system is much less expensive and easier to implement, while still providing for bias-free collection of consumption data in a feeding behavior trial.     

Quintupling the speed of the PDP-8 DF32 disk system for real-time use

The author has noted some inefficiencies in the operation of the DF32 hardware/software disk system on the PDP-8. While such inefficiencies are not significant when the disk is used only as a store for programs which are called into core from the keyboard, they become important when the disk is used as a real-time backup for core. This paper isolates some of the problems, gives rules for avoiding them, and then describes how the system software was modified to obey these rules. The speed of the modified system is noticeable even when SAVEing and CALLing programs from the keyboard; successive blocks can be transferred between disk and core in one-fifth the previously required time.     

Perceptions de la douance chez les élèves doués dans un centre de services scolaires québécois

This study aims to explore the perceptions of giftedness among 24 gifted students aged 6 to 11 from a Quebec School Board. Subject to an exploratory lexical analysis (using ALCESTE software) and a thematic analysis (using NVivo software), the results highlight the inherent plurality of perceptions of giftedness within a group of gifted students. In addition, the intellectual and socioaffective dimensions are at the heart of how these students perceive their status as gifted children/students. Questioning the perceptions of giftedness with this population allows us to consider the reality of these young people in all its diversity but also highlights their particular needs.     

Informal Home Education: Philosophical Aspirations put into Practice

Informal home education occurs without much that is generally considered essential for formal education—including curriculum, learning plans, assessments, age related targets or planned and deliberate teaching. Our research into families conducting this kind of education enables us to consider learning away from such imposed structures and to explore how children go about learning for themselves within the context of their own socio-cultural setting. In this paper we consider what and how children learn when no educational agenda is arranged for them and we link this manner of learning to the Deweyan ideas of learning as transactional and learning-in-context. We also use our empirical evidence to explore the notion of ZPD with regard to informal learning and to consider how children, without specific guidance, go about charting a course of learning through the ZPD. We consider the quality of informal learning particularly with regard to the educational aim of developing reflective and critical thinking, showing how these are integral to informal learning. We suggest that a much wider conception of what learning is and how it happens is needed, away from the confines of formal educational structures.     

Meeting novel experimental needs with an Apple Pascal controlled interfacing system

In this article, we describe how to combine an inexpensive interface with an independent timing card to solve some common timing and programming problems. Problems were encountered when we tried, by modifying commercial software, to create novel programs that would accurately control events in our operant conditioning chambers. The solution was to combine a Life Science Associates (LSA) Apple Interfacing System with an Applied Engineering Timemaster II H.O. timing card. Three aspects of the solution are described: (1) LSA’s interfacing hardware; (2) the Timemaster II H.O. timing card; and (3) the Pascal commands necessary to access the timing card. An example, a program to control a concurrent variable-interval schedule, shows how the timing card is used in conjunction with the interface to control and monitor experiments. The system offers many advantages over earlier researcher-built approaches and provides a flexible, accurate, and inexpensive alternative to commercial systems.