MouseTracker: Software for studying real-time mental processing using a computer mouse-tracking method

In the present article, we present a software package, MouseTracker, that allows researchers to use a computer mouse-tracking method for assessing real-time processing in psychological tasks. By recording the streaming x-, y-coordinates of the computer mouse while participants move the mouse into one of multiple response alternatives, motor dynamics of the hand can reveal the time course of mental processes. MouseTracker provides researchers with fine-grained information about the real-time evolution of participant responses by sampling 60–75 times/sec the online competition between multiple response alternatives. MouseTracker allows researchers to develop and run experiments and subsequently analyze mouse trajectories in a user-interactive, graphics-based environment. Experiments may incorporate images, letter strings, and sounds. Mouse trajectories can be processed, averaged, visualized, and explored, and measures of spatial attraction/curvature, complexity, velocity, and acceleration can be computed. We describe the software and the method, and we provide details on mouse trajectory analysis. We validate the software by demonstrating the accuracy and reliability of its trajectory and reaction time data. The latest version of MouseTracker is freely available at http://mousetracker.jbfreeman.net.     

Timing accuracy under Microsoft Windows revealed through external chronometry

Recent studies by Myors (1998, 1999) have concluded that the Microsoft Windows operating system is unable to support sufficient timing precision and resolution for use in psychological research. In the present study, we reexamined the timing accuracy of Windows 95/98, using (1) external chronometry, (2) methods to maximize the system priority of timing software, and (3) timing functions with a theoretical resolution of 1 msec or better. The suitability of various peripheral response devices and the relative timing accuracy of computers with microprocessors with different speeds were also explored. The results indicate that if software is properly controlled, submillisecond timing resolution is achievable under Windows with both old and new computers alike. Of the computer input devices tested, the standard parallel port was revealed as the most precise, and the serial mouse also exhibited sufficient timing precision for use in single-interval reaction time experiments.     

Experimental RunTime System: Software for developing and running reaction time experiments on IBM-compatible PCs

The Experimental RunTime System (ERTS) is a recent addition to the small collection of commercial software packages available for writing and running reaction time experiments on IBM-compatible PCs. Experiments are written using any text editor and a relatively small set of ERTS commands. Millisecond timing is provided by a software timer with no additional hardware requirements. All displays are in high-resolution VGA graphics. The Creative Labs Soundblaster card is supported in 16-bit mode, but is not required for simple tone generation. Voice-key support is available via the Soundblaster card. Keyboard, mouse, and external keys may be used as reaction keys, and the mouse or a joystick may be used as a tracking device. The stimulus-centered design and powerful display control commands of ERTS make it appropriate for developing a wide range of trial-based experiments.     

Software for generating psychological experiments

This review compares four software packages for generating and running psychological computer experiments. It aims to inform researchers' decisions about which software to choose for their lab. Four widely used general purpose commercial packages available for the Windows platform are considered: DirectRT, E-Prime, Inquisit, and SuperLab. An overview of each package is given, and the implementation of two test experiments is described. Packages are evaluated with regard to the amount of complexity reduction they provide for the task of programming an experiment and the variety of experimental designs they can accommodate.     

Spatial interference between gaze direction and gaze location: A study on the eye contact effect

Perceived gaze in faces is an important social cue that influences spatial orienting of attention. In three experiments, we examined whether the social relevance of gaze direction modulated spatial interference in response selection, using three different stimuli: faces, isolated eyes, and symbolic eyes (Experiments 1, 2, and 3, respectively). Each experiment employed a variant of the spatial Stroop paradigm in which face location and gaze direction were put into conflict. Results showed a reverse congruency effect between face location to the right or left of fixation and gaze direction only for stimuli with a social meaning to participants (Experiments 1 and 2). The opposite was observed for the nonsocial stimuli used in Experiment 3. Results are explained as facilitation in response to eye contact.     

Turn-taking interaction as a cooperative and co-creative process

In the present article, computer simulation of turn-taking interaction was studied and compared with psychological experiments such as the double TV experiment and synchronous imitation. By introducing the concepts of virtual agents, prediction error and adaptability, the simulation showed that turn-taking dynamics is a cooperative and co-creative process between two agents, which is in accordance with psychological findings. In particular, much attention is paid to styles of motion, as turn-taking with chaotic spatial pattern has developed to be sensitive to it.     

Spatial interference between gaze direction and gaze location: a study on the eye contact effect

Perceived gaze in faces is an important social cue that influences spatial orienting of attention. In three experiments, we examined whether the social relevance of gaze direction modulated spatial interference in response selection, using three different stimuli: faces, isolated eyes, and symbolic eyes (Experiments 1, 2, and 3, respectively). Each experiment employed a variant of the spatial Stroop paradigm in which face location and gaze direction were put into conflict. Results showed a reverse congruency effect between face location to the right or left of fixation and gaze direction only for stimuli with a social meaning to participants (Experiments 1 and 2). The opposite was observed for the nonsocial stimuli used in Experiment 3. Results are explained as facilitation in response to eye contact.     

An intelligent experimental station controller for human experimental psychology

The purpose of this paper is to describe the intelligent experimental station controller used in the extensible multiprogramming system for experimental psychology (EMPP) at the University of Washington. The EMPP system is an integrated hardware and software system designed to simplify the development of on-line psychological experiments. An intelligent graphics control system is one of the most important aspects of the system. The controller oversees the operation of eight independent experimental stations, each containing a cathode ray tube (CRT) terminal and a keyboard console. In addition to conventional computer interface functions, the controller contains an extensible hardware character generator which allows dynamic selection of the display character set. This paper describes both the hardware and software features of the system.     

Online webcam-based eye tracking in cognitive science: A first look

Online experimentation is emerging in many areas of cognitive psychology as a viable alternative or supplement to classical in-lab experimentation. While performance- and reaction-time-based paradigms are covered in recent studies, one instrument of cognitive psychology has not received much attention up to now: eye tracking. In this study, we used JavaScript-based eye tracking algorithms recently made available by Papoutsaki et al. (International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, 2016) together with consumer-grade webcams to investigate the potential of online eye tracking to benefit from the common advantages of online data conduction. We compared three in-lab conducted tasks (fixation, pursuit, and free viewing) with online-acquired data to analyze the spatial precision in the first two, and replicability of well-known gazing patterns in the third task. Our results indicate that in-lab data exhibit an offset of about 172 px (15% of screen size, 3.94° visual angle) in the fixation task, while online data is slightly less accurate (18% of screen size, 207 px), and shows higher variance. The same results were found for the pursuit task with a constant offset during the stimulus movement (211 px in-lab, 216 px online). In the free-viewing task, we were able to replicate the high attention attribution to eyes (28.25%) compared to other key regions like the nose (9.71%) and mouth (4.00%). Overall, we found web technology-based eye tracking to be suitable for all three tasks and are confident that the required hard- and software will be improved continuously for even more sophisticated experimental paradigms in all of cognitive psychology.     

Attentional tracking and inhibition of return in dynamic displays

Seven experiments were conducted to replicate, and extend, a finding by Tipper, Driver, and Weaver (1991). They reported evidence for dynamic, object-centered inhibition of return (IOR)—that is, coding of inhibition following a peripheral cue in coordinates that move with the previously cued object, providing a dynamic bias against reattending to that object. The present experiments used a variation of Posner and Cohen’s (1984) spatial cuing paradigm. Subjects responded manually (simple reaction time) to a luminance increment in one of two peripheral boxes, one of which had previously been cued (brightened). Experiments 1, 2, and 5 replicated the standard (environmental) IOR effect when the display was stationary. IOR was more marked for right-side targets than for left-side targets and tended to be affected by the compatibility between response hand and (cued) target position. However, when the boxes moved around the display center (Experiments 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7), contrary to Tipper et al., there was no evidence of dynamic, object-centered IOR. Rather, there was strong evidence of attentive tracking of whatever box happened to move from left to right, irrespective of the direction of its motion (clockwise or counterclockwise) and whether it was more likely to contain the target than the other (right-to-left moving) box. There was a tendency for left-to-right tracking to be more marked with right-hand responses, pointing to the existence of a dynamic stimulus-response compatibility effect. The implications of the present findings for the role of attentive tracking and IOR in dynamic scenes are discussed.     

Direction information in multiple object tracking is limited by a graded resource

Is multiple object tracking (MOT) limited by a fixed set of structures (slots), a limited but divisible resource, or both? Here, we answer this question by measuring the precision of the direction representation for tracked targets. The signature of a limited resource is a decrease in precision as the square root of the tracking load. The signature of fixed slots is a fixed precision. Hybrid models predict a rapid decrease to asymptotic precision. In two experiments, observers tracked moving disks and reported target motion direction by adjusting a probe arrow. We derived the precision of representation of correctly tracked targets using a mixture distribution analysis. Precision declined with target load according to the square-root law up to six targets. This finding is inconsistent with both pure and hybrid slot models. Instead, directional information in MOT appears to be limited by a continuously divisible resource.     

Sex Bias in Educational Software: The Effect of Designers' Stereotypes on the Software They Design1

Why is the computer more alluring to boys than it is to girls? One answer to this question is drawn from a social psychological model of human interaction. Social psychological research indicates that the expectations an individual has about another person can shape his or her interaction with that person. We hypothesized that, in a similar manner, the expectations software designers hold about the users of the software they design are central in determining the way the software they design interacts with the user. In order to test this notion, we had 43 educators with programming experience design software for either boys, girls, or students, and found that programs for girls were classifiable as “learning tools,” whereas programs for both boys and students were most like “games.” These differences occur as a function of the designers' expectations of the characteristics of potential users of the program and result in sex stereotyped software. We conclude that it is not the computer, or even the software, that is at the root of the sex bias in software, but the expectations and stereotypes of the designers of the software.     

Visuelle und räumliche Interferenzen beim Schlußfolgern

The present paper provides evidence for a differential involvement of spatial and visual mental resources in propositional and spatial reasoning. Two experiments consider the load on visuospatial working memory during reasoning. Subjects solve propositional and spatial reasoning tasks either alone or in combination with visual tracking. In the first experiment, subjects resource allocation strategy is manipulated. Independently of the allocation of mental resources to the reasoning tasks or the tracking task, tracking is found to interfere much more with spatial than with propositional reasoning. In the second experiment, propositional reasoning after a comprehension training is disrupted by a simultaneous secondary spatial task, but not by the visual tracking task.     

Control strategies when intercepting slowly moving targets

In 3 experiments, the authors investigated and described how individuals control manual interceptive movements to slowly moving targets. Participants (N = 8 in each experiment) used a computer mouse and a graphics tablet assembly to manually intercept targets moving across a computer screen toward a marked target zone. They moved the cursor so that it would arrive in the target zone simultaneously with the target. In Experiment 1, there was a range of target velocities, including some very slow targets. In Experiment 2, there were 2 movement distance conditions. Participants moved the cursor either the same distance as the target or twice as far. For both experiments, hand speed was found to be related to target speed, even for the very slowly moving targets and when the target-to-cursor distance ratios were altered, suggesting that participants may have used a strategy similar to tracking. To test that notion, in Experiment 3, the authors added a tracking task in which the participants tracked the target cursor into the target zone. Longer time was spent planning the interception movements; however, there was a longer time in deceleration for the tracking movements, suggesting that more visually guided trajectory updates were made in that condition. Thus, although participants scaled their interception movements to the cursor speed, they were using a different strategy than they used in tracking. It is proposed that during target interception, anticipatory mechanisms are used rather than the visual feedback mechanism used when tracking and when pointing to stationary targets.     

“Basic Black” in computer interfaces for psychological research

In this paper we present the specifications of a set of interface components able to connect a digital computer to any of a large number of psychological experiments We believe this set to be nearly inclusive of most of the needs of current computer controlled psychological research. The function and special requirements of each of the devices is described and a block diagram presented Specific details of electronics construction are not discussed     

Circle size and diameter tilt: A new look at integrality and separability

In six experiments using the speeded classification paradigm, we provide evidence that the ostensibly “separable” dimensions of size and orientation can produce patterns of either separability or asymmetric configurality, depending on the spatial arrangement of the stimuli. In all experiments, subjects classified large or small circles contairting a single line in one of two possible orientations. When the line touched the circle’s perimeter, thereby defining the diameter of the circle (Experiments 1–4), asymmetric configurality obtained: Variations in size interfered with classification by orientation, but variations in orientation did not interfere with classification by size, and redundancy gain was weak or absent. When the lines fell completely within (i.e., did not touch) the circles (Experiments 5 and 6), the results were consistent with separability: There was neither redundancy gain nor interference. Taken together, the results add to the growing body of evidence that classification of specific dimensional pairs as separable or integral may be less feasible than identifying the more general conditions that increase or decrease the psychological salience of dimensional structures and facilitate or interfere with selection of optimal processing strategies.     

Mousetrap: An integrated,open-source mouse-tracking package

Mouse-tracking – the analysis of mouse movements in computerized experiments – is becoming increasingly popular in the cognitive sciences. Mouse movements are taken as an indicator of commitment to or conflict between choice options during the decision process. Using mouse-tracking, researchers have gained insight into the temporal development of cognitive processes across a growing number of psychological domains. In the current article, we present software that offers easy and convenient means of recording and analyzing mouse movements in computerized laboratory experiments. In particular, we introduce and demonstrate the mousetrap plugin that adds mouse-tracking to OpenSesame, a popular general-purpose graphical experiment builder. By integrating with this existing experimental software, mousetrap allows for the creation of mouse-tracking studies through a graphical interface, without requiring programming skills. Thus, researchers can benefit from the core features of a validated software package and the many extensions available for it (e.g., the integration with auxiliary hardware such as eye-tracking, or the support of interactive experiments). In addition, the recorded data can be imported directly into the statistical programming language R using the mousetrap package, which greatly facilitates analysis. Mousetrap is cross-platform, open-source and available free of charge from https://github.com/pascalkieslich/mousetrap-os.     

Dynamic action in virtual environments: constraints on the accessibility of action knowledge in children and adults

In a series of three experiments, we probed the accessibility of action knowledge in different versions of a virtual environment (VE) with 7-year-old children and adults. Using a PHANToM haptic interface, participants performed a virtual throwing task in which they tried to propel a ball from a table to hit a target on the ground. In Experiments 1 and 2, the virtual scene was presented on a computer monitor, and, in Experiment 3, it was projected by using a video projector so that the vertical and horizontal dimensions and the spatial location of the VE corresponded to the real-world dimensions. Results indicate that action knowledge is accessible even in a nonimmersive VE, but also suggest that the need to recalibrate perceptual-motor mappings constrains the accessibility of this kind of intuitive knowledge.