Temporal characteristics of overt attentional behavior during category learning

Many theories of category learning incorporate mechanisms for selective attention, typically implemented as attention weights that change on a trial-by-trial basis. This is because there is relatively little data on within-trial changes in attention. We used eye tracking and mouse tracking as fine-grained measures of attention in three complex visual categorization tasks to investigate temporal patterns in overt attentional behavior within individual categorization decisions. In Experiments 1 and 2, we recorded participants’ eye movements while they performed three different categorization tasks. We extended previous research by demonstrating that not only are participants less likely to fixate irrelevant features, but also, when they do, these fixations are shorter than fixations to relevant features. We also found that participants’ fixation patterns show increasingly consistent temporal patterns. Participants were faster, although no more accurate, when their fixation sequences followed a consistent temporal structure. In Experiment 3, we replicated these findings in a task where participants used mouse movements to uncover features. Overall, we showed that there are important temporal regularities in information sampling during category learning that cannot be accounted for by existing models. These can be used to supplement extant models for richer predictions of how information is attended to during the buildup to a categorization decision.     

Gaze stability of observers watching Op Art pictures

It has been the matter of some debate why we can experience vivid dynamic illusions when looking at static pictures composed from simple black and white patterns. The impression of illusory motion is particularly strong when viewing some of the works of 'Op Artists, such as Bridget Riley's painting Fall. Explanations of the illusory motion have ranged from retinal to cortical mechanisms, and an important role has been attributed to eye movements. To assess the possible contribution of eye movements to the illusory-motion percept we studied the strength of the illusion under different viewing conditions, and analysed the gaze stability of observers viewing the Riley painting and control patterns that do not produce the illusion. Whereas the illusion was reduced, but not abolished, when watching the painting through a pinhole, which reduces the effects of accommodation, it was not perceived in flash afterimages, suggesting an important role for eye movements in generating the illusion for this image. Recordings of eye movements revealed an abundance of small involuntary saccades when looking at the Riley pattern, despite the fact that gaze was kept within the dedicated fixation region. The frequency and particular characteristics of these rapid eye movements can vary considerably between different observers, but, although there was a tendency for gaze stability to deteriorate while viewing a Riley painting, there was no significant difference in saccade frequency between the stimulus and control patterns. Theoretical considerations indicate that such small image displacements can generate patterns of motion signals in a motion-detector network, which may serve as a simple and sufficient, but not necessarily exclusive, explanation for the illusion. Why such image displacements lead to perceptual results with a group of Op Art and similar patterns, but remain invisible for other stimuli, is discussed.     

The obligatory effects of memory on eye movements

Previous work has shown that eye movement behaviour is affected by previous experience, such that alterations in viewing patterns can be observed to previously viewed compared to novel displays. The current work addresses the extent to which such effects of memory on eye movement behaviour are obligatory; that is, we examined whether prior experience could alter subsequent eye movement behaviour under a variety of testing conditions, for stimuli that varied on the nature of the prior exposure. While task demands influenced whether viewing was predominantly directed to the novel versus familiar faces, viewing of the familiar faces was distinguished from viewing of the novel faces, regardless of whether the task required incidental encoding or intentional retrieval. Changes in scanning of previously viewed over novel faces emerged early in viewing; in particular, viewing duration of the first fixation to the familiar faces was often significantly different from the duration of the first fixation directed to the novel faces, regardless of whether prior exposure was solely in the context of the experiment or due to real-world exposure. These findings suggest that representations maintained in memory may be retrieved and compared with presented information obligatorily.     

The obligatory effects of memory on eye movements

Previous work has shown that eye movement behaviour is affected by previous experience, such that alterations in viewing patterns can be observed to previously viewed compared to novel displays. The current work addresses the extent to which such effects of memory on eye movement behaviour are obligatory; that is, we examined whether prior experience could alter subsequent eye movement behaviour under a variety of testing conditions, for stimuli that varied on the nature of the prior exposure. While task demands influenced whether viewing was predominantly directed to the novel versus familiar faces, viewing of the familiar faces was distinguished from viewing of the novel faces, regardless of whether the task required incidental encoding or intentional retrieval. Changes in scanning of previously viewed over novel faces emerged early in viewing; in particular, viewing duration of the first fixation to the familiar faces was often significantly different from the duration of the first fixation directed to the novel faces, regardless of whether prior exposure was solely in the context of the experiment or due to real-world exposure. These findings suggest that representations maintained in memory may be retrieved and compared with presented information obligatorily.     

Understanding Personality through Patterns of Daily Socializing: Applying Recurrence Quantification Analysis to Naturalistically Observed Intensive Longitudinal Social Interaction Data

Ambulatory assessment methods provide a rich approach for studying daily behaviour. Too often, however, these data are analysed in terms of averages, neglecting patterning of this behaviour over time. This paper describes recurrence quantification analysis (RQA), a non-linear time series technique for analysing dynamic systems, as a method for analysing patterns of categorical, intensive longitudinal ambulatory assessment data. We apply RQA to objectively assessed social behaviour (e.g. talking to another person) coded from the Electronically Activated Recorder. Conceptual interpretations of RQA parameters, and an analysis of Electronically Activated Recorder data in adults going through a marital separation, are provided. Using machine learning techniques to avoid model overfitting, we find that adding RQA parameters to models that include just average amount of time spent talking (a static measure) improves prediction of four Big Five personality traits: extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness, and openness. Our strongest results suggest that a combination of average amount of time spent talking and four RQA parameters yield an R² = .09 for neuroticism. Neuroticism is shown to be associated with shorter periods of extended conversation (periods of at least 12 minutes), demonstrating the utility of RQA to identify new relationships between personality and patterns of daily behaviour. Materials: https://osf.io/5nkr9/ . © 2020 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Auditory temporal pattern learning by songbirds using maximal stimulus diversity and minimal repetition

The sequential patterning of complex acoustic elements is a salient feature of bird song and other forms of vocal communication. For European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris), a songbird species, individual vocal recognition is improved when the temporal organization of song components (called motifs) follows the normal patterns of each singer. This sensitivity to natural motif sequences may underlie observations that starlings can also learn more complex, unnatural motif patterns. Alternatively, it has been proposed that the apparent acquisition of abstract motif patterning rules instead reflects idiosyncrasies of the training conditions used in prior experiments. That is, that motif patterns are learned not by recognizing differences in temporal structures between patterns, but by identifying serendipitous features (e.g., acoustical cues) in the small sets of training and testing stimuli used. Here, we investigate this possibility, by asking whether starlings can learn to discriminate between two arbitrary motif patterns, when unique examples of each pattern are presented on every trial. Our results demonstrate that abstract motif patterning rules can be acquired from trial-unique stimuli and suggest that such training leads to better pattern generalization compared with training with much smaller stimulus subsets.     

Eye fixations are influenced by the distribution of information within words

Reader's eye movements were monitored while they inspected isolated words in preparation for a synonym judgement task. The 10-letter words appeared on a screen near the point of fixation, with the first fixation being imposed near the beginning, or the centre, or the ending of the word. The words themselves had uneven distributions of information, in that the beginnings or the endings contained common sequences of letters in English. Three types of words were used: those with very redundant endings (e.g., yearningly), with moderately redundant endings (e.g., varnishing), and with moderately redundant beginnings (e.g., contravene). Redundancy was defined in terms of the total number of words in English which possess that particular sequence of five letters as the beginning or the ending. The experiments asked whether the convenient viewing location within a word varied according to the distribution of information, and whether the extent of redundancy in a word ending is reflected in the distribution of visual attention given to the word. The results were analysed separately for those cases where the reader made just two fixations upon the word before moving to the synonym task, and for those cases where the reader made exactly three fixations. These were the dominant fixation patterns. Evidence for the notion of a convenient viewing position consisted of long first fixations (when there were just two fixations), when this fixation was near the centre of the word. The distribution of information within the words did not influence the duration of the first fixation, although the duration of the gaze within each half-word did increase when more informative letter sequences were being inspected. The extent of redundancy was also seen to influence the inspection patterns, when a comparison was made between the two types of words with redundant endings. Words with very redundant endings received fewer fixations when the first fixation was at the beginning, and for words gaining exactly two fixations, the second fixation was shorter if the word had a very redundant ending.     

Spatial frequency filtering and the direct control of fixation durations during scene viewing

The present study employed a saccade-contingent change paradigm to investigate the effect of spatial frequency filtering on fixation durations during scene viewing. Subjects viewed grayscale scenes while encoding them for a later memory test. During randomly chosen saccades, the scene was replaced with an alternate version that remained throughout the critical fixation that followed. In Experiment 1, during the critical fixation, the scene could be changed to high-pass and low-pass spatial frequency filtered versions. Under both conditions, fixation durations increased, and the low-pass condition produced a greater effect than the high-pass condition. In subsequent experiments, we manipulated the familiarity of scene information during the critical fixation by flipping the filtered scenes upside down or horizontally. Under these conditions, we observed lengthening of fixation durations but no difference between the high-pass and low-pass conditions, suggesting that the filtering effect is related to the mismatch between information extracted within the critical fixation and the ongoing scene representation in memory. We also conducted control experiments that tested the effect of changes to scene orientation (Experiment 2a) and the addition of color to a grayscale scene (Experiment 2b). Fixation distribution analysis suggested two effects on the distribution fixation durations: a fast-acting effect that was sensitive to all transsaccadic changes tested and a later effect in the tail of the distribution that was likely tied to the processing of scene information. These findings are discussed in the context of theories of oculomotor control during scene viewing.     

Gaze behavior in face comparison: The roles of sex, task, and symmetry

Knowing where people look on a face provides an objective insight into the information entering the visual system and into cognitive processes involved in face perception. In the present study, we recorded eye movements of human participants while they compared two faces presented simultaneously. Observers’ viewing behavior and performance was examined in two tasks of parametrically varying difficulty, using two types of face stimuli (sex morphs and identity morphs). The frequency, duration, and temporal sequence of fixations on previously defined areas of interest in the faces were analyzed. As was expected, viewing behavior and performance varied with difficulty. Interestingly, observers compared predominantly the inner halves of the face stimuli—a result inconsistent with the general left-hemiface bias reported for single faces. Furthermore, fixation patterns and performance differed between tasks, independently of stimulus type. Moreover, we found differences in male and female participants’ viewing behaviors, but only when the sex of the face stimuli was task relevant.     

Capturing non-linear temporally embedded processes in organizations using recurrence quantification analysis

ABSTRACT

Despite the growing consensus that the majority of psychological phenomena at work are temporally embedded and highly dynamic, existing research is often based on simplified theoretical and methodological models, which take limited account of process dynamics and especially non-linear growth trajectories. In this paper, we highlight the potentials of using recurrence quantifications analysis (RQA) and an extension of RQA – cross-recurrence quantification analysis (CRQA) – for researching process dynamics in organizations. (C)RQA is a powerful technique that can be used to both visualize and quantify time-series data such as repeated measurements of psychological states or sequentially coded dyadic and team interactions. To illustrate the manifold opportunities of (C)RQA, we present three application examples focusing on individuals as systems, dyads as systems, and teams as systems. Specifically, we highlight how (C)RQA can be applied to individual diary data, to leader-follower communication dynamics observed during annual appraisal interviews, and to high-density coded team interactions observed during organizational meetings. We discuss the strengths and limitations of (C)RQA and provide recommendations for researchers interested in using the method.     

A comparison of discrimination and identification of vibrotactile patterns

Both discrimination and identification tasks have been used to assess subjects' abilities to perceive vibratory spatial patterns presented to the skin. The present study examined discrimination and identification performance under comparable conditions. In Experiment 1, subjects attempted to discriminate a pair of patterns on some blocks of trials and to identify both members of a pair on other blocks. For both tasks, the time between the members of the pair was varied. Discrimination performance could be predicted accurately from identification data. Analysis of performance on identification trials indicated that subjects used discriminability information to identify pairs. In Experiment 2, discrimination and identification were compared when the temporal separation between patterns was fixed and a masking stimulus followed each pattern after a variable delay. Results suggest that temporal masking, rather than the time available for processing pattern information, is the major limitation in both discrimination and identification of sequences of tactile patterns.     

Hemispheric interaction,task complexity,and emotional valence: Evidence from naturalistic images

Two experiments extend the ecological validity of tests of hemispheric interaction in three novel ways. First, we present a broad class of naturalistic stimuli that have not yet been used in tests of hemispheric interaction. Second, we test whether probable differences in complexity within the class of stimuli are supported by outcomes from measures of hemispheric interaction. Third, we use a procedure that presents target stimuli at fixation rather than at a lateralized location in order to more closely approximate normal viewing behavior.     

Functional neuroimaging studies of category specificity in object recognition: a critical review and meta-analysis

Functional neuroimaging studies in which the cortical organization for semantic knowledge has been addressed have revealed interesting dissociations in the recognition of different object categories, such as faces, natural objects, and manufactured objects. The present paper critically reviews these studies and performs a meta-analysis of stereotactic coordinates to determine whether category membership predicts patterns of brain activation across different studies. This meta-analysis revealed that, in the ventral temporal cortex, recognition of manufactured objects activates more medial aspects of the fusiform gyrus, as compared with natural object or face recognition. Face recognition activates more inferior aspects of the ventral temporal cortex, as compared with manufactured object recognition. The recognition task used—viewing, matching, or naming—also predicted brain activation patterns. Specifically, matching tasks recruit more inferior occipital regions than do either naming or viewing tasks, whereas naming tasks recruit more anterior ventral temporal sites than do either viewing or matching tasks. These findings indicate that the cognitive demands of a particular recognition task are as predictive of cortical activation patterns as is category membership.     

The influence of social and symbolic cues on observers' gaze behaviour

Research has shown that social and symbolic cues presented in isolation and at fixation have strong effects on observers, but it is unclear how cues compare when they are presented away from fixation and embedded in natural scenes. We here compare the effects of two types of social cue (gaze and pointing gestures) and one type of symbolic cue (arrow signs) on eye movements of observers under two viewing conditions (free viewing vs. a memory task). The results suggest that social cues are looked at more quickly, for longer and more frequently than the symbolic arrow cues. An analysis of saccades initiated from the cue suggests that the pointing cue leads to stronger cueing than the gaze and the arrow cue. While the task had only a weak influence on gaze orienting to the cues, stronger cue following was found for free viewing compared to the memory task.     

Extending task analytic models of graph-based reasoning: A cognitive model of problem solving with Cartesian graphs in ACT-R/PM

Models of graph-based reasoning have typically accounted for the variation in problem solving performance with different graph types in terms of a task analysis of the problem relative to the particular visual properties of each graph type [e.g., Human Computer Interaction 8 (1993) 353; Proceedings of the Twenty-first Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ (1999) 531]. This approach has been used to explain response time and accuracy differences in experimental situations where data are averaged over experimental conditions. An experiment is reported in which participants’ eye movements were recorded while they were solving various problems with different graph types. The eye movement data revealed fine grained fixation patterns that are not captured by current analyses based on optimal fixation sequences. It is argued that these patterns reveal the effects of working memory limitations during the time course of problem solving. An ACT-R/PM model of the experiment is described in which a similar pattern of eye fixations is produced as a natural consequence of the decay in activation of perceptual chunks over time.     

At first glance: Accessibility of the physical attractiveness stereotype

This research investigated two related questions. First, do stereotyped attribute judgments emerge based on attractiveness information presented under severely restricted viewing conditions? Second, will similar biased judgments be obtained for the same targets when subjects are permitted unrestricted viewing time? Experiment 1 found that male and female Caucasian college students were able to differentiate between levels of attractiveness of both males and females on the basis of cue information contained in a single brief glance (100 ms) at a target. Subjects made stereotyped attribute judgments of targets' femininity/masculinity, job suitability, and cooperativeness based on this information under restricted and unrestricted (Experiment 2) conditions. Subjects' eye fixation patterns, recorded during the second experiment, revealed that men and women differed in the way they explored targets, but their differing search strategies had no significant effect on physical attractiveness stereotyping. Results suggest that perception of differential attractiveness occurs automatically with the initial encoding of sensory data.     

Multifractal roots of suprapostural dexterity

Visually guided postural control emerges in response to task constraints. Task constraints generate physiological fluctuations that foster the exploration of available sensory information at many scales. Temporally correlated fluctuations quantified using fractal and multifractal metrics have been shown to carry perceptual information across the body. The risk of temporally correlated fluctuations is that stable sway appears to depend on a healthy balance of standard deviation (SD): too much or too little SD entails destabilization of posture. This study presses on the visual guidance of posture by prompting participants to quietly stand and fixate at distances within, less than, and beyond comfortable viewing distance. Manipulations of the visual precision demands associated with fixating nearer and farther than comfortable viewing distance reveals an adaptive relationship between SD and temporal correlations in postural fluctuations. Changing the viewing distance of the fixation target shows that increases in temporal correlations and SD predict subsequent reductions in each other. These findings indicate that the balance of SD within stable bounds may depend on a tendency for temporal correlations to self-correct across time. Notably, these relationships became stronger with greater distance from the most comfortable viewing and reaching distance, suggesting that this self-correcting relationship allows the visual layout to press the postural system into a poise for engaging with objects and events. Incorporating multifractal analysis showed that all effects attributable to monofractal evidence were better attributed to multifractal evidence of nonlinear interactions across scales. These results offer a glimpse of how current nonlinear dynamical models of self-correction may play out in biological goal-oriented behavior. We interpret these findings as part of the growing evidence that multifractal nonlinearity is a modeling strategy that resonates strongly with ecological-psychological approaches to perception and action.     

The influence of dimensionality on eye fixations.

Eye fixation patterns were explored for sixty adult subjects, each of whom viewed one of three stimuli, either in a three-dimensional model format or in a two-dimensional photographic format. The stimuli consisted of one symmetrical and two asymmetrical color representational drawings displayed in the form of a photograph or of a model. Total fixation times (in ms) were computed for seven portions of each stimulus: top, bottom, left, right, foreground, middle ground, and background. Results indicated that for all stimuli, subjects viewing the 3-D model spent significantly more time fixating the foreground and significantly less time fixating the background than subjects viewing the 2-D photograph. For the two asymmetrical stimuli subjects in the two groups differed significantly in their fixation patterns for the left/right variables. It was concluded that eye fixation patterns vary as a function of dimensionality.     

Translating visual information into action predictions: Statistical learning in action and nonaction contexts

Humans are sensitive to the statistical regularities in action sequences carried out by others. In the present eyetracking study, we investigated whether this sensitivity can support the prediction of upcoming actions when observing unfamiliar action sequences. In two between-subjects conditions, we examined whether observers would be more sensitive to statistical regularities in sequences performed by a human agent versus self-propelled ‘ghost’ events. Secondly, we investigated whether regularities are learned better when they are associated with contingent effects. Both implicit and explicit measures of learning were compared between agent and ghost conditions. Implicit learning was measured via predictive eye movements to upcoming actions or events, and explicit learning was measured via both uninstructed reproduction of the action sequences and verbal reports of the regularities. The findings revealed that participants, regardless of condition, readily learned the regularities and made correct predictive eye movements to upcoming events during online observation. However, different patterns of explicit-learning outcomes emerged following observation: Participants were most likely to re-create the sequence regularities and to verbally report them when they had observed an actor create a contingent effect. These results suggest that the shift from implicit predictions to explicit knowledge of what has been learned is facilitated when observers perceive another agent’s actions and when these actions cause effects. These findings are discussed with respect to the potential role of the motor system in modulating how statistical regularities are learned and used to modify behavior.     

True three-dimensional displays that allow viewers to dynamically shift accommodation, bringing objects displayed at different viewing distances into and out of focus.

Under natural viewing conditions, viewers do not just passively perceive. Instead, they dynamically scan the visual scene by shifting their eye fixation and focus between objects at different viewing distances. In doing so, the oculomotor processes of accommodation (eye focus) and vergence (angle between lines of sight of two eyes) must be shifted synchronously to place new objects in sharp focus in the center of each retina. Accordingly, nature has reflexively linked accommodation and vergence, such that a change in one process automatically drives a matching change in the other. Conventional stereoscopic displays force viewers to try to decouple these processes, because while they must dynamically vary vergence angle to view objects at different stereoscopic distances, they must keep accommodation at a fixed distance--or else the entire display will slip out of focus. This decoupling generates eye fatigue and compromises image quality when viewing such displays. In an effort to solve this accommodation/vergence mismatch problem, we have built various prototype displays that can vary the focus of objects at different distances in a displayed scene to match vergence and stereoscopic retinal disparity demands and better simulate natural viewing conditions. By adjusting the focus of individual objects in a scene to match their stereoscopic retinal disparity, the cues to ocular accommodation and vergence are brought into agreement. As in natural vision, the viewer brings different objects into focus by shifting accommodation. As the mismatch between accommodation and vergence is decreased, natural viewing conditions are better simulated and eye fatigue should decrease.