Macintosh analogue of the rotary pursuit task

Pursuit tracking, a perceptual motor-skill task, has had wide application in many areas of psychology. The task is usually administered with a mechanical device in which subjects try to maintain a contact between a stylus and a disk on a rotating platter. A pursuit-tracking task that can be administered on a Macintosh computer is described. Subjects try to keep a crosshair cursor on top of a moving circular target. The cursor can be controlled by commonly used Macintosh ADB devices such as a joystick. The computer version has several important advantages: it offers more task flexibility and more accurate dependent measures of performance, and it is inexpensive.     

眼动交互中边框和视标对作业绩效的影响研究

研究人计算机界面设计中的眼动交互反馈方式,为优化基于视线追踪技术的人计算机界面设计提供工效学依据。12名被试在交互对象有无边框提示和当前注视位置有无视标反馈的四种组合条件下,通过眼动交互完成目标选择任务,由计算机自动记录作业时间、选择错误和超时数目。结果发现,有无当前注视位置的视标反馈对作业时间有显著影响,有视标反馈可加速目标字母的搜索与定位过程和目标激活过程,由视标反馈所产生的作业时间下降,主要由目标定位时间的缩短所致;边框提示对用户的作业绩效无显著影响。根据上述结果可得以下结论:对当前注视位置提供视标反馈是一种有效的反馈方式,基于视线追踪的人机交互系统应为用户提供这种反馈信息。     

Colour correspondence effects between controlled objects and targets

It is increasingly popular to use movement trajectories as a measure of mental processes related to task performance. Often this is accomplished by moving a cursor to a target on a computer screen. However, the relation between features of the cursor and the targets is rarely, if at all, considered. In five experiments, we examined whether moving a cursor to a target was affected by the relation between their colours, even when this relation was task irrelevant. In Experiments 1–3, a mouse-controlled cursor was moved to one of two coloured targets. Results showed colour correspondence effects in latency to initiate a response, duration of movement times, and movement trajectories when the relationship between cursor and target colours was task relevant (Experiment 1) and when only the cursor colour was task relevant (Experiment 2), but not when only the target was task relevant (Experiment 3). Follow-up experiments using single targets showed that colour correspondence effects occurred as long as attention was dedicated to the colour of the cursor, even when neither the cursor nor the target colour was relevant to selecting the correct movement (Experiments 4 and 5). Furthermore, when the relation between cursor and target colours is task irrelevant, colour correspondence effects for response initiation times are uncorrelated with those for movement times and movement trajectories. We interpret the observed correspondence effect in terms of response coding, although attention cueing may also play a role, and suggest that greater consideration of cursor features is needed when examining movement trajectories in choice reaction tasks.     

Colour correspondence effects between controlled objects and targets

It is increasingly popular to use movement trajectories as a measure of mental processes related to task performance. Often this is accomplished by moving a cursor to a target on a computer screen. However, the relation between features of the cursor and the targets is rarely, if at all, considered. In five experiments, we examined whether moving a cursor to a target was affected by the relation between their colours, even when this relation was task irrelevant. In Experiments 1-3, a mouse-controlled cursor was moved to one of two coloured targets. Results showed colour correspondence effects in latency to initiate a response, duration of movement times, and movement trajectories when the relationship between cursor and target colours was task relevant (Experiment 1) and when only the cursor colour was task relevant (Experiment 2), but not when only the target was task relevant (Experiment 3). Follow-up experiments using single targets showed that colour correspondence effects occurred as long as attention was dedicated to the colour of the cursor, even when neither the cursor nor the target colour was relevant to selecting the correct movement (Experiments 4 and 5). Furthermore, when the relation between cursor and target colours is task irrelevant, colour correspondence effects for response initiation times are uncorrelated with those for movement times and movement trajectories. We interpret the observed correspondence effect in terms of response coding, although attention cueing may also play a role, and suggest that greater consideration of cursor features is needed when examining movement trajectories in choice reaction tasks.     

光标显示模式对视线交互绩效与用户体验的影响研究

显示与反馈方式是人机交互的重要设计要素。在视线交互这种自然人机交互技术中,视线光标的呈现方式一直是研究的焦点。本研究选取基于凝视点击范式的文本输入任务,设计了2（有无视点锁定功能）×2（有无实时注视点）被试内实验,探讨光标显示模式对视线交互绩效与用户体验的影响。结果：视点锁定功能可以提升交互绩效和用户体验,有无实时注视点对交互绩效无显著影响;输入速度的提升主要在于视点锁定功能能够让被试的视线更快地转移到下一个目标上。研究结果可为视线光标的设计与应用提供借鉴。     

The Effects of Screen Refresh Rate on Editing Operations Using a Computer Mouse Pointing Device

Two experiments are described in which subjects attempted to locate a specified target word in a short text using a cursor controlled by a computer mouse pointing device. The task was performed at screen refresh rates of 50 Hz, 75 Hz, and 100 Hz. In Experiment 1, both the timing and accuracy of the cursor movement was influenced by screen pulsation. During the early phase of the movement, performance was worse at 100 Hz, whereas in the later, visually guided phase, performance was worse at 50 Hz. In Experiment 2, eye movements were recorded as the task was performed. The results show that the cursor movement is typically preceded by an eye movement and that subjects do not directly inspect the cursor in the early stages of its movement. In the later phase of the movement the cursor is tracked for considerable periods of time. The data suggest that adverse effects of screen pulsation on the control of cursor movement are inherited from penalties incurred during the process of target computation but may also be influenced by concurrent eye movements.     

The undershoot bias: learning to act optimally under uncertainty

Abstract - Learning in stochastic environments is increasingly viewed as an important psychological ability. To extend these results from a perceptual to a motor domain, we tested whether participants could learn to solve a stochastic minimal-time task using exploratory learning. The task involved moving a cursor on a computer screen to a target. We systematically varied the degree of random error in movement in three different conditions; each condition had a distinct time-optimal solution. We found that participants approximated the optimal solutions with practice. The results show that adults are sensitive to the stochastic structure of a task and naturally adjust the magnitude of an undershoot bias to the particular movement error of a task.     

New methodology applied to bonnet macaques (Macaca radiata) to address some contradictory evidence on manual asymmetries in Old World monkeys

Seven bonnet macaques (Macaca radiata) with strong hand preferences in performing a computer-generated joystick task that required directing a cursor to contact a small stationary target on a monitor were given comparable experience with each hand on the task over a 5-week period. Hand use was randomly restricted to either only the left or only the right hand across trials by automatically inputting into a computer the unique identification numbers of microchips implanted in the forearms of each macaque. Subsequent presentation of a novel task requiring maintenance of contact between a cursor and a moving target revealed no performance difference between preferred and nonpreferred hands or between left and right hands on the basis of number of errors or time to complete the task. The findings suggest that the strong hand preference for these tasks does not derive from a performance advantage for the preferred hand.     

Nonlinear visuomotor transformations: Locus and modularity

Participants in two experiments moved a mouse-like device to the right to move a cursor on a computer screen to a target position. The cursor was invisible during motion but reappeared at the end of each movement. The relationship between the amplitudes of the cursor movement and the mouse movement was exponential in Experiment 1 and logarithmic in Experiment 2 for two groups of participants, while it was linear for the control groups in both experiments. The results of both experiments indicate that participants adjusted well to the external transformation by developing an internal model that approximated the inverse of the external transformation. We introduce a method to determine the locus of the internal model. It indicates that the internal model works at a processing level that either preceded specification of movement amplitude, or had become part of movement amplitude specification. Limited awareness of the nonlinear mouse–cursor relationship and the fact that a working-memory task had little effect on performance suggest that the internal model is modular and not dependent on high-level cognitive processes.     

视线辅助气泡光标精确定位的工效学研究

针对视线交互技术中的点击定位问题,本研究在视线辅助点击技术的基础上引入气泡光标技术,提出了视线辅助气泡光标技术,并考察了该技术在精确定位方面的作用。结果显示:(1)视线辅助气泡光标的点击操作绩效显著优于手控尖点光标,并且时间知觉更低;(2)视线辅助气泡光标的点击操作时间显著慢于手控气泡光标,并且主观努力程度更高;3)目标位置对三种光标类型的操作绩效均有显著影响,且对视线辅助气泡光标的影响作用最大。本研究的结果为视线辅助点击技术的优化提供了新思路。     

Metacognitive control of action: Preparation for aiming reflects knowledge of Fitts’s law

Metacognitive control has been studied in intellectual skills but has not yet been studied in perceptual-motor skills. To probe metacognitive control in a perceptual-motor context, we developed a task in which participants chose the position of a cursor relative to two targets. One of the two targets was randomly erased. Participants tried to move the cursor into the remaining target within a limited amount of time. The target widths were varied, making the difficulty of moving to either target dependent on the chosen cursor position. Predictions were based on the assumption that participants could use an analogue of Fitts’s law to choose optimal positions. The fit between observed and predicted positions was excellent, suggesting that participants used information about movement speed-accuracy trade-offs to guide movement preparation. The findings suggest that metacognition applies to both perceptual-motor skills and intellectual skills, and that these two domains are more similar than traditionally assumed.     

探测任务知觉负荷对注意促进效应的影响

双任务交互作用模型认为探测任务知觉负荷对注意促进效应(the attentional boost effect,ABE)不存在影响。基于对这一观点的质疑,本研究以场景图片为实验材料,结合学习-测验经典范式和目标探测任务,实验一探讨高、低知觉负荷探测任务对ABE的影响; 实验二验证探测任务知觉负荷对 ABE 的影响是否受探测目标与非目标相似性调节,进一步验证双任务交互作用模型的观点。结果发现,低知觉负荷探测任务中存在ABE,但高知觉负荷探测任务中却不存在; 探测目标与非目标不相似条件下的高知觉负荷探测任务中不存在ABE,但相似条件下的高知觉负荷探测任务中依然存在。由此可见,探测任务知觉负荷对ABE存在影响,且这一影响受探测目标与非目标相似性调节,双任务交互作用模型的观点不合理。     

Mechanisms of priming of pop-out: Stored representations or feature-gain modulations?

Previous research has shown that repetition of a task-relevant attention-capturing feature facilitates popout search. This priming of pop-out effect is due to some residual memory from recent trials. We explore two possible mechanisms of priming of pop-out: a top-down attentional benefit from a memory of the previous target representation that is stored in visual short-term memory (VSTM) and a bottom-up change of attentional gains from perceptual features of the previously attended target. We manipulated participants’ ability to form a memory trace in VSTM by occupying it with a distractor task and found that occupying VSTM did not interfere with priming of pop-out. We next manipulated attentional gains associated with feature values by inserting an irrelevant task between pop-out searches. We found that the color of the target from the intervening perceptual task influenced pop-out search: The current pop-out search was facilitated when the intervening task’s target matched the target color of the pop-out search. These results suggest that priming of pop-out might not be due to a memory trace of the previous targets in VSTM but, rather, might be due to changes in attentional control based on priming from relatively low-level feature representations of previously attended objects.     

Nonlinear visuomotor transformations: locus and modularity

Participants in two experiments moved a mouse-like device to the right to move a cursor on a computer screen to a target position. The cursor was invisible during motion but reappeared at the end of each movement. The relationship between the amplitudes of the cursor movement and the mouse movement was exponential in Experiment 1 and logarithmic in Experiment 2 for two groups of participants, while it was linear for the control groups in both experiments. The results of both experiments indicate that participants adjusted well to the external transformation by developing an internal model that approximated the inverse of the external transformation. We introduce a method to determine the locus of the internal model. It indicates that the internal model works at a processing level that either preceded specification of movement amplitude, or had become part of movement amplitude specification. Limited awareness of the nonlinear mouse-cursor relationship and the fact that a working-memory task had little effect on performance suggest that the internal model is modular and not dependent on high-level cognitive processes.     

When causality does not imply correlation: more spadework at the foundations of scientific psychology

Experimental research in psychology is based on an open-loop causal model which assumes that sensory input causes behavioral output. This model was tested in a tracking experiment where participants were asked to control a cursor, keeping it aligned with a target by moving a mouse to compensate for disturbances of differing difficulty. Since cursor movements (inputs) are the only observable cause of mouse movements (outputs), the open-loop model predicts that there will be a correlation between input and output that increases as tracking performance improves. In fact, the correlation between sensory input and motor output is very low regardless of the quality of tracking performance; causality, in terms of the effect of input on output, does not seem to imply correlation in this situation. This surprising result can be explained by a closed-loop model which assumes that input is causing output while output is causing input.     

Pew (1966) Revisited: Acquisition of Hierarchical Control as a Function of Observational Practice

Two experiments are reported that utilized a task similar to one developed by Pew (1966) in which subjects controlled the position of a continually moving cursor by alternately pressing two response keys. Experiments I and 2 replicated Pew's findings. That is, over acquisition trials, subjects exhibited an increase in their rate of responding, an increase in response rhythmicity, and a reduction in error. After a 24-hr retention interval, it was demonstrated that the rate and rhythmicity of responding for the observation practice groups were indistinguishable from those of the actual practice groups. In general, however, as the demands of the task (cursor acceleration rate and/or target amplitude) were increased, there was a tendency for the absolute differences in error between the actual and observation practice groups to increase, These data support the notion that subjects may choose appropriate response/control schemes (i.e., open-loop and hierarchical control) without actual practice experiences.     

Inhibition of return in perception and action

Inhibition of return (IOR) refers to the delay in responses to previously cued locations. Whether IOR influences perceptual and/or motor processes has been controversial. To determine IOR effects on perception and action, this study examined IOR in spatially directed hand reaching (Experiment 1) and spatial localization of targets with a mouse cursor (i.e., an indirect visuomotor mapping/perceptual task; Experiment 2). The reaction times showed delayed responses for targets appearing within the whole cued hemifield for both tasks. However, hypometric spatial biases were consistently found only with directed reaching. Spatial biases in the mouse localization task were indirectly influenced by IOR and distinct from those in the reaching task. The dissociation in spatial characteristics for directed reaching vs. perception suggests that the effects of IOR are task dependent, but may be more directly linked to the dorsal motor system.     

Perceptual organization in task performance

Models of job cognition have neglected the perceptual process by which units of task behavior are organized prior to making task judgments. Perceptual organization was examined in this study using an unobtrusive observational technique adapted from the psycholinguistic literature. In each of two experiments, the structure of a task was manipulated to vary the relationship between task behavior and feedback. These manipulations were found to be reflected in the measure of perceptual organization. In Experiment 2, perceptual organization was found also to correlate with higher order judgments about the task. The implications of these results for expanding models of job cognition to include perceptual processes are discussed.     

Development of rule-based eye-hand-decoupling in children and adolescents

In the present study, we characterize how the ability to decouple guiding visual information from a motor action emerges during childhood and adolescence. Sixty-two participants (age range 8–15 yrs.) completed two eye-hand coordination tasks. In a direct interaction task, vision and motor action were in alignment, and participants slid their finger along a vertical touch screen to move a cursor from a central target to one of four peripheral targets. In an eye-hand-decoupled task, eye and hand movements were made in different planes and cursor feedback was 180° reversed. We analyzed whether movement planning, timing and trajectory variables differed across age in both task conditions. There were no significant relationships between age and any movement planning, timing, or execution variables in the direct interaction task. In contrast, in the eye-hand-decoupled task, we found a relationship between age and several movement planning and timing variables. In adolescents (13–15 yrs.), movement planning and timing was significantly shorter than that of young children (8–10 yrs.). Eye-hand-decoupled maturation emerged mainly during late childhood (11–12 yrs.). Notably, we detected performance differences between young children and adolescents exclusively during the eye-hand decoupling task which required the integration of rule-based cognitive information into the motor action. Differences were not observed during the direct interaction task. Our results quantify an important milestone for eye-hand-decoupling development in late childhood, leading to improved rule-based motor performance in early adolescence. This eye-hand-decoupling development may be due to frontal lobe development linked to rule-based behavior and the strengthening of fronto-parietal networks.