GoldLink | Directories | A-Z Search

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE We are investigating the role that eye movements play in human information processing. In the vision literature, there has been a distinction between overt visual attention (involving where people fixate their eyes) and covert visual attention (involving cognitive shifts of attention that are not associated with eye movements). We will explore the interaction of these two types of processing using a variety of stimuli (e.g., words, line drawings of common objects, pictures of common objects, pictures of artificial objects like fractals or simple shapes, and pictures of natural scenes like landscapes and rooms) and a variety of standard information processing tasks (e.g., name the image, press one key if the image has been seen before and another if it has not, move your eyes to informative parts of the image). Several mathematical models of visual attention have been developed to make predictions concerning where people naturally look in certain types of scenes and under certain types of task instructions. We will examine the ability of these models to make accurate predictions by comparing their predictions to the obtained participant data. STATEMENT OF RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Upon arrival to the laboratory, participants will be given a written consent form that describes the nature of the study, including the facts that they will be asked to rest their head on a chin rest and that their eye movements will be recorded by a remote camera. If they agree to participate, they will sign the consent form and they will be given their research participation credit code, indicating that they will receive course credit. The consent form makes clear that participants have the right to withdraw from the study at any time without penalty or loss of benefits. In order to complete the actual experiment, participants will sit in front of the computer monitor and read the specific instructions describing their information processing task (e.g., simply view the images, name the images aloud as soon as possible, press a key if this image has been seen before). A chin rest will be used to allow people to comfortably maintain their head in a fixed position, which is necessary to prevent noise in the recording of eye movements. The participant will work with the experimenter to move the chair to an appropriate height so that the participant is comfortable with the chin rest. Participants will face the computer screen while the stimuli are presented. Stimulus presentation will occur over an approximately 30 minute period. Short breaks will be provided as necessary so that the participants remain comfortable. The nature of the stimuli will vary and may include common English words, images of common objects or scenes, and images of abstract objects or scenes (e.g., simple or complex shapes). No stimuli should be offensive or harmful. The amount of time an image is presented may be varied, with most images presented for around 10 seconds. Participants' eye movements will be recorded. The recordings will allow us to determine where and for how long participants' fixated on different parts of each image. Participants may be required to make simple responses at the time of stimulus presentation (e.g., they may be asked to identify the scene or object, indicate whether it is similar to or different from a previously presented object, or indicate whether a specific object is present in a scene) or they may be asked to answer such questions after the stimulus is presented (i.e., their memory may be tested). At the end of the session, the participant will be given more information about the particular variable (e.g., type of stimulus, type of task, or stimulus duration) that was manipulated and why it was manipulated. Any questions will be answered. There is no deception. The infra-red based eye tracking equipment is commercially available (see http://asleyetracking.com/site/Portals/0/Subpages/documents/EYESTART.pdf). ANTICIPATED RISKS AND BENEFITS The participants in undergraduate psychology courses gain an educational benefit of better understanding the nature of research described in their classes. On a basic science level, understanding what influences attention will allow better understanding of general human behavior. On a more applied level, an understanding of where people look when presented with different types of objects can benefit society by providing information relevant to the development of new technologies to present visual information to both able and disadvantaged persons. There are no known risks to participation. Participants will be encouraged to adjust their chairs up or down so that they are able to comfortably rest their head on the chin rest. Several breaks are provided and data collection is kept short (about 30 minutes) to minimize fatigue. An experimenter is with the participant during the entire procedure and the participant is instructed to let the experimenter know if he or she is experiencing any discomfort. SUBJECT SELECTION Participants will be volunteer students from psychology 101 course at Missouri Western State University. Students will be given extra credit for participation. A notice will be posted on the Psychology Department Online Sign-up System (a departmentally managed, IRB-Approved, web based research sign-up system), where students can read a brief description of this study (see attached informed constent document) and can choose to participate if they desire. Only participants who can comfortably view information presented on a computer screen from a natural viewing distance without the aid of glasses or contact lenses will be asked to participate, because glasses and contact lenses interfere with the eye tracking equipment and cause the measurements to be less reliable. CONFIDENTIALITY Participants will be asked to sign an informed consent. However, all data from their experiment will only be assigned to a subject number which will not be associated with any information on the informed consent. This ensures that all data and results will remain anonymous. Informed consents will be kept in a secure location to keep records of participation confidential. PRIMARY SUPPORTING DOCUMENT Click for Word Document Extension Request on 10-07-2010 Extension Request on 10-10-2011 Extension Request on 10-06-2012