P-1 * ALCOHOL CUE-REACTIVITY DECREASED VISUAL ATTENTION TASK PERFORMANCE IN ALCOHOL DEPENDENCE: THE EYE TRACKING STUDY

BACKGROUND Inadequate situational awareness accounts for two-thirds of preventable complications in anesthesia. An essential tool for situational awareness in the perioperative setting is the patient monitor. However, the conventional monitor has several weaknesses. Avatar-based patient monitoring may address these shortcomings and promote situation awareness, a prerequisite for good decision making. OBJECTIVE The spatial distribution of visual attention is a fundamental process for achieving adequate situation awareness and thus a potential quantifiable surrogate for situation awareness. Moreover, measuring visual attention with a head-mounted eye-tracker may provide insights into usage and acceptance of the new avatar-based patient monitoring modality. METHODS This prospective eye-tracking study compared anesthesia providers' visual attention on conventional and avatar-based patient monitors during simulated critical anesthesia events. We defined visual attention, measured as fixation count and dwell time, as our primary outcome. We correlated visual attention with the potential confounders: performance in managing simulated critical anesthesia events (task performance), work experience, and profession. We used mixed linear models to analyze the results. RESULTS Fifty-two teams performed 156 simulations. After a manual quality check of the eye-tracking footage, we excluded 57 simulations due to technical problems and quality issues. Participants had a median of 198 (IQR 92.5 – 317.5) fixations on the patient monitor with a median dwell time of 30.2 (IQR 14.9 – 51.3) seconds. We found no significant difference in participants' visual attention when using avatar-based patient monitoring or conventional patient monitoring. However, we found that with each percentage point of better task performance, the number of fixations decreased by about 1.39 (coefficient -1.39; 95%CI: -2.44 to -0.34; P=0.02), and the dwell time diminished by 0.23 seconds (coefficient -0.23; 95%CI: -0.4 to -0.06; P=0.01). CONCLUSIONS Using eye-tracking, we found no significant difference in visual attention when anesthesia providers used avatar-based monitoring or conventional patient monitoring in simulated critical anesthesia events. However, we identified visual attention in conjunction with task performance as a surrogate for situational awareness. CLINICALTRIAL Business Management System for Ethics Committees Number Req-2020-00059

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Altered brain network function during attention-modulated visual processing in multiple sclerosis

Multiple Sclerosis Journal ◽

10.1177/1352458520958360 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 135245852095836

Author(s):

Dániel Veréb ◽

Eszter Tóth ◽

Bence Bozsik ◽

András Király ◽

Nikoletta Szabó ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Multiple Sclerosis ◽

Visual Attention ◽

Task Performance ◽

Cognitive Performance ◽

Visual Processing ◽

Frontal Eye Field ◽

Cognitive Disability ◽

Healthy Controls ◽

Attention Task ◽

Default Mode

Background: Multiple sclerosis may damage cognitive performance in several domains, including attention. Although attention network deficits were described during rest, studies that investigate their function during task performance are scarce. Objective: To investigate connectivity within and between task-related networks in multiple sclerosis during a visual attention task as a function of cognitive performance. Methods: A total of 23 relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) patients and 29 healthy controls underwent task-functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans using a visual attention paradigm on a 3T scanner. Scans were analysed using tensor-independent component analysis (TICA). Functional connectivity was calculated within and between components. We assessed cognitive function with the Brief International Cognitive Assessment for MS (BICAMS) battery. Results: TICA extracted components related to visual processing, attention, executive function and the default-mode network. Subject scores of visual/attention-related and executive components were greater in healthy controls ( p < 0.032, p < 0.023). Connectivity between visual/attention-related and default-mode components was higher in patients ( p < 0.043), correlating with Brief Visuospatial Memory Test–Revised (BVMT-R) scores ( R = −0.48, p < 0.036). Patients showed reduced connectivity between the right intraparietal sulcus (rIPS) and frontal eye field (rFEF), and bilateral frontal eye fields ( p < 0.012, p < 0.003). Reduced rIPS-rFEF connectivity came with lower Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT)/BVMT-R scores in patients ( R = 0.53, p < 0.02, R = 0.46, p < 0.049). Conclusion: Attention-related networks show altered connectivity during task performance in RRMS patients, scaling with cognitive disability.

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Visual attention task performance in Wistar and Lister Hooded rats: response inhibition deficits after medial prefrontal cortex lesions

Neuroscience ◽

10.1016/s0306-4522(99)00312-7 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 94 (1) ◽

pp. 47-57 ◽

Cited By ~ 56

Author(s):

L.M Broersen ◽

H.B.M Uylings

Keyword(s):

Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Visual Attention ◽

Task Performance ◽

Medial Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Response Inhibition ◽

Attention Task

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Visual Spatial Attention in Migraine Sufferers in Postictal and Interictal Phases: An Event-Related Potential Study

Journal of Psychophysiology ◽

10.1027//0269-8803.15.1.22 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 22-34 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

D.H. de Koning ◽

J.C. Woestenburg ◽

M. Elton

Keyword(s):

Cerebral Cortex ◽

Visual Attention ◽

Migraine Attack ◽

Spatial Attention ◽

Event Related Potential ◽

Significant Enhancement ◽

Pathophysiological Mechanism ◽

Attention Task ◽

Visual Spatial Attention ◽

Visual Spatial

Migraineurs with and without aura (MWAs and MWOAs) as well as controls were measured twice with an interval of 7 days. The first session of recordings and tests for migraineurs was held about 7 hours after a migraine attack. We hypothesized that electrophysiological changes in the posterior cerebral cortex related to visual spatial attention are influenced by the level of arousal in migraineurs with aura, and that this varies over the course of time. ERPs related to the active visual attention task manifested significant differences between controls and both types of migraine sufferers for the N200, suggesting a common pathophysiological mechanism for migraineurs. Furthermore, migraineurs without aura (MWOAs) showed a significant enhancement for the N200 at the second session, indicating the relevance of time of measurement within migraine studies. Finally, migraineurs with aura (MWAs) showed significantly enhanced P240 and P300 components at central and parietal cortical sites compared to MWOAs and controls, which seemed to be maintained over both sessions and could be indicative of increased noradrenergic activity in MWAs.

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Somebody's Watching: Exploring the Influence of Eye-Tracking on Task Performance

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e617962012-221 ◽

2008 ◽

Author(s):

Scott R. Hinze ◽

Beth A. Fisher ◽

Jennifer Wiley

Keyword(s):

Eye Tracking ◽

Task Performance

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Visual Attention Software: A New Tool for Understanding the “Subliminal” Experience of the Built Environment

Applied Sciences ◽

10.3390/app11136197 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (13) ◽

pp. 6197

Author(s):

Alexandros A. Lavdas ◽

Nikos A. Salingaros ◽

Ann Sussman

Keyword(s):

Visual Attention ◽

Eye Tracking ◽

Wearable Sensors ◽

Computer Gaming ◽

Geometric Patterns ◽

Relative Design ◽

Fixation Points ◽

High Degree ◽

Artificial Intelligence Application ◽

Intelligence Application

Eye-tracking technology is a biometric tool that has found many commercial and research applications. The recent advent of affordable wearable sensors has considerably expanded the range of these possibilities to fields such as computer gaming, education, entertainment, health, neuromarketing, psychology, etc. The Visual Attention Software by 3M (3M-VAS) is an artificial intelligence application that was formulated using experimental data from eye-tracking. It can be used to predict viewer reactions to images, generating fixation point probability maps and fixation point sequence estimations, thus revealing pre-attentive processing of visual stimuli with a very high degree of accuracy. We have used 3M-VAS software in an innovative implementation to analyze images of different buildings, either in their original state or photographically manipulated, as well as various geometric patterns. The software not only reveals non-obvious fixation points, but also overall relative design coherence, a key element of Christopher Alexander’s theory of geometrical order. A more evenly distributed field of attention seen in some structures contrasts with other buildings being ignored, those showing instead unconnected points of splintered attention. Our findings are non-intuitive and surprising. We link these results to both Alexander’s theory and Neuroscience, identify potential pitfalls in the software’s use, and also suggest ways to avoid them.

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Does What We See Shape History? Examining Workload History as a Function of Performance and Ambient/Focal Visual Attention

ACM Transactions on Applied Perception ◽

10.1145/3449066 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (2) ◽

pp. 1-17

Author(s):

Shannon P. Devlin ◽

Jennifer K. Byham ◽

Sara Lu Riggs

Keyword(s):

Visual Attention ◽

Eye Tracking ◽

Performance Measure ◽

Task Demands ◽

Unexpected Finding ◽

Impact Performance ◽

History Effects ◽

And Performance ◽

Workload History ◽

Over Time

Changes in task demands can have delayed adverse impacts on performance. This phenomenon, known as the workload history effect, is especially of concern in dynamic work domains where operators manage fluctuating task demands. The existing workload history literature does not depict a consistent picture regarding how these effects manifest, prompting research to consider measures that are informative on the operator's process. One promising measure is visual attention patterns, due to its informativeness on various cognitive processes. To explore its ability to explain workload history effects, participants completed a task in an unmanned aerial vehicle command and control testbed where workload transitioned gradually and suddenly. The participants’ performance and visual attention patterns were studied over time to identify workload history effects. The eye-tracking analysis consisted of using a recently developed eye-tracking metric called coefficient K , as it indicates whether visual attention is more focal or ambient. The performance results found workload history effects, but it depended on the workload level, time elapsed, and performance measure. The eye-tracking analysis suggested performance suffered when focal attention was deployed during low workload, which was an unexpected finding. When synthesizing these results, they suggest unexpected visual attention patterns can impact performance immediately over time. Further research is needed; however, this work shows the value of including a real-time visual attention measure, such as coefficient K , as a means to understand how the operator manages varying task demands in complex work environments.

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