Low Cost Eye Tracking: Ready for Individual Differences Research?

2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 741-745 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ciara Sibley ◽  
Cyrus Foroughi ◽  
Noelle Brown ◽  
Joseph T. Coyne
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Pupil Size ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Cognitive Components ◽  
Student Pilots ◽  
Partial Operation ◽  
Selection Test

The recent availability of low cost of eye tracking hardware provides researchers a fruitful opportunity to collect additional human subject data for under $700. This current study sought to investigate whether low-cost eye tracking is capable of replicating a large effect showing a relationship between resting pupil size and working memory capacity. Seventy-nine Navy and Marine Corps student pilots participated in this study and granted access to their aviation selection test scores. The study demonstrated the capability of the Gazepoint GP3 system to detect the pupillary light reflex within every participant. However, in contrast to findings from other researchers, analyses revealed a negative correlation between resting pupil size and partial Operation Span scores and no correlation between resting pupil size and two cognitive components of the aviation selection test. These findings, in addition to other reasons discussed herein, suggest that the Gazepoint GP3 system’s millimeter pupil size measurements should not be used in isolation to compare values between individuals. They also suggest the need for further investigation of the relationship between baseline pupil size and working memory capacity.

scholarly journals Is baseline pupil size related to cognitive ability? Yes (under proper lighting conditions).

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason S. Tsukahara ◽  
Randall W Engle
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Pupil Size ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Fluid Intelligence ◽  
Functional Organization ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Lighting Conditions

We found that individual differences in baseline pupil size correlated with fluid intelligence and working memory capacity. Larger pupil size was associated with higher cognitive ability. However, other researchers have not been able to replicate our 2016 finding – though they only measured working memory capacity and not fluid intelligence. In a reanalysis of Tsukahara et al. (2016) we show that reduced variability on baseline pupil size will result in a higher probability of obtaining smaller and non-significant correlations with working memory capacity. In two large-scale studies, we demonstrated that reduced variability in baseline pupil size values was due to the monitor being too bright. Additionally, fluid intelligence and working memory capacity did correlate with baseline pupil size except in the brightest lighting conditions. Overall, our findings demonstrated that the baseline pupil size – working memory capacity relationship was not as strong or robust as that with fluid intelligence. Our findings have strong methodological implications for researchers investigating individual differences in task-free or task-evoked pupil size. We conclude that fluid intelligence does correlate with baseline pupil size and that this is related to the functional organization of the resting-state brain through the locus coeruleus-norepinephrine system.

Learning from screencast videos for software training : a comparison of dual and single-monitor learning environments

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Douglas Paul Kueker
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Cognitive Load ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Worked Examples ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Instructional Efficiency ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Split Attention ◽  
Set Up

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Learning to use software programs using worked examples in screencast videos presents a classic split-attention problem that requires learners to mentally integrate information from the video with a target application. While much is known about sound screencast tutorial design, little is known about the features of the learning environment, such as monitor configuration, that may influence learning from this form of instruction. An experiment was conducted with 42 novice learners to fill this gap by comparing the effects of two common monitor configurations which split attention in different ways. In one condition, subjects split attention temporally by toggling back and forth between the video and target application on one monitor, while the other condition required subjects to split attention spatially by shifting their gaze between the video and target application displayed on two side-by-side monitors. Effects due to the monitor set-up were assessed for measures of cognitive load, instructional efficiency, and motivation using a 2x2 study design that controlled for task order. Results indicated that cognitive load as measured through task evoked pupil response was significantly higher, pless than .05, for groups with two monitors during both instruction and testing, even after controlling for working memory capacity. Analyses of three gaze-related eye-tracking metrics and NASA-TLX ratings did not indicate any differences in workload due to the experimental treatment; however, attentional patterns indicated by the eye-tracking data were shaped by two- and three-way interactions between working memory capacity and the experimental conditions. Measures of instructional efficiency indicated that the single monitor set-up was most efficient as learners attempted to transfer learning. While task efficacy and relevance ratings increased after training, monitor set-up did not affect post-training motivation.

scholarly journals The locus coeruleus-norepinephrine system and fluid intelligence

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason S. Tsukahara ◽  
Randall W Engle
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Locus Coeruleus ◽  
Resting State ◽  
Pupil Size ◽  
Fluid Intelligence ◽  
Functional Organization ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Executive Attention ◽  
Norepinephrine System

The locus coeruleus-norepinephrine system is uniquely situated to influence a wide-array of brain and cellular processes at all levels of brain functions. We review the literature on the locus-coeruleus-norepinephrine system in relation to fluid intelligence within the context of our executive attention theory. We discuss evidence suggesting the locus coeruleus-norepinephrine system plays an important role in the functional organization of the resting-state brain and that this can explain our finding from Tsukahara et al. (2016) that higher fluid intelligence and working memory capacity is associated with a larger baseline pupil size. However, other researchers have not been able to replicate our 2016 finding – though they only measured working memory capacity and not fluid intelligence. In a reanalysis of Tsukahara et al. (2016) we show that reduced variability on baseline pupil size will result in a higher probability of obtaining smaller and non-significant correlations with working memory capacity. In two large-scale studies, we demonstrated that reduced variability in baseline pupil size values down to minimal physiological limits can be obtained if the monitor is too bright. Additionally, fluid intelligence and working memory capacity do correlate with baseline pupil size except in the brightest lighting conditions. We also investigated the relationship of higher-order cognition to baseline pupil size within the context of our executive attention theory. Therefore, we conclude that fluid intelligence does correlate with baseline pupil size and that this is related to the functional organization of the resting-state brain through the locus coeruleus-norepinephrine system.

Individual Differences in Keeping Track of Object-state Representations during Language Comprehension: Evidence from Eye Movements

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin Kang ◽  
Ting Wang ◽  
Zijia Tian
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Digit Span ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Target Object ◽  
Object State

There remains limited consensus about whether individual differences in working memory capacity, influences mental representation updating during language comprehension. We argue that this question was not sufficiently examined in previous psycholinguistic studies due to methodological limitations. In the current study, we examine whether individual differences in keeping track of mental representations of objects during real-time language comprehension could be predicted by digit span, reading span, nonverbal intelligence, executive function, and visual working memory capacity. Data were collected from 26 adults who completed a battery of cognitive tests and an eye-tracking experiment using the visual world paradigm. In the eye-tracking experiment, participants listened to sentences that either indicated a substantial or a minimal change of state on the target object while viewing a visual scene depicting the target object in two conflicting states – being intact and being changed, along with two unrelated distractors. As expected, participants’ visual attention was directed to the visual depiction of the target object that matched the implied end state in the language. Importantly, we demonstrate that individual differences in cognitive abilities influence whether participants shift their attention to the language-mediated object-state representations.

Differential Effects of Executive Processes on Working Memory

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 239-249
Author(s):  
Xuezhu Ren ◽  
Tengfei Wang ◽  
Karl Schweizer ◽  
Jing Guo
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Latent Variable ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Attention Control ◽  
Executive Processes ◽  
Differential Effects ◽  
Prepotent Response ◽  
Two Measures

Abstract. Although attention control accounts for a unique portion of the variance in working memory capacity (WMC), the way in which attention control contributes to WMC has not been thoroughly specified. The current work focused on fractionating attention control into distinctly different executive processes and examined to what extent key processes of attention control including updating, shifting, and prepotent response inhibition were related to WMC and whether these relations were different. A number of 216 university students completed experimental tasks of attention control and two measures of WMC. Latent variable analyses were employed for separating and modeling each process and their effects on WMC. The results showed that both the accuracy of updating and shifting were substantially related to WMC while the link from the accuracy of inhibition to WMC was insignificant; on the other hand, only the speed of shifting had a moderate effect on WMC while neither the speed of updating nor the speed of inhibition showed significant effect on WMC. The results suggest that these key processes of attention control exhibit differential effects on individual differences in WMC. The approach that combined experimental manipulations and statistical modeling constitutes a promising way of investigating cognitive processes.

Working Memory Capacity and a Notorious Brain Teaser

2006 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wim De Neys ◽  
Niki Verschueren
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Secondary Task ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
Task Load ◽  
Normative Reasoning ◽  
Monty Hall Dilemma ◽  
Monty Hall ◽  
Memory Resources

Abstract. The Monty Hall Dilemma (MHD) is an intriguing example of the discrepancy between people’s intuitions and normative reasoning. This study examines whether the notorious difficulty of the MHD is associated with limitations in working memory resources. Experiment 1 and 2 examined the link between MHD reasoning and working memory capacity. Experiment 3 tested the role of working memory experimentally by burdening the executive resources with a secondary task. Results showed that participants who solved the MHD correctly had a significantly higher working memory capacity than erroneous responders. Correct responding also decreased under secondary task load. Findings indicate that working memory capacity plays a key role in overcoming salient intuitions and selecting the correct switching response during MHD reasoning.

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