scholarly journals Wandering Eyes: Eye Movements During Mind-wandering in Video Lectures

Author(s):  
Han Zhang ◽  
Kevin Miller ◽  
Xin Sun ◽  
Kai Schnabel Cortina

Video lectures are increasingly prevalent, but they present challenges to learners. Students' minds often wander, yet we know little about how mind-wandering affects attention during video lectures. This paper presents two studies that examined eye movement patterns of mind-wandering during video lectures. In the studies, mind-wandering reports were collected by either self-caught reports or thought probes. Results were similar across the studies: mind-wandering was associated with an increased allocation of fixations to the instructor's image. For fixations on the slides, the average duration increased but the dispersion decreased. Moreover, preliminary evidence suggested that fixation duration and dispersion can diminish soon after self-caught reports of mind-wandering. Overall, these findings help advance our understanding of how learners' attention is affected during mind-wandering and may facilitate efforts in objectively identifying mind-wandering. Future research is needed to determine if these findings can extend to other instructional formats.

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 51
Author(s):  
DongMin Jang ◽  
IlHo Yang ◽  
SeoungUn Kim

The purpose of this study was to detect mind-wandering experienced by pre-service teachers during a video learning lecture on physics. The lecture was videotaped and consisted of a live lecture in a classroom. The lecture was about Gauss's law on physics. We investigated whether oculomotor data and eye movements could be used as a marker to indicate the learner’s mind-wandering. Each data was collected in a study in which 24 pre-service teachers (16 females and 8 males) reported mind-wandering experience through self-caught method while learning physics video lecture during 30 minutes. A Tobii Pro Spectrum (sampling rate: 300 Hz) was used to capture their eye-gaze during learning Gauss's law through a course video. After watching the video lecture, we interviewed pre-service teachers about their mind-wandering experience. We first used the self-caught method to capture the mind-wandering timing of pre-service teachers while learning from video lectures. We detected more accurate mind-wandering segments by comparing fixation duration and saccade count. We investigated two types of oculomotor data (blink count, pupil size) and nine eye movements (average peak velocity of saccades; maximum peak velocity of saccades; standard deviation of peak velocity of saccades; average amplitude of saccades; maximum amplitude of saccades; total amplitude of saccades; saccade count/s; fixation duration; fixation dispersion). The result was that the blink count could not be used as a marker for mind-wandering during learning video lectures among them (oculomotor data and eye movements), unlike previous literatures. Based on the results of this study, we identified elements that can be used as mind-wandering markers while learning from video lectures that are similar to real classes, among the oculomotor data and eye movement mentioned in previous literatures. Additionally, we found that most participants focused on past thoughts and felt unpleasant after experiencing mind-wandering through interview analysis.


Author(s):  
DongMin Jang ◽  
IlHo Yang ◽  
SeoungUn Kim

The purpose of this study was to detect mind-wandering experienced by pre-service teachers while learning video lecture on physics. The lecture was videotaped and consisted of a live lecture in a classroom. The lecture was about Gauss's law on physics. We investigated whether oculomotor data and eye movements could be used as a marker to indicate the learner’s mind-wandering. Each data was collected in a study in which 24 pre-service teachers (16 females and 8 males) reported self-caught mind-wandering while learning physics video lecture during30 minutes. A Tobii Pro Spectrum (sampling rate: 300Hz) was used to capture their eye-gaze during learning Gauss's law course video. After watching video lecture, we interviewed pre-service teachers about their mind-wandering experience. We first used the self-caught method to capture the mind-wandering timing of pre-service teachers while learning from video lectures. We detected more accurate mind-wandering segments by comparing fixation duration and saccade count. We investigated two types of oculomotor data (blink count, pupil size) and nine eye movements (average peak velocity of saccades; maximum peak velocity of saccades; standard deviation of peak velocity of saccades; average amplitude of saccades; maximum amplitude of saccades; total amplitude of saccades; saccade count/s; fixation duration; fixation dispersion). The result was that the blink count could not be used as a marker for mind-wandering during learning video lectures among them (oculomotor data and eye movements), unlike previous literatures. Based on the results of this study, we identified elements that can be used as mind-wandering markers while learning from video lectures that are similar to real classes, among the oculomotor data and eye movement mentioned in previous literatures. Also, we found that most participants focused on past thoughts and felt unpleasant after experiencing mind-wandering through interview analysis.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Han Zhang ◽  
Nicola C Anderson ◽  
Kevin Miller

Recent studies have shown that mind-wandering (MW) is associated with changes in eye movement parameters, but have not explored how MW affects the sequential pattern of eye movements involved in making sense of complex visual information. Eye movements naturally unfold over time and this process may reveal novel information about cognitive processing during MW. The current study used Recurrence Quantification Analysis (Anderson, Bischof, Laidlaw, Risko, & Kingstone, 2013) to describe the pattern of refixations (fixations directed to previously-inspected regions) during MW. Participants completed a real-world scene encoding task and responded to thought probes assessing intentional and unintentional MW. Both types of MW were associated with worse memory of the scenes. Importantly, RQA showed that scanpaths during unintentional MW were more repetitive than during on-task episodes, as indicated by a higher recurrence rate and more stereotypical fixation sequences. This increased repetitiveness suggests an adaptive response to processing failures through re-examining previous locations. Moreover, this increased repetitiveness contributed to fixations focusing on a smaller spatial scale of the stimuli. Finally, we were also able to validate several traditional measures: both intentional and unintentional MW were associated with fewer and longer fixations; Eye-blinking increased numerically during both types of MW but the difference was only significant for unintentional MW. Overall, the results advanced our understanding of how visual processing is affected during MW by highlighting the sequential aspect of eye movements.


Author(s):  
Anne E. Cook ◽  
Wei Wei

This chapter provides an overview of eye movement-based reading measures and the types of inferences that may be drawn from each. We provide logistical advice about how to set up stimuli for eye tracking experiments, with different level processes (word, sentence, and discourse) and commonly employed measures of eye movements during reading in mind. We conclude with examples from our own research of studies of eye movements during reading at the word, sentence, and discourse levels, as well as some considerations for future research.


2008 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 247-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise Maxfield ◽  
William T. Melnyk ◽  
Gordon C. A. Hayman

Research has consistently demonstrated that performance is degraded when participants engage in two simultaneous tasks that require the same working memory resources. This study tested predictions from working memory theory to investigate the effects of eye movement (EM) on the components of autobiographical memory. In two experiments, 24 and 36 participants, respectively, focused on negative memories while engaging in three dual-attention EM tasks of increasing complexity. Compared to No-EM, Slow-EM and Fast-EM produced significantly decreased ratings of image vividness, thought clarity, and emotional intensity, and the more difficult Fast-EM resulted in larger decreases than did Slow-EM. The effects on emotional intensity were not consistent, with some preliminary evidence that a focus on memory-related thought might maintain emotional intensity during simple dual-attention tasks (Slow-EM, No-EM). The findings of our experiments support a working memory explanation for the effects of EM dual-attention tasks on autobiographical memory. Implications for understanding the mechanisms of action in EMDR are discussed.


2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gauranga Jeram Patel ◽  
John McDowall

In dismantling eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy, researchers have found that the central executive is likely responsible for the effect of eye movements on negative memories. Arguably, however, researchers have not satisfactorily explained central executive mechanisms responsible. One possible central executive mechanism is that of suppression. The aim of this research was to evaluate the effect of eye movements on vividness, emotionality, and suppression of memories. Thirty-one nonclinical participants in Experiment 1 completed fast- and no-eye-movement conditions. Thirty-three nonclinical participants in Experiment 2 completed fast-, slow-, and no-eye-movement conditions. Number of intrusions during a suppression period and self-ratings of vividness and emotionality were the dependent variables in both experiments. Experiment 2 also included a measure of central executive capacity. Results from both experiments supported the hypotheses and showed that fast eye movements resulted in fewer intrusions than no- and slow-eye-movement conditions. Experiment 2 also found a correlation between number of intrusions after fast eye movements and central executive capacity. Limitations of this research are discussed as well as possibilities for future research and implications for understanding EMDR therapy.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinxia Wang ◽  
Xiaoying Sun ◽  
Jiachen Lu ◽  
HaoRan Dou ◽  
Yi Lei

AbstractPrevious research indicates that excessive fear is a critical feature in anxiety disorders; however, recent studies suggest that disgust may also contribute to the etiology and maintenance of some anxiety disorders. It remains unclear if differences exist between these two threat-related emotions in conditioning and generalization. Evaluating different patterns of fear and disgust learning would facilitate a deeper understanding of how anxiety disorders develop. In this study, 32 college students completed threat conditioning tasks, including conditioned stimuli paired with frightening or disgusting images. Fear and disgust were divided into two randomly ordered blocks to examine differences by recording subjective US expectancy ratings and eye movements in the conditioning and generalization process. During conditioning, differing US expectancy ratings (fear vs. disgust) were found only on CS-, which may demonstrated that fear is associated with inferior discrimination learning. During the generalization test, participants exhibited greater US expectancy ratings to fear-related GS1 (generalized stimulus) and GS2 relative to disgust GS1 and GS2. Fear led to longer reaction times than disgust in both phases, and the pupil size and fixation duration for fear stimuli were larger than for disgust stimuli, suggesting that disgust generalization has a steeper gradient than fear generalization. These findings provide preliminary evidence for differences between fear- and disgust-related stimuli in conditioning and generalization, and suggest insights into treatment for anxiety and other fear- or disgust-related disorders.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Izmalkova ◽  
Anastasia Rzheshevskaya

The study explores the effects of graphological and semantic foregrounding on speech and gaze behavior in textual information construal of subjects with higher and lower impulsivity. Eye movements of sixteen participants were recorded as they read drama texts with interdiscourse switching (semantic foregrounding), with features of typeface distinct from the surrounding text (graphological foregrounding). Discourse modification patterns were analyzed and processed in several steps: specification of participant/object/action/event/perspective modification, parametric annotation of participants’ discourse responses, contrastive analysis of modification parameter activity and parameter synchronized activity. Significant distinctions were found in eye movement parameters (gaze count and initial fixation duration) in subjects with higher and lower impulsivity when reading parts of text with graphical foregrounding. Impulsive subjects tended to visit the areas more often with longer initial fixations than reflective subjects, which is explained in terms of stimulus-driven attention, associated with bottom-up processes. However, these differences in gaze behavior did not result in pronounced distinctions in discourse responses, which were only slightly mediated by impulsivity/reflectivity.


2009 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary Feng

Reading processes affect not only the mean of fixation duration but also its distribution function. This paper introduces a set of hypotheses that link the timing and strength of a reading process to the hazard function of a fixation duration distribution. Analyses based on large corpora of reading eye movements show a surprisingly robust hazard function across languages, age, individual differences, and a number of processing variables. The data suggest that eye movements are generated stochastically based on a stereotyped time course that is independent of reading variables. High-level reading processes, however, modulate eye movement programming by increasing or decreasing the momentary saccade rate during a narrow time window. Implications to theories and analyses of reading eye movement are discussed.


Background: Hundreds of studies have compared eye movement variables in subjects with and without dyslexia or reading disability. Most studied only small sample sizes and the eye movement tasks and targets varied. The aims of this study are to determine which, if any, eye movement variable(s) differ between children with and without dyslexia or reading disability, and, if differences are found, quantify the amount. Methods: Search engines PubMed and Salus/EBSCO Discover Database for key words eye movements OR saccades OR fixation AND dyslexia OR reading disability yielded 728 titles. Following initial study eligibility criteria (objective eye movement variable measures of children age 6-15.5 years in defined case and control groups), 43 studies qualified for in depth review. Eleven studies qualified for data synthesis. Data were extracted, tested for normality by Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistic, standardized, weighted by sample size, tested for homogeneity by Q test, pooled and measured for combined effect. Results: Combined relative risk effect revealed fixation duration, number of fixations, and number of regressions when reading words to be 2.33 (95% CI: 2.12-2.54) times longer, 1.58 (95% CI: 1.52-1.65) times higher, and 1.83 (95% CI: 1.68-1.97) times higher respectively in children with dyslexia or reading disability compared to age normal readers. Differences reading pseudowords were not statistically significant. Conclusions: Significant differences in fixation duration, number of fixations, and number of regressions were found during word reading. Because most reading time is during the fixation duration, children with dyslexia or reading disability need, on average, 2.33 times longer. The results provide objective data to support reading time accommodations for Individual Education Plans. Systematic review suggests that oculomotility ability depends on the amount of cognitive processing rather than purely on extra ocular muscle control.


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