Function-Specific Uncertainty Communication in Automated Driving

Conveying the overall uncertainties of automated driving systems was shown to improve trust calibration and situation awareness, resulting in safer takeovers. However, the impact of presenting the uncertainties of multiple system functions has yet to be investigated. Further, existing research lacks recommendations for visualizing uncertainties in a driving context. The first study outlined in this publication investigated the implications of conveying function-specific uncertainties. The results of the driving simulator study indicate that the effects on takeover performance depends on driving experience, with less experienced drivers benefitting most. Interview responses revealed that workload increments are a major inhibitor of these benefits. Based on these findings, the second study explored the suitability of 11 visual variables for an augmented reality-based uncertainty display. The results show that particularly hue and animation-based variables are appropriate for conveying uncertainty changes. The findings inform the design of all displays that show content varying in urgency.

Oculomotor Behavior Predict Professional Cricket Batting and Bowling Performance

Importance: A new, shorter version of cricket was introduced recently (Twenty20; T20). Since its inception, T20 cricket has rapidly become a popular and exciting format of cricket. However, there is little understanding of factors such as visual-motor control that influence expert performance.Objective: The purpose of this project is to determine if a series of oculomotor measures can predict batting and bowling performance in professional cricket players.Design: This study used a cross-sectional design. Each participant took part in a suite of eye-tracking tests to measure oculomotor behavior compared to their performance data.Participants: This study used a sample of 59 male T20 league professional cricket players (30 Bowlers and 29 Batsman).Results: One-way univariate analyses of variance examined the differences in oculomotor behavior between batsman and bowlers. A series of multiple regression analyses was conducted to evaluate how well the visual variables predict bowling and batting performance variables. Results demonstrate that several oculomotor eye tracking measures were good predictors of run performance and strike rate, including sports total score, sports on-field score, and sports functional score. Likewise, several of the same metrics predicted Runs and Wicket performance for bowlers. Overall, results provided further validation to a growing body of literature supporting the use of eye-tracking technology in performance evaluation.

Classification of Dynamic Cartographic Symbols applied to Augmented Reality (AR) Systems

Paper maps were widely used during centuries; however, these maps do not change dynamically regarding its use context, the user behaviour and the change in the representations through time. Considering the research related to digital cartography, maps started to be seen both digitally and in a dynamic way due to the application of static and dynamic visual variables. During the process of navigation supported by maps, the comprehension of certain cartographic symbols can be a complex task for people. When using representations for virtual environment, specifically the Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR), an advantage is the complementing of the information communication through virtual objects, which reduces the cognitive effort to decode all the representation as in the traditional maps. Until now, several scientific investigations about adjusting the cartographic design aimed to personal and vehicular navigation maps in AR are being developed. However, few studies investigate the application of dynamic symbols in AR built from the dynamic visual variables of Cartography. In this way, the aim on this research is to classify the symbols that use the dynamic variables. In addition, verify the presence of these variables in Augmented Reality systems in mobile devices that use AR to represent spatial information in the context of personal navigation in an outdoor environment.

Multivariate mapping for experienced users: comparing extrinsic and intrinsic maps with univariate maps

Multivariate mapping is a technique in which multivariate data are encoded into a single map. A variety of design solutions for multivariate mapping refers to the number of phenomena mapped, the map type, and the visual variables applied. Unlike other authors who have mainly evaluated bivariate maps, in our empirical study we compared three solutions when mapping four variables: two types of multivariate maps (intrinsic and extrinsic) and a simple univariate alternative (serving as a baseline). We analysed usability performance metrics (answer time, answer accuracy, subjective rating of task difficulty) and eye-tracking data. The results suggested that experts used all the tested maps with similar results for answer time and accuracy, even when using four-variable intrinsic maps, which is considered to be a challenging solution. However, eye-tracking data provided more nuances in relation to the difference in cognitive effort evoked by the tested maps across task types.

Changes in Visual Performance under the Effects of Moderate‒High Alcohol Consumption: The Influence of Biological Sex

The purpose of this study was to analyze the changes in visual functions under the effects of moderate‒high breath alcohol concentrations (BrACs), and the influence of biological sex on visual deterioration, considering different factors. A total of 37 healthy habitual alcohol users were enrolled in the experiment. The participants underwent a baseline session and a second session after an intake of 450 mL of red wine, so that all of them reached a BrAC above 0.25 mg/L. Visual performance was assessed by measuring the contrast sensitivity function, the halo perception, the stereopsis, and finally the retinal image quality. A Visual Deterioration Score (VDS) was calculated using the deterioration of these visual variables. All visual functions analyzed were significantly impaired following alcohol consumption (p < 0.05). The VDS was associated with the BrAC (ρ = −0.476). The VDS was also significantly higher in females, with the BrAC having a significant effect on the variability of the VDS in males and females (p < 0.05). However, the body mass index showed no significant effect (p > 0.05). Visual functions were significantly impaired under the influence of alcohol, and this deterioration was greater in females. The deterioration depends on the BrAC reached, being the primary thing responsible for the differences observed between males and females.

More than identifiers: Map symbols and their connotative meaning

Cartographic maps are a form of communication. Through signs and symbols, they give rise to ideas and thoughts of geospatial phenomena, enabling us to relate to, think about, and to imagine events from a viewpoint beyond direct experience. By applying a mutually shared set of signs and semiotic rules, sheer unlimited, meaningful, novel messages about space and time can be communicated through maps. As such, maps are considered a means of conceiving, articulating, and structuring the human world (Harley, 1989).Maps are human-made artifacts, based on a myriad of choices concerning what to communicate and how to communicate. Maps are, therefore, never neutral but based on decisions which will influence how maps are perceived, how information is interpreted, and how phenomena and events are imagined (Chandler, 2007; Monmonier, 1996). Cartographic communication, therefore, requires deliberate choices to share and express information successfully. To this day, the cartographer faces the challenge of near-infinite variations of visual variables to choose from. Yet, which ones are most suitable for a given context, for a given type of spatial information, object, or phenomenon? The choice for the aptest cartographic signifier is still a challenging task. In cartography, there remains a need for a differentiated understanding of how visual variables can be used to encode information (MacEachren et al., 2012).While all map signs can be considered to be identifiers which aim to denote and inform about spatial phenomena, research from related fields show that signs and symbols may also imbue connotative qualities that influence human affect and modulate cognitive processes (e.g. Feldman Barrett et al., 2007; Loftus &amp; Palmer, 1974). In as far as cartographic semiology provides a theoretical framework addressing the denoting qualities of cartographic visual variables (Bertin, 1974), it, hitherto, does not encompass their connotative effects on human affect, perception, and cognition. At the same time, empirical research on the connotative meaning of map signs is still scarce, and semiotic differentiations between the denoting and connoting qualities of signifiers are often neglected in cartographic research and applications of semiotics. Consequently, “the difference of what a map sign means and what it represents has become blurred” (MacEachren, 1995, p.245).Between the intersection of psychology, cartography, and semiotics, this research draws attention to the connotative qualities of shape symbols in cartographic communication. In qualitative and quantitative empirical studies, abstract map symbols are studied in cartographic and non-cartographic contexts, and their connotative effects on human judgments and affective responses are explored (Klettner, 2019, 2020). Shape symbols, in these studies, refer to commonly used graphic variables in visual communication and thematic cartography (e.g. circle, triangle, square, etc.) to indicate nominal data. Findings strongly indicate that some map symbols do not only depict and denote but also express and connote and that these connotative qualities can be as powerful as to modulate affective responses and cognitive processes, such as influencing judgments about the depicted phenomena.A better understanding of how map signs and symbols are perceived can allow for more accurate discrimination between them. By unraveling some of the connotative qualities of cartographic point symbols, this research aims to contribute towards more informed choices and towards creating more effective and associative cartographic visualizations.