Search

We investigated the effects of distractors in older and younger participants in choice and simple reaction time tasks with concurrent registration of event-related potentials. In the task the participants had to prevent a disk from falling into a bin after a color or luminosity change (target stimuli). Infrequently, task-irrelevant stimuli (schematic faces or threatening objects) were superimposed on the target stimuli (distractors), or the bin disappeared which required no response (Nogo trials). Reaction time was delayed to the distractors, but this effect was similar in the two age groups. As a robust age-related difference, in the older group a large anterior positivity and posterior negativity emerged to the distractors within the 100–200 ms post-stimulus range, and these components were larger for schematic faces than for threatening objects. sLORETA localized the age-specific effect to the ventral stream of the visual system and to anterior structures considered as parts of the executive system. The Nogo stimuli elicited a late positivity (Nogo P3) with longer latency in the older group. We interpreted the age-related differences as decreased but compensated resistance to task-irrelevant change of the target stimuli.

When listening to music, humans spontaneously perceive and synchronize movement to periodic pulses of meter. A growing body of evidence suggests that this widespread ability is related to neural processes that selectively enhance meter periodicities. However, to what extent these neural processes are affected by the attentional state of the listener remains largely unknown. Here, we recorded EEG while participants listened to auditory rhythms and detected small changes in tempo or pitch of the stimulus, or performed a visual task. The overall neural response to the auditory input decreased when participants attended the visual modality, indicating generally lower sensitivity to acoustic information. However, the selective contrast at meter periodicities did not differ across the three tasks. Moreover, this selective contrast could be trivially accounted for by biologically-plausible models of subcortical auditory processing, but only when meter periodicities were already prominent in the acoustic input. However, when meter periodicities were not prominent in the auditory input, the EEG responses could not be explained by low-level processing. This was also confirmed by early auditory responses that originate predominantly in early auditory areas and were recorded in the same EEG. The contrast at meter periodicities in these early responses was consistently smaller than in the EEG responses originating mainly from higher-level processing stages. Together, these results demonstrate that selective contrast at meter periodicities involves higher-level neural processes that may be engaged automatically, irrespective of behavioral context. This robust shaping of the neural representation of rhythm might thus contribute to spontaneous and effortless synchronization to musical meter in humans across cultures.

Eye blinks are vital components of human gaze which are used for assessing human behaviour. We have analyzed the variability of the inter-blink durations, termed as blink rate variability (BRV), for analysing sustained attention for visual tasks. Uniformly sampled BRV series is reconstructed from the gaze data recorded using an eye tracker. A number of features are extracted from this series. We proposed a new feature based on pareto principle. Results show that skewness, kurtosis, mean frequency and pareto frequency are good indicators of sustained attention. We observed that with increase in attention level, the power of BRV series tends to have a normal distribution whereas the mean and pareto frequency decreases. Results were generated on a small dataset as a proof of concept of our hypothesis that BRV is a potential bio-marker of sustained attention in a visual task.

In the present study we aim to find specific characteristic based on brain activity, that can be used to evaluate attention and, thus, can be used in brain-computer interface. We propose an approach to collaborative BCI aimed to enhance human-to-human interaction while performing shared visual task. We also describe the setup for such BCI and its possible application in long task of classifying ambiguous visual stimuli with varying degrees of ambiguity by a group of people.

Working memory is thought to be divided into distinct visual and verbal subsystems. Studies of visual working memory frequently use verbal working memory tasks as control conditions and/or use articulatory suppression to ensure that visual load is not transferred to verbal working memory. Using these verbal tasks relies on the assumption that the verbal working memory load will not interfere with the same processes as visual working memory. In the present study, participants maintained a visual or verbal working memory load as they simultaneously viewed scenes while their eye movements were recorded. Because eye movements and visual working memory are closely linked, we anticipated the visual load would interfere with scene-viewing (and vice versa), while the verbal load would not. Surprisingly, both visual and verbal memory loads interfered with scene-viewing behavior, while eye movements during scene-viewing did not significantly interfere with performance on either memory task. These results suggest that a verbal working memory load can interfere with eye movements in a visual task.

Objective: The current investigation examined how a bout of soccer heading may impact brain function. Design: Semi-randomized crossover cohort. Setting: Controlled soccer heading. Participants: Seven male soccer players (24.1 ± 1.5 years). Intervention: 40 successful soccer headers were performed in 20 min (25 m, launch velocity ~80 km/h). X2 xPatch recorded linear and rotational head accelerations during each impact. A contact control “sham” condition – ball made body contact, but not by the head; and a no activity time “control” condition were also completed. Main Outcome Measures: Posterior and middle cerebral artery (PCA and MCA, respectively), cerebral blood velocity (CBV) was recorded during a visual task (neurovascular coupling: NVC) alongside SCAT3 symptoms scores pre/post a controlled bout of soccer heading. Results: Cumulative linear and rotational accelerations were 1,574 ± 97.9 g and 313,761 ± 23,966 rads/s2, respectively, during heading and changes in SCAT3 symptom number (pre: 2.6 ± 3.0; post: 6.7 ± 6.2, p = 0.13) and severity (pre: 3.7 ± 3.6, post: 9.4 ± 7.6, p = 0.11) were unchanged. In the PCA, no NVC differences were observed, including: relative CBV increase (28.0 ± 7.6%, p = 0.71) and total activation (188.7 ± 68.1 cm, p = 0.93). However, MCA-derived NVC metrics were blunted following heading, demonstrating decreased relative CBV increase (7.8 ± 3.1%, p = 0.03) and decreased total activation (26.7 ± 45.3 cm, p = 0.04). Conclusion: Although an acute bout of soccer heading did not result in an increase of concussion-like symptoms, there were alterations in NVC responses within the MCA during a visual task. This suggests an acute bout of repetitive soccer heading can alter CBV regulation within the region of the brain associated with the header impacts.

Human neurovascular coupling research conventionally aims to selectively activate the posterior circulation using a visual task. Different research groups use divergent visual tasks ranging in complexity and eye movement patterns with potential confounding effects. To understand the role of task complexity and eye movement patterns in neurovascular coupling, we performed a series of experiments with visual tasks ranging in complexity, eye speed, and eye movement amplitude. Greater task complexity significantly reduced selectivity for the posterior circulation. Greater task amplitude (i.e. larger eye movements) increased selectivity. These findings are important when interpreting and designing neurovascular coupling investigations.

Recently, rhythmic visual stimulation (RVS) has been demonstrated to affect the brain function by entraining neural oscillations. However, less is known about how RVS influences the functional connectivity across the whole brain. Here, we applied a graph theoretical approach to analyze the electroencephalography (EEG) connections of 60 nodes when subjects deployed their attention on visual task with different background stimulation, i.e. no background flicker, jittered flicker, and RVS of 6, 10, 15 and 40 Hz, respectively. Thirty-three subjects participated in this study. As a result, the 40-Hz rhythm led to the significantly fastest reaction among all conditions. Furthermore, significantly higher clustering coefficient (C) and small worldness (σ) of θ-band brain network were observed for higher-frequency RVS, which were significantly negatively correlated with reaction time (RT) (C-RT: r =-0.917, p =0.010; σ-RT: r =-0.894, p =0.016). In addition, we found an increase in the connections between dorsolateral prefrontal and visual cortices under RVS compared to no flicker. Our results indicate that RVS can improve the efficiency of brain cortical functional network to facilitate attention.

Influential accounts postulate distinct roles of the catecholamine and acetylcholine neuromodulatory systems in cognition and behavior. But previous work found similar effects of these modulators on the response properties of individual cortical neurons. Here, we report a double dissociation between catecholamine and acetylcholine effects at the level of cortex-wide network interactions in humans. A pharmacological boost of catecholamine levels increased cortex-wide interactions during a visual task, but not rest. Conversely, an acetylcholine-boost decreased correlations during rest, but not task. Cortical circuit modeling explained this dissociation by differential changes in two circuit properties: the local excitation-inhibition balance (more strongly altered by catecholamines) and intracortical transmission (more strongly reduced by acetylcholine). The inferred catecholaminergic mechanism also predicted increased behavioral exploration, which we confirmed in human behavior during both a perceptual and value-based choice task. In sum, we identified specific circuit mechanisms for shaping cortex-wide network interactions and behavior by key neuromodulatory systems.

Medical images are acquired at different resolutions based on clinical goals or available technology. In general, however, high-resolution images with fine structural details are preferred for visual task analysis. Recognizing this significance, several deep learning networks have been proposed to enhance medical images for reliable automated interpretation. These deep networks are often computationally complex and require a massive number of parameters, which restrict them to highly capable computing platforms with large memory banks. In this paper, we propose an efficient deep learning approach, called Hydra, which simultaneously reduces computational complexity and improves performance. The Hydra consists of a trunk and several computing heads. The trunk is a super-resolution model that learns the mapping from low-resolution to high-resolution images. It has a simple architecture that is trained using multiple scales at once to minimize a proposed learning-loss function. We also propose to append multiple task-specific heads to the trained Hydra trunk for simultaneous learning of multiple visual tasks in medical images. The Hydra is evaluated on publicly available chest X-ray image collections to perform image enhancement, lung segmentation, and abnormality classification. Our experimental results support our claims and demonstrate that the proposed approach can improve the performance of super-resolution and visual task analysis in medical images at a remarkably reduced computational cost.

Research indicates that deliberate thinking and eye movements are related. However, how various thought processes influence eye movements is not explored well. The present research examined the role of convergent and divergent thinking in eye movement. Divergent thinking involves novel alternatives, multiple uses, and unconventional answers which may require scanning visual surroundings precisely and extensively. Hence, it was hypothesized that divergent thinking would involve more scattered and detailed visual scanning than convergent thinking. Two experiments were conducted using repeated measures design: both involved a visual remote association task for convergent thinking and an adapted visual task of the alternate uses task for divergent thinking. Experiment 1 tracked participants’ eye movement while solving the task when images of objects were on the screen; whereas, in Experiment 2, the blank screen paradigm was used where the images of items were removed and the eyes were tracked while participants solved the task. Data analysis showed that the eye movements were more object focused during convergent thinking than divergent thinking. The results confirmed that participants in divergent thinking had more detailed and dispersed visual scanning than in convergent thinking.

Mobility, logistics and transportation are emerging fields of research and application. Humans’ mobility behavior plays an increasing role for societal challenges. Beside the societal challenges these areas are strongly related to technologies and innovations. Gathering information about emerging technologies plays an increasing role for the entire research in these areas. Humans’ information processing can be strongly supported by Visual Analytics that combines automatic modelling and interactive visualizations. The juxtapose orchestration of interactive visualization enables gathering more information in a shorter time. We propose in this paper an approach that goes beyond the established methods of dashboarding and enables visualizing different databases, data-sets and sub-sets of data with juxtaposed visual interfaces. Our approach should be seen as an expandable method. Our main contributions are an in-depth analysis of visual task models and an approach for juxtaposing visual layouts as visual dashboards to enable solving complex tasks. We illustrate our main outcome through a case study that investigates the area of mobility and illustrates how complex analytical tasks can be performed easily by combining different visual interfaces.

Previous studies have shown that perceptual segregation increases after listening to longer tone sequences, an effect known as buildup. More recently, an effect of prior frequency separation (Δƒ) has been discovered: presenting tone sequences with a small Δƒ biases following sequences with an intermediate Δƒ to be segregated into two separate streams, whereas presenting context sequences with a large Δƒ biases following sequences to be integrated into one stream. Here we investigated how attention and task demands influenced these effects of prior stimuli by having participants perform one of three tasks during the context: making streaming judgments on the tone sequences, detecting amplitude modulation in the tones, and performing a visual task while ignoring the tones. Results from two experiments showed that although the effect of prior Δƒ was present across all conditions, the effect was reduced whenever streaming judgments were not made during the context. Experiment 2 showed that streaming was reduced during the beginning of a test sequence only when participants performed the visual task during the context. These experiments suggest that task-based and stimulus-based attention differentially affect distinct influences of prior stimuli, and are consistent with the contribution of distinct levels of processing that affect auditory segregation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD) have difficulties controlling alcohol cravings and thus exhibit increased use and earlier relapse. Although patients tend to respond more strongly to alcohol-related images compared with non-alcohol-related images, few researchers examined the factors that modulate cravings. Here, we examined whole-brain blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) responses to behavioural cues in individuals with AUD and healthy controls (HCs). The participants included 24 patients with severe AUD and 15 HCs. We presented four beverage images (juice, drinking juice, sake, and drinking sake) and compared participant BOLD responses between the two groups. Multiple comparisons revealed that the AUD group had lower BOLD responses compared with the HC group to images of drinking juice in the left precuneus (p = 0.036) and the left posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) (p = 0.044) and higher BOLD responses to images of drinking sake in the left PCC (p = 0.044). Furthermore, compared to the HCs, the AUD patients had decreased BOLD responses associated with cue reactivity to drinking juice in the left precuneus during the period from 15 to 18 s (p = 0.004, df = 37) and 18 to 21 s (p = 0.002, df = 37). Using the Spearman correlation, we found a significant negative correlation between BOLD responses in the left PCC of the AUD patients and Mini–Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores (r = −0.619, p = 0.001). Our findings suggest that HCs and severe AUD patients differ in their responses not to images of alcoholic beverages but those related to alcohol drinking behavior. Thus, these patients appear to have different patterns of brain activity. This information may aid clinicians in developing treatments for patients with AUD.

Research has shown that possessions have the power to change consumers’ self-construal and activate different aspects of the self. Building on this literature, the authors suggest that the salience of product ownership not only activates the product-related self but also simultaneously deactivates product-unrelated selves, resulting in impaired performance on tasks unrelated to the activated self. In five experiments, we first elicit feelings of ownership over a product (e.g., a calculator) to activate a product-related identity (e.g., the math self). Participants then engage in a task that is labeled as being a product-related task (e.g., a math task) or a product-unrelated task (e.g., a visual task). Although the task is the same, participants in the ownership condition perform worse on a task labeled as product-unrelated than those in the baseline condition do. Support for the underlying identity activation process comes from the finding that performance impairment is more likely to hold under conditions of low self-concept clarity, in which identity is malleable. The authors discuss the theoretical and practical implications of this finding.

The ISO 17488 standard Detection Response Task (DRT) has been validated as an effective tool for measuring fluctuations in cognitive workload while driving and performing secondary tasks. This research evaluated the possibility of consolidating a dual stimulus DRT to a single remote LED stimulus to concurrently measure visual and cognitive demand. Hit rate and reaction times to a remote LED stimulus and an ISO standard vibrotactor stimulus were compared for three in-vehicles tasks: a single task baseline, a cognitively demanding task, and a visually demanding task. Analyses showed that the remote LED and vibrotactor were equally sensitive to cognitive load, while the remote LED was more sensitive to visual load. We suggest the remote LED DRT system serves as a cost-effective, practical, sensitive method to concurrently assess cognitive and visual demand.

Understanding the effects of haptic input while performing a cognitive-visual task on postural control can broaden comprehension of the functional integration hypothesis in older adults with and without a history of falls. We aimed to investigate the effect of haptic input provided by light touch (LT) and the anchors while performing a cognitive-visual task in faller and non-faller older adults when standing upright. Twenty-two fallers and twenty-two non-fallers older adults participated in this study. They stood upright with feet together and performed six experimental conditions combining haptic cues (none, LT, and anchors) and the presence/absence of the cognitive-visual task (the adapted visual Stroop test). In the anchor condition, participants held a flexible cable in each hand, with the other end of the cable attached to a force transducer. They pulled on the cables just enough to keep them taut, applying a small amount of force. The results showed that there was no group difference in postural sway in any condition. All participants reduced postural sway with haptic input provided by LT and anchors. They also reduced their postural sway in the anterior-posterior direction while performing the cognitive-visual task. Fallers and non-fallers benefited equally from the haptic input. Both groups were able to reduce postural sway with the cognitive-visual task, which supports the hypothesis that postural sway is modulated to facilitate the execution of other non-postural tasks and a history of falls does not affect this ability.

When two overlapping tasks are processed, they hit a bottleneck at a central processing stage that prevents simultaneous processing of the two tasks. Thus far, however, the factors determining the processing order of the tasks at the bottleneck are unknown. The present study was designed to (re)investigate whether the arrival times of the two tasks at the central bottleneck are a key determinant of the processing order (cf. Sigman & Dehaene, 2006). To this end, we implemented a visual-auditory dual task with a random stimulus order, in which we manipulated arrival time by prolonging the initial, perceptual processing stage (stimulus analysis) of the visual task and compared the effects of this manipulation with those of one impacting the central bottleneck stage of the visual task. Additionally, we implemented two instruction conditions: Participants were told to respond either in the order of stimulus presentation or in the order they preferred. The manipulation of the visual perception stage led to an increase in task response reversals (i.e., the response order was different from the order of stimulus presentation), whereas there was no such increase when the bottleneck stage was manipulated. This pattern provides conclusive evidence that the processing order at the bottleneck is (at least in part) determined by the arrival times of the tasks at that point. Reaction time differences between the two instruction conditions indicated that additional control processes are engaged in determining task processing order when the participants are expressly told to respond in the order of stimulus presentation.

This paper presents an approach for saliency detection able to emulate the integration of the top-down (task-controlled) and bottom-up (sensory information) processes involved in human visual attention. In particular, we first learn how to generate saliency when a specific visual task has to be accomplished. Afterwards, we investigate if and to what extent the learned saliency maps can support visual classification in nontrivial cases. To achieve this, we propose SalClassNet, a CNN framework consisting of two networks jointly trained: a) the first one computing top-down saliency maps from input images, and b) the second one exploiting the computed saliency maps for visual classification. To test our approach, we collected a dataset of eye-gaze maps, using a Tobii T60 eye tracker, by asking several subjects to look at images from the Stanford Dogs dataset, with the objective of distinguishing dog breeds. Performance analysis on our dataset and other saliency benchmarking datasets, such as POET, showed that SalClassNet outperforms state-of-the-art saliency detectors, such as SalNet and SALICON. Finally, we also analyzed the performance of SalClassNet in a fine-grained recognition task and found out that it yields enhanced classification accuracy compared to Inception and VGG-19 classifiers. The achieved results, thus, demonstrate that 1) conditioning saliency detectors with object classes reaches state-of-the-art performance, and 2) explicitly providing top-down saliency maps to visual classifiers enhances accuracy.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a self-monitoring intervention on the independent completion of dishwashing for three boys with autism (ages 6, 7, and 8) in China. The self-monitoring intervention included visual task analysis, in vivo modeling, self-recording, video self-feedback, and reinforcement. A multiple probe across subjects design was used. Prior to the study, the children had limited or no dishwashing skills, nor did they receive any training on self-monitoring. All three children acquired dishwashing and performed the task independently without supervision one week after the intervention. Their parents were very satisfied with this intervention.

Object detection is one of the most significant visual tasks in a road. So, artificial, lighting used in a road have a greater importance in visual task performance. In this, paper an attempt is made to simulate the road lighting situation for measuring the, ability of road users to detect object under different color temperature (CCT) of the light, source. The effect of color temperature of peripheral source on object detection is, investigated in this work with 20 neurologically and physiologically healthy subjects., The experiment was repeated with two types of lighting situations under four different, colour temperature (CCT) of the light source. The reaction/response time data along, with object colour perception under different lighting condition are recorded for further, analysis. Finally, it has been found that the colour temperature of light source has an, influence on the response time of the user

Background The World Health Organization (WHO) is currently assessing the potential health effects of exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMFs) in the general and working population. Related to one such health effect, there is a concern that RF-EMFs may affect cognitive performance in humans. The systematic review (SR) aims to identify, summarize and synthesize the evidence base related to this question. Here, we present the protocol for the planned SR. Objectives The main objective is to present a protocol for a SR which will evaluate the associations between short-term exposure to RF-EMFs and cognitive performance in human experimental studies. Data sources We will search the following databases: PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Scopus, and the EMF-Portal. The reference lists of included studies and retrieved review articles will be manually searched. Study eligibility and criteria We will include randomized human experimental studies that assess the effects of RF-EMFs on cognitive performance compared to no exposure or lower exposure. We will include peer-reviewed articles of any publication date in any language that report primary data. Data extraction and analysis Data will be extracted according to a pre-defined set of forms developed and piloted by the review author team. To assess the risk of bias, we will apply the Rating Tool for Human and Animal Studies developed by NTP/OHAT, supplemented with additional questions relevant for cross-over studies. Where sufficiently similar studies are identified (e.g. the heterogeneity concerning population, exposure and outcome is low and the studies can be combined), we will conduct random-effects meta-analysis; otherwise, we will conduct a narrative synthesis. Assessment of certainty of evidence The certainty of evidence for each identified outcome will be assessed according to Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE). Performing the review according to this protocol will allow the identification of possible effects of RF-EMFs on cognitive performance in humans. The protocol has been registered in PROSPERO, an open-source protocol registration system, to foster transparency.

A hierarchical and modular organization is a central hypothesis in the current primate model of auditory cortex (AC) but lacks validation in humans. Here we investigated whether fMRI connectivity at rest and during active tasks is informative of the functional organization of human AC. Identical pitch-varying sounds were presented during a visual discrimination (i.e. no directed auditory attention), pitch discrimination, and two versions of pitch n-back memory tasks. Analysis based on fMRI connectivity at rest revealed a network structure consisting of six modules in supratemporal plane (STP), temporal lobe, and inferior parietal lobule (IPL) in both hemispheres. In line with the primate model, in which higher-order regions have more longer-range connections than primary regions, areas encircling the STP module showed the highest inter-modular connectivity. Multivariate pattern analysis indicated significant connectivity differences between the visual task and rest (driven by the presentation of sounds during the visual task), between auditory and visual tasks, and between pitch discrimination and pitch n-back tasks. Further analyses showed that these differences were particularly due to connectivity modulations between the STP and IPL modules. While the results are generally in line with the primate model, they highlight the important role of human IPL during the processing of both task-irrelevant and task-relevant auditory information. Importantly, the present study shows that fMRI connectivity at rest, during presentation of sounds, and during active listening provides novel information about the functional organization of human AC.

Physical exercise and the training effects of repeated practice of skills over an extended period of time may have additive effects on brain networks and functions. Various motor skills and attentional styles can be developed by athletes engaged in different sports. In this study, the effects of fast ball sports and dance training on attention were investigated by event related potentials (ERP). ERP were recorded in auditory and visual tasks in professional dancer, professional fast ball sports athlete (FBSA) and healthy control volunteer groups consisting of twelve subjects each. In the auditory task both dancer and FBSA groups have faster N200 (N2) and P300 (P3) latencies than the controls. In the visual task FBSA have faster latencies of P3 than the dancers and controls. They also have higher P100 (P1) amplitudes to non-target stimuli than the dancers and controls. On the other hand, dancers have faster latencies of P1 and higher N100 (N1) amplitude to non-target stimuli and they also have higher P3 amplitudes than the FBSA and controls. Overall exercise has positive effects on cognitive processing speed as reflected on the faster auditory N2 and P3 latencies. However, FBSA and dancers differed on attentional styles in the visual task. Dancers displayed predominantly endogenous/top down features reflected by increased N1 and P3 amplitudes, decreased P1 amplitude and shorter P1 latency. On the other hand, FBSA showed predominantly exogenous/bottom up processes revealed by increased P1 amplitude. The controls were in between the two groups. WOS:000427611200005 29564028 Q2

Using graph theory, we examined topological organization of the language network in Chinese children with poor reading during an auditory rhyming task and a visual spelling task, compared to reading-matched controls and age-matched controls. First, poor readers (PR) showed reduced clustering coefficient in the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and higher nodal efficiency in the bilateral superior temporal gyri (STG) during the visual task, indicating a less functionally specialized cluster around the left IFG and stronger functional links between bilateral STGs and other regions. Furthermore, PR adopted additional right-hemispheric hubs in both tasks, which may explain increased global efficiency across both tasks and lower normalized characteristic shortest path length in the visual task for the PR. These results underscore deficits in the left IFG during visual word processing and conform previous findings about compensation in the right hemisphere in children with poor reading.

Gaze linking allows team members in a collaborative visual task to scan separate computer monitors simultaneously while their eye movements are tracked and projected onto each other’s displays. The present study explored the benefits of gaze linking to performance in unguided and guided visual search tasks. Participants completed either an unguided or guided serial search task as both independent and gaze-linked searchers. Although it produced shorter mean response times than independent search, gaze linked search was highly inefficient, and gaze linking did not differentially affect performance in guided and unguided groups. Results suggest that gaze linking is likely to be of little value in improving applied visual search.

Skin self-examination (SSE) consists of routinely checking the body for atypical moles that might be cancerous. Identifying atypical moles is a visual task; thus, SSE training materials utilize pattern-focused visuals to cultivate this skill. Despite widespread use, researchers have yet to explicate how pattern-focused visuals cultivate visual skill. Using eye tracking to capture the visual scanpaths of a sample of laypersons (N = 92), the current study employed a 2 (pattern: ABCDE vs. ugly duckling sign [UDS]) × 2 (presentation: photorealistic images vs. illustrations) factorial design to assess whether and how pattern-focused visuals can increase layperson accuracy in identifying atypical moles. Overall, illustrations resulted in greater sensitivity, while photos resulted in greater specificity. The UDS × photorealistic condition showed greatest specificity. For those in the photo condition with high self-efficacy, UDS increased specificity directly. For those in the photo condition with self-efficacy levels at the mean or lower, there was a conditional indirect effect such that these individuals spent a larger amount of their viewing time observing the atypical moles, and time on target was positively related to specificity. Illustrations provided significant gains in specificity for those with low-to-moderate self-efficacy by increasing total fixation time on the atypical moles. Findings suggest that maximizing visual processing efficiency could enhance existing SSE training techniques.

Electrophysiologically registered visual mismatch negativity (vMMN) is known to represent automatic visual processing in human visual cortex. Since physical activity (PA) is generally beneficial to cerebrovascular function, we wanted to find out if automatic visual processing is affected by PA. We investigated the connection between long-term leisure-time PA and precognitive visual processing in 32 healthy young males. Participants were divided into active (n = 16) and inactive (n = 16) group according to their leisure-time PA records from the past three years. vMMN was recorded with electroencephalogram using passive oddball paradigm with visual bars. Standard (90%) and deviant (10%) stimuli in different orientations were presented randomly while participant’s attention was directed to an audio play. No visual task was involved. vMMN difference waveforms were generated and peak latencies and signal integrals were determined in post-stimulus window of 100–300 ms. vMMN latencies were shorter in active part...

Background Objective measures have been shown to be equally sensitive in different cultures. However, these measures need special devices that are relatively expensive and need expertise to analyze the result. In Indonesia, there is a need for a sensitive and affordable mental workload measure. Objective To evaluate the sensitivity of Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) in assessing mental workload in Indonesia. Participants A total of 72 Indonesian students with normal visual capability. Method Participants were asked to work on visual memory search task with a secondary task of counting with three different levels of difficulty. GSR, Heart Rate Variability (HRV), and the NASA-TLX were administered prior to, during, and after the tasks. Results GSR measure was compared to NASA-TLX and HRV measures. Like the HRV, GSR showed to be sensitive in distinguishing rest and task condition significantly but not sensitive in distinguishing different levels of mental workload. In contrast, both the NASA-TLX and performance measure were sensitive in differentiating different levels of mental workload. Conclusions GSR has potential as a simple, cost-effective tool for measuring mental workload in Indonesia.

Despite the wide applications of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to mapping brain activation and connectivity in cortical gray matter, it has rarely been utilized to study white-matter functions. In this study, we investigated the spatiotemporal characteristics of fMRI data within the white matter acquired from humans both in the resting state and while watching a naturalistic movie. By using independent component analysis and hierarchical clustering, resting-state fMRI data in the white matter were de-noised and decomposed into spatially independent components, which were further assembled into hierarchically organized axonal fiber bundles. Interestingly, such components were partly reorganized during natural vision. Relative to resting state, the visual task specifically induced a stronger degree of temporal coherence within the optic radiations, as well as significant correlations between the optic radiations and multiple cortical visual networks. Therefore, fMRI contains rich functional information about the activity and connectivity within white matter at rest and during tasks, challenging the conventional practice of taking white-matter signals as noise or artifacts.

Scientific and analytical advances in lighting design metrics have created a perspective that empirically defines measurable parameters of daylight. These have narrowly focused on illuminance-based metrics of light and energy efficiency of high-performance buildings and disregarded the qualitative and health-effective dimensions of daylight. Design strategies implemented should not only meet green building standards and certification guidelines, but also consider human physiological and psychological responses. The intent of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of the design approach of atriums in two LEED educational buildings with regards to building performance, chronobiological benchmarks, and occupant’s behavior. To assess visual comfort and discomfort, light illuminance and spectral power distribution measurements were taken inside both atriums to analyze the spaces throughout a typical equinox day, and at different days for varying sky conditions. The results from this visual environment analysis were then translated to assess health effective light received with the use of the circadian stimulus (CS) and equivalent melanopic lux (EML) metrics. Behavioral logs and surveys were also documented to help establish any patterns that could draw attention to human responses which could identify mediating factors in the indoor environment. Results indicate that illuminance level measurements taken on horizontal planes tend to be greater than those in vertical planes facing different directions. This addresses designers’ misconception that meeting a spatial Daylighting Autonomy at the 300 lux benchmark (sDA300) on the horizontal working plane is sufficient. It is also noted that meeting the sDA300 benchmark is not a strong indicator of maintaining 0.3 circadian stimulus or 250 EML benchmark. Both circadian stimulus and equivalent melanopic lux biological benchmarks appear to be more difficult to meet than the visual task illuminance level benchmark requirements. This chapter highlights how human responses to the design of the luminous environment fit in the overarching scheme of daylighting design parameters and metrics. It emphasizes lesser known potential health effective light metrics adopted in the field for increased applications.

While there has been a marked increase in investigation of benefits of sporting engagement and fitness beyond typical health benefits, particularly looking at beneficial effects on cognitive ability, there has been less investigation of whether cognitive training can benefit sporting-specific skills. Here, the effects of simple cognitive training on a sport-related skill were assessed, with the specific hypothesis that training on a visual tracking task would improve the ability of volleyball players to spike the ball on a volleyball court (the volleyball equivalent of a tennis smash). Following training with such a task, improvement in spiking performance was seen when the target was indicated before spike execution but not when it was indicated during execution. There was some retention of the spiking improvements 1 month after visual task training. No improvements were seen when a cognitive task with no motion was used for training such that the results suggest benefits of appropriate cognitive training on aspects of sporting skills. Future work could beneficially assess application to a more sporting environment, evaluate the suitability of different cognitive training, and see if effects are seen in individuals with higher sporting skill.

In Viticulture, visual inspection of the plant is a necessary task for measuring relevant variables. In many cases, these visual inspections are susceptible to automation through computer vision methods. Bud detection is one such visual task, central for the measurement of important variables such as: measurement of bud sunlight exposure, autonomous pruning, bud counting, type-of-bud classification, bud geometric characterization, internode length, bud area, and bud development stage, among others. This paper presents a computer method for grapevine bud detection based on a Fully Convolutional Networks MobileNet architecture (FCN-MN). To validate its performance, this architecture was compared in the detection task with a strong method for bud detection, Scanning Windows (SW) based on a patch classifier, showing improvements over three aspects of detection: segmentation, correspondence identification and localization. The best version of FCN-MN showed a detection F1-measure of $88.6\%$ (for true positives defined as detected components whose intersection-over-union with the true bud is above $0.5$), and false positives that are small and near the true bud. Splits -- false positives overlapping the true bud -- showed a mean segmentation precision of $89.3\% (21.7)$, while false alarms -- false positives not overlapping the true bud -- showed a mean pixel area of only $8\%$ the area of a true bud, and a distance (between mass centers) of $1.1$ true bud diameters. The paper concludes by discussing how these results for FCN-MN would produce sufficiently accurate measurements of bud variables such as bud number, bud area, and internode length, suggesting a good performance in a practical setup., Comment: Revised version submitted to Journal of Computers and Electronics in Agriculture November 13, 2020

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0229187.].

The usage of partially automated systems has transformed certain traditional driving into monitoring tasks. Simultaneously, drivers may voluntarily switch attention to engage in a secondary visual task. The main purpose of this study was to explore how individuals’ attentional networks (i.e., alerting, orienting, and executive control) influence their visual attention allocation between monitoring and visual secondary tasks. In this study, we simulated specific dual-task condition by a well-controlled monitoring task combined with a visual secondary task. Participants’ visual attention allocation behaviour and task performances were compared with their attentional functions measured by standard Attention Network Test. Two attentional components’ significant effects were found: First, participants with more efficient alerting network spent less time on the monitoring task and exhibited more frequent switching behaviour. Second, participants with more efficient orienting networks showed longer reaction times in the secondary task and conducted less consecutive secondary task trials in once switching.

Purpose. To investigate the effects of chewing gum and tablet candy to reduce eyestrain in healthy individuals. Materials and Methods. A double-blinded crossover trial was conducted. Forty-six healthy individuals (23 men, 23 women) between 20 and 59 years old, feeling eyestrain, were enrolled. Each 10-year age group included 12 individuals except the 30s group, which included 10 individuals. A visual task was performed on reading material displayed on a computer screen at a fixed distance for 60 min. Gum or tablet candy of two pieces were chewed for two 15-min periods starting 15 and 45 min after starting to read. Subjects chewed gum on Day 1 and tablet candy on Day 2, and vice versa. Primary outcome is as follows: subjective eye fatigue (eye tiredness, eye heaviness, blurred vision, double vision, and eye dryness) using a visual analog scale (VAS). Secondary outcomes are as follows: subjective accommodation from near and far points of accommodation measured with a D’ACOMO, spherical equivalent refraction, and eye dryness by analyzing ring break-up time (RBUT) measured with the RT-7000 Auto Ref-Topographer. Results. The VAS scores of subjective eye fatigue were not significantly changed between chewing gum and tablet candy ( P = 0.397 - P = 0.909 ). Those scores of eye tiredness and eye heaviness were significantly longer before and after the visual task with tablet candy ( P = 0.013 and P = 0.025 , respectively) but not with chewing gum. The changes of subjective accommodation were significantly lower after the visual task between chewing gum and candy ( P = 0.043 ). There were significant differences among each age group (20 s vs. 30 s, P = 0.594 ; 20 s vs. 40 s, P = 0.002 ; 20 s vs. 50 s, P = 0.002 ). After reading, the changes of spherical equivalent refraction did not indicate a shift toward myopia ( P = 0.267 ). In the RBUT, there were no significant differences between the samples ( P = 0.680 ). Conclusions. Chewing gum helps improve the ability of the eye to focus, especially in young adults.

In the attention schema theory (AST), the brain constructs a schematic, simplified model of attention. The model is associated with three cognitive processes: a model of one's own attention contributes to the endogenous control of attention, a model of the attention of others contributes to theory of mind, and the contents of these models leads to the common human claim that we contain a non-physical consciousness or awareness inside us. Because AST is a control-engineering style theory, it can make specific predictions in complex situations. Here, over six experiments, we examined interactions between attention and awareness to test predictions of AST. Participants performed a visual task in which a cue stimulus affected their attention, as measured by their reactions to a subsequent target stimulus. The task measured both exogenous attention drawn to the cue and endogenous attention directed to a target location predicted by the cue. When participants were not aware that the cue predicted the target, both exogenous and endogenous attention effects remained. In contrast, when participants were not visually aware of the cue itself, the exogenous attention effect remained and the endogenous effect was impaired. In an additional two experiments, when participants learned an implicit shift of attention, the learning generalized from trained spatial locations to adjacent, untrained locations. Each of these findings matched predictions of AST. The results support the interpretation that attention control relies partly on an internal model that is responsible for claims of awareness.

Objective:Several studies agree on the link between attention and eye movements during reading. It has been well established that attention and working memory (WM) interact. A question that could be addressed to better understand these relationships is: to what extent can an attention deficit affect eye movements and, consequently, remembering a word? The main aims of the present study were (1) to compare visual patterns of word stimuli between children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and typically developing (TD) children, during a visual task on word stimuli; (2) to examine the WM accuracy of the word stimuli; and (3) to compare the dynamic of visual scan path in both groups.Method:A total of 49 children with ADHD, age and sex matched with 32 TD children, were recruited. We used eye-tracking technology in which the Word Memory Test was implemented. To highlight the scan path of participants, two measures were used: the ordered direction of reading and the entropy index.Results:ADHD groups showed a poorer WM than TD group. They did not follow a typical scan path across the words compared with TD children, but their visual scanning was discontinuous, uncoordinated, and chaotic. ADHD groups showed an index of entropy among the four categories of saccades higher than TD group.Conclusions:The findings were discussed in light of two directions: the relationship between atypical visual scan path and WM and the training implications related to the necessity of redirecting the dynamic of visual scan path in ADHD to improve WM.

National audience; Many parameters may impact the performance of users while engaged in tangible user interaction. In this paper, we explore the impact of the combination of the tangible control and the visual display on the performance of a 1D target acquisition task. We consider three tangible controls: a slider, a knob and a wheel, and two visual displays for the same 1D target acquisition task: a circular cursor and a linear cursor. We found that matching the visual and motor task has an impact on the performance. This work has implications ranging from current design of Tangible User Interfaces to research on shape-changing Tangible User Interfaces.; De nombreux paramètres peuvent avoir un impact sur la performance des dispositifs tangibles. Dans cet article, nous explorons l'impact de la combinaison du dispositif tangible en entrée, et de la représentation visuelle, sur les performances d'une tâche de pointage. Nous considérons trois dispositifs tangibles : un curseur linéaire, un bouton rotatif et une molette. Nous considérons aussi deux représentations visuelles, pour une même tâche de pointage : un curseur circulaire et un curseur linéaire affichés à l'écran. Nous constatons que la combinaison de tâches visuelles et motrices a un impact sur la performance. Ces travaux ont des implications pour la conception de l'interaction tangible, mais aussi pour la recherche sur les interfaces tangibles qui changent de forme.

The current study explored the influence of confidence rating on visual acuity. We used brief exposures of the Landolt gap discrimination task, probing the primary visual ability to detect contrast. During 200 practice trials, participants in the Confidence Rating group rated their response-confidence in each trial. A second (Time Delay) group received a short break at the end of each trial, equivalent to the average rating response time of the Confidence Rating group. The third (Standard Task) group performed the Landolt gap task in its original form. During practice, the Confidence Rating group developed an efficient monitoring ability indicated by a significant correlation between accuracy and confidence rating and a moderate calibration index score. Following practice, all groups performed 400 identical test trials of the standard Landolt gap task. In the test trials, the Confidence Rating group responded more accurately than the control groups, though it did not differ from them in response time for correct answers. Remarkably, the Confidence Rating group was significantly slower when making errors, compared the control groups. An interaction in learning efficiency occurred: the Confidence Rating group significantly improved its reaction times after the initial practice, as compared to both control groups. The findings demonstrate an effect of confidence rating on the formation of processing and response strategies, which granted participants significant benefits in later performance.

Background: To maximize the effect of intravenous (IV) thrombolysis and/or endovascular therapy (EVT) for acute ischemic stroke (AIS), stroke centers need to establish a parallel workflow on the basis of a code stroke (CS) protocol. At Kokura Memorial Hospital (KMH), we implemented a CS system in January 2014; however, the process of information sharing within the team has occasionally been burdensome. Objective: To solve this problem using information communication technology (ICT), we developed a novel application for smart devices, named “Task Calc. Stroke” (TCS), and aimed to investigate the impact of TCS on AIS care. Methods: TCS can visualize the real-time progress of crucial tasks for AIS on a dashboard by changing color indicators. From August 2015 to March 2017, we installed TCS at KMH and recommended its use during normal business hours (NBH). We compared the door-to-computed tomography time, the door-to-complete blood count (door-to-CBC) time, the door-to-needle for IV thrombolysis time, and the door-to-puncture for EVT time among three treatment groups, one using TCS (“TCS-based CS”), one not using TCS (“phone-based CS”), and one not based on CS (“non-CS”). A questionnaire survey regarding communication problems was conducted among the CS teams at 3 months after the implementation of TCS. Results: During the study period, 74 patients with AIS were transported to KMH within 4.5 h from onset during NBH, and 53 were treated using a CS approach (phone-based CS: 26, TSC-based CS: 27). The door-to-CBC time was significantly reduced in the TCS-based CS group compared to the phone-based CS group, from 31 to 19 min (p = 0.043). Other processing times were also reduced, albeit not significantly. The rate of IV thrombosis was higher in the TCS-based CS group (78% vs. 46%, p = 0.037). The questionnaire was correctly filled in by 34/38 (89%) respondents, and 82% of the respondents felt a reduction in communication burden by using the TCS application. Conclusions: TCS is a novel approach that uses ICT to support information sharing in a parallel CS workflow in AIS care. It shortens the processing times of critical tasks and lessens the communication burden among team members.

The most common tools to understand perception of food products are hall tests, surveys and observations. However, these approaches require large samples to get reliable results and they are rather costly and time-consuming. Furthermore, they are also highly expert-dependent and rely on the assumption that study participants can express their preferences consciously and explicitly. In our paper, we suggest an electroencephalography-based (EEG) approach to evaluate perceived product similarity in a cross-modal taste-visual task. We tested two potential neurometrics measured from Fz electrode: the amplitude of the N400-like evoked response potentials (ERP) and the power of induced gamma oscillations during 400–600 ms period after visual stimulus presentation. Both metrics showed a strong correlation with the perceived similarity scores at both individual and group levels; however, N400-like amplitude had greater inter-subject variability making it less suitable for practical applications. The results based on the power of induced gamma oscillations (N = 18) could be compared to traditional hall-tests (N = 200) and may potentially reveal subtle differences in food perception that can not be captured in the hall-tests.

Previously learned information is known to be reactivated during periods of quiet wakefulness and such awake reactivation is considered to be a key mechanism for memory consolidation. We recently demonstrated that feature-specific awake reactivation occurs in early visual cortex immediately after extensive visual training on a novel task. To understand the exact role of awake reactivation, here we investigated whether such reactivation depends specifically on the task novelty. Subjects completed a brief visual task that was either novel or extensively trained on previous days. Replicating our previous results, we found that awake reactivation occurs for the novel task even after a brief learning period. Surprisingly, however, brief exposure to the extensively trained task led to “awake suppression” such that neural activity immediately after the exposure diverged from the pattern for the trained task. Further, subjects who had greater performance improvement showed stronger awake suppression. These results suggest that the brain operates different post-task processing depending on prior visual training.