Cross-participant and cross-task classification of cognitive load based on eye tracking

Cognitive load refers to the total amount of working memory resources a person is currently using. Successfully detecting the cognitive load a person is experiencing is the first important step towards applications that adapt to a user’s current load. Provided that cognitive load is estimated correctly, a system can enhance a user’s experience or increase its own efficiency by adapting to this detected load. Using digital learning environments as an example to illustrate this idea, a learning environment could tune the difficulty of presented exercises or learning material to match the learner’s current load to not underwhelm them, but also to prevent overload and frustration. Physiological sensors have great promise when cognitive load estimation is concerned as many physiological signals show distinctive signs of cognitive load. Eye tracking is an especially promising candidate as it does not require physical contact between sensor and user and is therefore very subtle. A major problem is the lack of general classifiers for cognitive load as classifiers are usually specific to a single person and do not generalize well. For adaptive interfaces based on a user’s cognitive load to be viable, a classifier that is accurate and performs well independently of user and specific task would be needed. In the current doctoral thesis, I present four studies that successively build upon each other and build up towards an eye-tracking based classifier for cognitive load that is 1) accurate, 2) robust, 3) can generalize, and 4) can operate in real-time. Each of the presented studies advances our approach’s capability to generalize one step further. Along the way, different eye-tracking features are explored and evaluated for their suitability as predictors of cognitive load and the implications for the distinction between cognitive load and perceptual load are discussed. The resulting method demonstrates a degree of generalization that no other approach has achieved and combines it with low hardware requirements and high robustness into a method that has great promise for future applications. Overall, the results presented in this thesis may serve as a foundation for the use of eye tracking in adaptive interfaces that react to a user’s cognitive load

The psychophysiology primer : A guide to methods and a broad review with a focus on human-computer interaction

Publisher Copyright: © 2016 B. Cowley, M. Filetti, K. Lukander.Peer reviewe

Signal Processing Using Non-invasive Physiological Sensors

Non-invasive biomedical sensors for monitoring physiological parameters from the human body for potential future therapies and healthcare solutions. Today, a critical factor in providing a cost-effective healthcare system is improving patients' quality of life and mobility, which can be achieved by developing non-invasive sensor systems, which can then be deployed in point of care, used at home or integrated into wearable devices for long-term data collection. Another factor that plays an integral part in a cost-effective healthcare system is the signal processing of the data recorded with non-invasive biomedical sensors. In this book, we aimed to attract researchers who are interested in the application of signal processing methods to different biomedical signals, such as an electroencephalogram (EEG), electromyogram (EMG), functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), electrocardiogram (ECG), galvanic skin response, pulse oximetry, photoplethysmogram (PPG), etc. We encouraged new signal processing methods or the use of existing signal processing methods for its novel application in physiological signals to help healthcare providers make better decisions

Augmenting low-fidelity flight simulation training devices via amplified head rotations

Due to economic and operational constraints, there is an increasing demand from aviation operators and training manufacturers to extract maximum training usage from the lower fidelity suite of flight simulators. It is possible to augment low-fidelity flight simulators to achieve equivalent performance compared to high-fidelity setups but at reduced cost and greater mobility. In particular for visual manoeuvres, the virtual reality technique of head-tracking amplification for virtual view control enables full field-of-regard access even with limited field-of-view displays. This research quantified the effects of this technique on piloting performance, workload and simulator sickness by applying it to a fixed-base, low-fidelity, low-cost flight simulator. In two separate simulator trials, participants had to land a simulated aircraft from a visual traffic circuit pattern whilst scanning for airborne traffic. Initially, a single augmented display was compared to the common triple display setup in front of the pilot. Starting from the base leg, pilots exhibited tighter turns closer to the desired ground track and were more actively conducting visual scans using the augmented display. This was followed up by a second experiment to quantify the scalability of augmentation towards larger displays and field of views. Task complexity was increased by starting the traffic pattern from the downwind leg. Triple displays in front of the pilot yielded the best compromise delivering flight performance and traffic detection scores just below the triple projectors but without an increase in track deviations and the pilots were also less prone to simulator sickness symptoms. This research demonstrated that head augmentation yields clear benefits of quick user adaptation, low-cost, ease of systems integration, together with the capability to negate the impact of display sizes yet without incurring significant penalties in workload and incurring simulator sickness. The impact of this research is that it facilitates future flight training solutions using this augmentation technique to meet budgetary and mobility requirements. This enables deployment of simulators in large numbers to deliver expanded mission rehearsal previously unattainable within this class of low-fidelity simulators, and with no restrictions for transfer to other training media

How to improve learning from video, using an eye tracker

The initial trigger of this research about learning from video was the availability of log files from users of video material. Video modality is seen as attractive as it is associated with the relaxed mood of watching TV. The experiments in this research have the goal to gain more insight in viewing patterns of students when viewing video. Students received an awareness instruction about the use of possible alternative viewing behaviors to see whether this would enhance their learning effects. We found that: - the learning effects of students with a narrow viewing repertoire were less than the learning effects of students with a broad viewing repertoire or strategic viewers. - students with some basic knowledge of the topics covered in the videos benefited most from the use of possible alternative viewing behaviors and students with low prior knowledge benefited the least. - the knowledge gain of students with low prior knowledge disappeared after a few weeks; knowledge construction seems worse when doing two things at the same time. - media players could offer more options to help students with their search for the content they want to view again. - there was no correlation between pervasive personality traits and viewing behavior of students. The right use of video in higher education will lead to students and teachers that are more aware of their learning and teaching behavior, to better videos, to enhanced media players, and, finally, to higher learning effects that let users improve their learning from video

Mobile advertising effectiveness versus PC and TV using consumer neuroscience

This Doctoral Thesis, entitled Mobile Advertising Effectiveness versus PC and TV, Using Consumer Neuroscience, while analyzes both the evolution of mobile advertising and its current situation, also discusses, how effective is mobile advertising when compared against advertising in other digital devices, such as PC and TV. The last few years have been characterized by an increase of the time that consumers spend on their mobile phones and as a result, by an increase in the expending on digital mobile advertising. Brands are already demanding models that measure digital advertising effectiveness, and consumer neuroscience technology may help, not only to measure it, but also to understand its impact on consumers. Considering this environment, this research proposes various recommendations for advertisers that may be considering using consumer neuroscience technology to measure mobile advertising effectiveness, as well as recommendations on how to design mobile ads that increase advertising effectiveness

Human factors in instructional augmented reality for intravehicular spaceflight activities and How gravity influences the setup of interfaces operated by direct object selection

In human spaceflight, advanced user interfaces are becoming an interesting mean to facilitate human-machine interaction, enhancing and guaranteeing the sequences of intravehicular space operations. The efforts made to ease such operations have shown strong interests in novel human-computer interaction like Augmented Reality (AR). The work presented in this thesis is directed towards a user-driven design for AR-assisted space operations, iteratively solving issues arisen from the problem space, which also includes the consideration of the effect of altered gravity on handling such interfaces.Auch in der bemannten Raumfahrt steigt das Interesse an neuartigen Benutzerschnittstellen, um nicht nur die Mensch-Maschine-Interaktion effektiver zu gestalten, sondern auch um einen korrekten Arbeitsablauf sicherzustellen. In der Vergangenheit wurden wiederholt Anstrengungen unternommen, Innenbordarbeiten mit Hilfe von Augmented Reality (AR) zu erleichtern. Diese Arbeit konzentriert sich auf einen nutzerorientierten AR-Ansatz, welcher zum Ziel hat, die Probleme schrittweise in einem iterativen Designprozess zu lösen. Dies erfordert auch die Berücksichtigung veränderter Schwerkraftbedingungen