Attention and information acquisition: Comparison of mouse-click with eye-movement attention tracking

Attention is crucial as a fundamental prerequisite for perception. The measurement of attention in viewing and recognizing the images that surround us constitutes an important part of eye movement research, particularly in advertising-effectiveness research. Recording eye and gaze (i.e. eye and head) movements is considered the standard procedure for measuring attention. However, alternative measurement methods have been developed in recent years, one of which is mouse-click attention tracking (mcAT) by means of an on-line based procedure that measures gaze motion via a mouse-click (i.e. a hand and finger positioning maneuver) on a computer screen.Here we compared the validity of mcAT with eye movement attention tracking (emAT). We recorded data in a between subject design via emAT and mcAT and analyzed and compared 20 subjects for correlations. The test stimuli consisted of 64 images that were assigned to eight categories. Our main results demonstrated a highly significant correlation (p<0.001) between mcAT and emAT data. We also found significant differences in correlations between different image categories. For simply structured pictures of humans or animals in particular, mcAT provided highly valid and more consistent results compared to emAT. We concluded that mcAT is a suitable method for measuring the attention we give to the images that surround us, such as photographs, graphics, art or digital and print advertisements

Feature Binding Through Temporally Correlated Neural Activity in a Robot Model of Visual Perception

. An agent performing a task in an environment must be able to selectively attend to visual stimuli. This ability is of critical importance for adaptive behavior in (vision-based) biological and artificial agents. In this paper we present a connectionist model of how visual attention can serve an agent to perform its task. The model is embedded in a mobile robot. Visual stimuli are segregated by means of synchronization of spiking neurons. They then enter a selection process, the result of which determines what region of the visual field the robot will attend and consequently react to. Results from the behavior of the robot as well as the underlying neuronal dynamics are presented, and limitations as well as future extensions of the model are discussed. 1 Introduction An agent performing a task in an environment must be able to select objects upon which to act. This requires (a) a segregation mechanism which binds image features belonging to objects and separates them from the backgro..

The Realator -- How to Construct Reality

We present an experimentation system we develop at the University of Hamburg for the study of space and time and spatio-temporal representations. To motivate our approach, we first review principal approaches to the study of cognition. We then explain what we call the realator approachby reflecting on the notion of reality. Finally,we present the system and its components and conclude with a brief report of some initial results