Human Interaction with mobile devices has recently been established as application field in eye tracking research. Current technologies for gaze recovery on mobile displays cannot enable fully natural interaction with the mobile device: users are conditioned to interact with tightly mounted displays or distracted by markers in their view. We propose a novel approach that captures point-of-regards (PORs) with eye tracking glasses (ETG) and then uses computer vision methodology for the robust localization of the smartphone in the head camera video. We present an integrated software package, i.e., the Smartphone Eye Tracking Toolbox (SMET) that enables accurate gaze recovery on mobile displays with heat mapping of recent attention. We report the performance of the computer vision approach and demonstrate it with various natural interaction scenarios using the SMET Toolbox, enable ROI settings on the mobile display and show results from eye movement analysis, such as, ROI dwell time and statistics on eye gaze event (saccades, fixations).
Background
Recent studies underline the importance of cognitive reserve, which is supported by stress reduction, pleasure experience and meditation, for mental health. Mindfulness training is successfully applied to dementia and indicate a lasting positive effect on cognitive reserve, well‐being and motivation. The research project OpenSense investigated the potential of VR‐based intervention and assessment for dementia care in a proof‐of concept study. The VR‐based intervention was developed to foster mindfulness and sensory activation.
Method
VR‐based intervention was applied in persons with dementia (PwD) with Alzheimer’s dementia (AD; n=12, age M=85.0 years, MMSE M=21.5) and healthy controls (n=12, age M=75.1 years, MMSE M=30) using 30 minutes of panoramic video‐based multi‐sensory experiences presenting stimuli that empower relaxation (body‐scanning, beach, forest) and activation (bakery, orchestra). EEG‐based alpha‐band signals (8‐12 Hz) associated with relaxation and inhibitory control were recorded before, during and after intervention and eye tracking was applied during intervention.
Result
Pre‐post EEG analysis showed significant increases in alpha power and brain connectivity for PwD with AD and controls (post > pre, p<.05). EEG baseline alpha power demonstrated higher values for healthy controls than for PwD (AD). Eye movement analysis demonstrated significant differences between PwD (AD) and controls: eye blink rate AD > controls, p=.004(**) from the observation of a 3 minutes video, and significant correlation (Rho=.607, p=.003(**); 3 minutes video) was achieved between eye movements and the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory score.
Conclusion
The potential of VR‐based intervention based on mindfulness and sensory activation is very promising: the study demonstrated significant increases of EEG alpha power and brain connectivity where PwD usually suffer from decline and gaze data acquired during intervention indicate potential for non‐invasive assessment for decision support. OpenSense anticipates numerous opportunities for novel VR‐based care services for empowering cognitive reserve, inducing sensory activation, raising awareness and motivation for self‐regulation, and as pervasive assessment tool.
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