Eye movement analysis of children’s attention for midline diastema

Abstract

No previous studies have investigated eye-movement patterns to show children’s information processing while viewing clinical images. Therefore, this study aimed to explore children and their educators’ perception of a midline diastema by applying eye-movement analysis using the hidden Markov models (EMHMM). A total of 155 children between 2.5 and 5.5 years of age and their educators (n = 34) viewed pictures with and without a midline diastema while Tobii Pro Nano eye-tracker followed their eye movements. Fixation data were analysed using data-driven, and fixed regions of interest (ROIs) approaches with EMHMM. Two different eye-movement patterns were identified: explorative pattern (76%), where the children’s ROIs were predominantly around the nose and mouth, and focused pattern (26%), where children’s ROIs were precise, locating on the teeth with and without a diastema, and fixations transited among the ROIs with similar frequencies. Females had a significantly higher eye-movement preference for without diastema image than males. Comparisons between the different age groups showed a statistically significant difference for overall entropies. The 3.6–4.5y age groups exhibited higher entropies, indicating lower eye-movement consistency. In addition, children and their educators exhibited two specific eye-movement patterns. Children in the explorative pattern saw the midline diastema more often while their educators focussed on the image without diastema. Thus, EMHMMs are valuable in analysing eye-movement patterns in children and adults.

Visual interpretation of clinical images among dental students using eye‐tracking technology

“…15 Hence, future studies could employ eye movement analysis with hidden Markov models to overcome the limitations identified in the present study's view pattern and diagnostic competence aspects. 16,17,18 Using a think-aloud protocol, including a range of clinical images with no time constraints in viewing, and involving the entire cohort of students with no information bias strengthens the study findings. To our knowledge, the present study is the first to explore students' gaze behavior and diagnostic competence while viewing clinical images, thus, precluding possible direct comparisons.…”

“…Hence, if the fixation is on the left of an image, the participants cannot saccade further left, thus initiating an oscillating movement from left to right 15 . Hence, future studies could employ eye movement analysis with hidden Markov models to overcome the limitations identified in the present study's view pattern and diagnostic competence aspects 16,17,18 …”

The Use of Eye-Tracking Technology in Dento-Maxillofacial Esthetics: A Systematic Review

“…In addition, the children and their educators differed in their preferred looking behavior while looking at a midline diastema. 45 Celine et al 46 observed that children have inherent preferences for where they fixate when viewing images of a dental operatory. Furthermore, their research supported observations that children fixated most on the dentist's face, particularly the circumoral area when they looked at the dentist.…”

“…Another study by Cho et al 44 reported that children with the distributed pattern shifted their fixations between images showing traumatic dental injuries. In addition, the children and their educators differed in their preferred looking behavior while looking at a midline diastema 45 . Celine et al 46 observed that children have inherent preferences for where they fixate when viewing images of a dental operatory.…”

Differential audiovisual information processing in emotion recognition: An eye-tracking study.

“…H. F. Chan et al, 2022; F. H. F. Chan, Suen, et al, 2020; Cho et al, 2022a, 2022b, 2022c), gaze perception (S. K. W. Chan et al, 2022), sustained attention to response (Lee et al, 2021), website viewing (Eckhardt et al, 2013), video viewing (Zheng, Ye, & Hsiao, 2022), scene perception (Hsiao, Lan, et al, 2021), reading (Liao et al, 2022), and visual search (Hsiao, Chan, et al, 2021).…”