On the control of visual fixation durations in free viewing of complex images

Abstract

The mechanisms for the substantial variation in the durations of visual fixations in scene perception are not yet well understood. During free viewing of paintings, gaze-contingent irrelevant distractors (Exp. 1) and nongaze-related time-locked display changes (Exp. 2) were presented. We demonstrated that any visual change-its onset and offset-prolongs the ongoing fixation (i.e., delays the following saccade), strongly suggesting that fixation durations are under the direct control of the stimulus information. The strongest influence of distraction was observed for fixations preceded by saccades within the parafoveal range (<5°of visual angle). We assume that these fixations contribute to the focal in contrast to the ambient mode of attention

Saccadic context indicates information processing within visual fixations: Evidence from event-related potentials and eye-movements analysis of the distractor effect

“…We assumed that the saccadic context can distinguish functional processing differences within a fixation. We furthermore expected to replicate previous findings that showed a distinct influence of the preceding saccade amplitude on the distractor effect (see Pannasch et al, 2011;Pannasch and Velichkovsky, 2009) and anticipated a similar relation for the following saccade.…”

User engagement in online News: Under the scope of sentiment, interest, affect, and gaze

“…Focused attention [32] is also central to engagement; a feeling of energised focus and total involvement, often accompanied by loss of awareness of the outside world and distortions in the subjective perception of time. Gaze behaviour is also known to be associated with attention, interest, and perception, and has been extensively studied in information processing tasks like reading [9], visual search [35], scene perception [21], and recently in micro-blogging [12]. The importance of gaze in the assessment of engagement lies in the fact that, although looking might appear to be a process that is under voluntary control, conscious and deliberate control of fixation happens infrequently.…”

Methods for comparing scanpaths and saliency maps: strengths and weaknesses

“…This mode may be related to recognition and conscious understanding processes. Pannasch, Schulz, and Velichkovsky (2011) proposed the classification of fixations on the basis of the amplitude of previous saccades. If the preceding saccade amplitude is greater than a threshold, the fixation is assumed to belong to the ambient Fig. 14 Models performance tested on a the Le Meur data set (top) and b the Bruce data set (bottom).…”