@phdthesis{Cajar2016, author = {Cajar, Anke}, title = {Eye-movement control during scene viewing}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-395536}, school = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam}, pages = {vii, 133}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Eye movements serve as a window into ongoing visual-cognitive processes and can thus be used to investigate how people perceive real-world scenes. A key issue for understanding eye-movement control during scene viewing is the roles of central and peripheral vision, which process information differently and are therefore specialized for different tasks (object identification and peripheral target selection respectively). Yet, rather little is known about the contributions of central and peripheral processing to gaze control and how they are coordinated within a fixation during scene viewing. Additionally, the factors determining fixation durations have long been neglected, as scene perception research has mainly been focused on the factors determining fixation locations. The present thesis aimed at increasing the knowledge on how central and peripheral vision contribute to spatial and, in particular, to temporal aspects of eye-movement control during scene viewing. In a series of five experiments, we varied processing difficulty in the central or the peripheral visual field by attenuating selective parts of the spatial-frequency spectrum within these regions. Furthermore, we developed a computational model on how foveal and peripheral processing might be coordinated for the control of fixation duration. The thesis provides three main findings. First, the experiments indicate that increasing processing demands in central or peripheral vision do not necessarily prolong fixation durations; instead, stimulus-independent timing is adapted when processing becomes too difficult. Second, peripheral vision seems to play a prominent role in the control of fixation durations, a notion also implemented in the computational model. The model assumes that foveal and peripheral processing proceed largely in parallel and independently during fixation, but can interact to modulate fixation duration. Thus, we propose that the variation in fixation durations can in part be accounted for by the interaction between central and peripheral processing. Third, the experiments indicate that saccadic behavior largely adapts to processing demands, with a bias of avoiding spatial-frequency filtered scene regions as saccade targets. We demonstrate that the observed saccade amplitude patterns reflect corresponding modulations of visual attention. The present work highlights the individual contributions and the interplay of central and peripheral vision for gaze control during scene viewing, particularly for the control of fixation duration. Our results entail new implications for computational models and for experimental research on scene perception.}, language = {en} } @misc{HohensteinMatuschekKliegl2016, author = {Hohenstein, Sven and Matuschek, Hannes and Kliegl, Reinhold}, title = {Linked linear mixed models}, series = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe}, journal = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe}, number = {552}, issn = {1866-8364}, doi = {10.25932/publishup-42828}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-428281}, pages = {15}, year = {2016}, abstract = {The complexity of eye-movement control during reading allows measurement of many dependent variables, the most prominent ones being fixation durations and their locations in words. In current practice, either variable may serve as dependent variable or covariate for the other in linear mixed models (LMMs) featuring also psycholinguistic covariates of word recognition and sentence comprehension. Rather than analyzing fixation location and duration with separate LMMs, we propose linking the two according to their sequential dependency. Specifically, we include predicted fixation location (estimated in the first LMM from psycholinguistic covariates) and its associated residual fixation location as covariates in the second, fixation-duration LMM. This linked LMM affords a distinction between direct and indirect effects (mediated through fixation location) of psycholinguistic covariates on fixation durations. Results confirm the robustness of distributed processing in the perceptual span. They also offer a resolution of the paradox of the inverted optimal viewing position (IOVP) effect (i.e., longer fixation durations in the center than at the beginning and end of words) although the opposite (i.e., an OVP effect) is predicted from default assumptions of psycholinguistic processing efficiency: The IOVP effect in fixation durations is due to the residual fixation-location covariate, presumably driven primarily by saccadic error, and the OVP effect (at least the left part of it) is uncovered with the predicted fixation-location covariate, capturing the indirect effects of psycholinguistic covariates. We expect that linked LMMs will be useful for the analysis of other dynamically related multiple outcomes, a conundrum of most psychonomic research.}, language = {en} } @article{OhlWohltatKliegletal.2016, author = {Ohl, Sven and Wohltat, Christian and Kliegl, Reinhold and Pollatos, Olga and Engbert, Ralf}, title = {Microsaccades Are Coupled to Heartbeat}, series = {The journal of neuroscience}, volume = {36}, journal = {The journal of neuroscience}, publisher = {Society for Neuroscience}, address = {Washington}, issn = {0270-6474}, doi = {10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2211-15.2016}, pages = {1237 -- 1241}, year = {2016}, abstract = {During visual fixation, the eye generates microsaccades and slower components of fixational eye movements that are part of the visual processing strategy in humans. Here, we show that ongoing heartbeat is coupled to temporal rate variations in the generation of microsaccades. Using coregistration of eye recording and ECG in humans, we tested the hypothesis that microsaccade onsets are coupled to the relative phase of the R-R intervals in heartbeats. We observed significantly more microsaccades during the early phase after the R peak in the ECG. This form of coupling between heartbeat and eye movements was substantiated by the additional finding of a coupling between heart phase and motion activity in slow fixational eye movements; i.e., retinal image slip caused by physiological drift. Our findings therefore demonstrate a coupling of the oculomotor system and ongoing heartbeat, which provides further evidence for bodily influences on visuomotor functioning.}, language = {en} }