@misc{FroemerDimigenNiefindetal.2015, author = {Fr{\"o}mer, Romy and Dimigen, Olaf and Niefind, Florian and Kliegl, Reinhold and Sommer, Werner}, title = {Are individual differences in reading speed related to extrafoveal visual acuity and crowding?}, series = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe}, journal = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe}, number = {494}, issn = {1866-8364}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-408003}, pages = {18}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Readers differ considerably in their speed of self-paced reading. One factor known to influence fixation durations in reading is the preprocessing of words in parafoveal vision. Here we investigated whether individual differences in reading speed or the amount of information extracted from upcoming words (the preview benefit) can be explained by basic differences in extrafoveal vision-i.e., the ability to recognize peripheral letters with or without the presence of flanking letters. Forty participants were given an adaptive test to determine their eccentricity thresholds for the identification of letters presented either in isolation (extrafoveal acuity) or flanked by other letters (crowded letter recognition). In a separate eye-tracking experiment, the same participants read lists of words from left to right, while the preview of the upcoming words was manipulated with the gaze-contingent moving window technique. Relationships between dependent measures were analyzed on the observational level and with linear mixed models. We obtained highly reliable estimates both for extrafoveal letter identification (acuity and crowding) and measures of reading speed (overall reading speed, size of preview benefit). Reading speed was higher in participants with larger uncrowded windows. However, the strength of this relationship was moderate and it was only observed if other sources of variance in reading speed (e.g., the occurrence of regressive saccades) were eliminated. Moreover, the size of the preview benefit-an important factor in normal reading-was larger in participants with better extrafoveal acuity. Together, these results indicate a significant albeit moderate contribution of extrafoveal vision to individual differences in reading speed.}, language = {en} } @article{EngbertTrukenbrodBarthelmeetal.2015, author = {Engbert, Ralf and Trukenbrod, Hans Arne and Barthelme, Simon and Wichmann, Felix A.}, title = {Spatial statistics and attentional dynamics in scene viewing}, series = {Journal of vision}, volume = {15}, journal = {Journal of vision}, number = {1}, publisher = {Association for Research in Vision and Opthalmology}, address = {Rockville}, issn = {1534-7362}, doi = {10.1167/15.1.14}, pages = {17}, year = {2015}, abstract = {In humans and in foveated animals visual acuity is highly concentrated at the center of gaze, so that choosing where to look next is an important example of online, rapid decision-making. Computational neuroscientists have developed biologically-inspired models of visual attention, termed saliency maps, which successfully predict where people fixate on average. Using point process theory for spatial statistics, we show that scanpaths contain, however, important statistical structure, such as spatial clustering on top of distributions of gaze positions. Here, we develop a dynamical model of saccadic selection that accurately predicts the distribution of gaze positions as well as spatial clustering along individual scanpaths. Our model relies on activation dynamics via spatially-limited (foveated) access to saliency information, and, second, a leaky memory process controlling the re-inspection of target regions. This theoretical framework models a form of context-dependent decision-making, linking neural dynamics of attention to behavioral gaze data.}, language = {en} } @misc{KuschpelLiuSchadetal.2015, author = {Kuschpel, Maxim S. and Liu, Shuyan and Schad, Daniel and Heinzel, Stephan and Heinz, Andreas and Rapp, Michael Armin}, title = {Differential effects of wakeful rest, music and video game playing on working memory performance in the n-back task}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-85151}, year = {2015}, abstract = {The interruption of learning processes by breaks filled with diverse activities is common in everyday life. We investigated the effects of active computer gaming and passive relaxation (rest and music) breaks on working memory performance. Young adults were exposed to breaks involving (i) eyes-open resting, (ii) listening to music and (iii) playing the video game "Angry Birds" before performing the n-back working memory task. Based on linear mixed-effects modeling, we found that playing the "Angry Birds" video game during a short learning break led to a decline in task performance over the course of the task as compared to eyes-open resting and listening to music, although overall task performance was not impaired. This effect was associated with high levels of daily mind wandering and low self-reported ability to concentrate. These findings indicate that video games can negatively affect working memory performance over time when played in between learning tasks. We suggest further investigation of these effects because of their relevance to everyday activity.}, language = {en} } @article{KuschpelLiuSchadetal.2015, author = {Kuschpel, Maxim S. and Liu, Shuyan and Schad, Daniel and Heinzel, Stephan and Heinz, Andreas and Rapp, Michael Armin}, title = {Differential effects of wakeful rest, music and video game playing on working memory performance in the n-back task}, series = {Frontiers in psychology}, journal = {Frontiers in psychology}, number = {6}, publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation}, address = {Lausanne}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01683}, year = {2015}, abstract = {The interruption of learning processes by breaks filled with diverse activities is common in everyday life. We investigated the effects of active computer gaming and passive relaxation (rest and music) breaks on working memory performance. Young adults were exposed to breaks involving (i) eyes-open resting, (ii) listening to music and (iii) playing the video game "Angry Birds" before performing the n-back working memory task. Based on linear mixed-effects modeling, we found that playing the "Angry Birds" video game during a short learning break led to a decline in task performance over the course of the task as compared to eyes-open resting and listening to music, although overall task performance was not impaired. This effect was associated with high levels of daily mind wandering and low self-reported ability to concentrate. These findings indicate that video games can negatively affect working memory performance over time when played in between learning tasks. We suggest further investigation of these effects because of their relevance to everyday activity.}, language = {en} }