Postgraduate Course: Eye Movements and Visual Cognition (PSYL11068)
Course Outline
| School | School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | Recording where and how long people look has become an important method for investigating how the mind and brain work. This course will explore what eye movements can tell us about visual attention in everyday tasks like reading and scene perception. |
| Course description |
The aim of this course is to develop students¿ understanding of the role of eye movements in visual cognition.
In lecture 1, the concept of visual attention is introduced; topics to be covered include the distinctions between exogenous versus endogenous attention, space- versus object-based attention, and covert versus overt attention.
The remaining lectures build on the idea that, most of the time, attention is active and overt and that visual selection typically involves selection via eye movements.
The course thus emphasizes the use of eye tracking to study visual attention and cognition. In lectures 2 to 5, the role of eye movements and attention in complex visual-cognitive tasks such as (1) reading, (2) scene perception, (3) dynamic image perception, and (4) real-world activity are discussed in depth. For each of these tasks, we will introduce and critically evaluate theoretical proposals made to explain the ¿Where¿ and ¿When¿ of eye fixations and attentional selection. Specifically, we will discuss factors influencing where and for how long we make fixations (fixation locations and durations), what we are able to process during a fixation, and how we determine where and when to fixate next within a sentence or a visual scene.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- understand the core theoretical concepts of visual attention, key experimental paradigms, and main sources of evidence associated with these concepts
- know the basic characteristics of eye movements and understand the relationship between eye movements and (overt) visual attention
- have a broad understanding of the field of eye-movement research, and in particular have considerable depth of knowledge in the areas of reading and scene perception
- to critically evaluate existing theories and empirical evidence
- to apply knowledge about eye movements and visual cognition in both written and oral form
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Reading List
Readings (core literature):
General overview (with focus on eye movement research):
Rayner, K. (2009). The 35th Sir Frederick Bartlett lecture: Eye movements and attention in reading, scene perception, and visual search. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 62(8), 1457-1506.
Lecture 1 (Visual Attention and Eye Movements: Introduction and Overview):
overview (text book chapter):
Findlay, J. M., & Gilchrist, I. D. (2003). Active vision: The psychology of looking and seeing. Oxford: University Press. (Chapter 3: Visual selection, covert attention and eye movements)
research article:
Rensink, R. A., O'Regan, J. K., & Clark, J. J. (1997). To see or not to see: The need for attention to perceive changes in scenes. Psychological Science, 8(5), 368-373.
Lecture 2 (Eye Movements in Reading):
methodological note: to learn about the measures of eye-movement control in reading, consult Tables 1 and 2 in the following article:
Radach, R., & Kennedy, A. (2004). Theoretical perspectives on eye movements in reading: Past controversies, current issues and an agenda for future research. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 16, 3-26.
opinion paper:
Reichle, E. D., Liversedge, S. P., Pollatsek, A., & Rayner, K. (2009). Encoding multiple words simultaneously in reading is implausible. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 13(3), 115-119.
research articles:
Rayner, K., Liversedge, S. P., White, S. J., & Vergilino-Perez, D. (2003). Reading disappearing text: Cognitive control of eye movements. Psychological Science, 14, 385-389.
Rayner, K., White, S. J., Johnson, R. L., & Liversedge, S. P. (2006). Raeding wrods with jubmled lettres - There is a cost. Psychological Science, 17(3), 192-193.
Lecture 3 (Eye Movements in Static Scene Viewing):
overview (text book chapter):
Findlay, J. M., & Gilchrist, I. D. (2003). Active vision: The psychology of looking and seeing. Oxford: University Press. (Chapter 7: Natural scenes and activities)
brief overview and pointer to current issues:
Henderson, J. M. (2003). Human gaze control during real-world scene perception. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 7(11), 498-504.
research articles:
Castelhano, M. S., Wieth, M. S., & Henderson, J. M. (2007). I see what you see: Eye movements in real-world scenes are affected by perceived direction of gaze. In L. Paletta & E. Rome (Eds.), Attention in Cognitive Systems (pp. 251-262). Berlin: Springer.
Lecture 4 (Eye Movements in Dynamic Scenes):
Dorr, M., Martinetz, T., Gegenfurtner, K. R., Barth, E. (2010). Variability of eye movements when viewing dynamic natural scenes. Journal of Vision, 10(10):28, 1-17.
Itti, L. (2005). Quantifying the contribution of low-level saliency to human eye movements in dynamic scenes. Visual Cognition, 12(6), 1093-1123.
Foulsham, T., Cheng, J. T., Tracy, J. L., Henrich, J., & Kingstone, A. (2010). Gaze allocation in a dynamic situation: Effects of social status and speaking. Cognition, 117(3), 319-331.
Lecture 5 (Eye Movements in the Real World):
overview of eye movements and the real world:
Land, M. F. (2007). Fixation strategies during active behaviour: a brief history. In R. P. G. van Gompel, M. H. Fischer, W. S. Murray & R. L. Hill (Eds.), Eye movements: A window on mind and brain (pp. 75-95). Oxford: Elsevier.
research articles:
Land, M., Mennie, N., & Rusted, J. (1999). The roles of vision and eye movements in the control of activities of daily living. Perception, 28(11), 1311-1328.
Deubel, H., & Schneider, W. X. (1996). Saccade target selection and object recognition: Evidence for a common attentional mechanism. Vision Research, 36, 1827-1837. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Additional Class Delivery Information |
Attend all lectures and tutorials as scheduled |
| Keywords | visual attention,eye movements,naturalistic scenes,reading |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Antje Nuthmann
Tel:
Email: |
Course secretary | Miss Toni Noble
Tel: (0131 6)51 3188
Email: |
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