Change Blindness Meredith Curtis Laurel Calderwood Undergraduate Research Symposium August 11, 2006
Overview Visual Short-Term Memory Eye Tracking Change Detection Strategies Experiment 1: Change Blindness Experiment 2: Cued Change Blindness Conclusions
Visual Short-Term Memory VSTM What is change blindness?
A
A’
A
Visual Short-Term Memory VSTM What is change blindness? How is it caused? Reveals that we usually overestimate the capacity of VSTM –We think we remember…but we don’t
Procedure Track participant using video-based eye tracker Data then coded –Fixations-at least 100 milliseconds Results interpreted from text file –What are we looking for?
Video-Based Eye Tracker How does it work? –Remote –Captures image of the eye –Tracks pupil/first surface reflection
Video-based Eye Trackers
Flicker Paradigm A, B, A’, B –A: 1 second –B: 20 milliseconds Types of Changes –Position –Addition/Subtraction –Color/Illumination A B A’ B
Example Movie
Question How do people move their eyes about an image while searching for a change? ?
Two Hypotheses Hypothesis #1 –Fixations made randomly until change is found
Two Hypotheses Hypothesis #2 –Fixations gradually move towards change: “preconscious” detection
Experiment 1 Change Blindness 15 RIT Students –9 Males –6 Females Years old
Hypothesis #1: No Pattern What We Are Looking For Hypothesis #2: Decrease Towards Zero
Y coordinate Distance to Target Center Auburn Air Patrol
Distance to Target Center: Subject 1 Distance to Target Center: Subject 2 Distance to Target Center: Subject 3Distance to Target Center: Subject 4
Shadows
Distance to Target Center: Subject 1Distance to Target Center: Subject 2 (failed) Distance to Target Center: Subject 3 Distance to Target Center: Subject 4 (failed)
Preconscious?
Random?
Data analysis is ongoing … Where we are now
Experiment 2: Cued Change Blindness
Thermal infrared (IR) systems are used in search and rescue, law enforcement, and by the military. Application Augmented search First, do no harm.
What is different? Similar Procedure Addition of ‘cues’ in each image set Valid or Invalid Cues
Hypotheses Valid - Eyes drawn to target, decreased detection latency Invalid - Distract eyes from target, increased detection latency
Invalid Cue
Valid Cue
Acknowledgements Dr. Jeff Pelz Dr. Andrew Herbert Everyone in the Visual Perception Lab COS Summer Research