1. Effects of Task Intensity on Attention
CS MQP 2008
Effects of Task Intensity on Attention
Daisuke Abe
Corey Christous
Advisor - Emmanuel Agu
Co-Advisor - Cliff Lindsay

2. Effects of Task Intensity on Attention
Hypothesis
Background
Experiment Design
Data Analysis
Conclusions

3. Hypothesis
As a task becomes more difficult, the user performing the task will notice less unrelated objects that they see.
Users with more expertise will notice more objects, because they require less attention on their task.
If we are able to show this, our results can be used to increase the efficiency of graphics rendering by eliminating details that are likely to be unnoticed.
Alternatively, our results can be used to judge what level of task intensity is appropriate when game designers want the players to appreciate the graphics.

4. Effects of Task Intensity on Attention
Hypothesis
Background
Experiment Design
Data Analysis
Conclusions

5. Background
Saliency – the property of an object to stand out in comparison to its surroundings
Attention Based Saliency – the property of an object to stand out because of its inherent contrast to its surroundings
Task Based Saliency – the property of an object to stand out because it is related to the task at hand
If our hypothesis is correct, task based saliency would dominate attention based saliency as the task becomes more difficult.
Players would only notice objects that are related to their task.

6. Attention Based Saliency Example Colors and Illumination

7. Task Based Saliency Example Game Objective

8. Effects of Task Intensity on Attention
Hypothesis
Background
Experiment Design
Data Analysis
Conclusions

9. Experiment Design
Designed a Doom 3 map with ten pick-up items, a few objects consistent with the environment, and a few objects inconsistent with the environment including images of famous figures
Varied the task difficulty by having one map without monsters (easy), one map with slow monsters(medium), and one map with fast monsters(hard)
Asked participants to answer a few questions about themselves, including gaming experience
Asked participants to collect all of the items as fast as they could, avoiding enemies
Placed objects such that participants would see almost all of them regardless of what route they took
Randomly assigned participants to each of the maps
Asked participants to list the objects they saw in the map

11. Effects of Task Intensity on Attention
Hypothesis
Background
Experiment Design
Data Analysis
Conclusions

12. Data Analysis: Pictures Seen vs Self-Rating graphs
Players who thought they were more proficient at first person shooting games noticed more pictures in the map
Self rating was accurate
While we saw some trends, our results are not statistically significant. However, we believe that increasing the difficulty differences will produce statistically significant results.

13. Data Analysis
Experienced players ignored objects that were natural in the map because of previous experience
Most objects the player sees in a FPS don’t do anything
Inexperienced players looked at everything
Participants who spent more time in the map noticed more objects
More experienced players noticed more images in the map
The players’ skill level affected perceived difficulty for the map

14. Effects of Task Intensity on Attention
Hypothesis
Background
Experiment Design
Data Analysis
Conclusions

15. Conclusions
Task intensity had an effect on performance and visual attention
Skill levels had an effect on perceived task intensity
Long term experience has more impact than current hours spent
Some participants used to play FPS games but stopped playing
Question about hours played might have produced inaccurate results

16. Suggestions for the Future
A thorough pre-experimental test to more accurately group participants into appropriate skill levels
Increase the difference in the difficulty levels in order to see statistically significant differences
Try other genres