Cultural differences in attention: Eye movement evidence from a comparative visual search task

Identifying depression with mixed features: the potential value of eye-tracking features

Objectives

To investigate the utility of eye-tracking features as a neurobiological marker for identifying depression with mixed features (DMF), a psychiatric disorder characterized by the presence of depressive symptoms alongside subsyndromal manic features, thereby complicating both diagnosis and therapeutic intervention.

Methods

A total of 93 participants were included, comprising 41 patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), of whom 20 were classified as DMF, and 52 healthy controls (HC). Eye-tracking features were collected using an infrared-based device, and participants were evaluated using clinical scales including the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS), and Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS). Performance of extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) model based on demographic and clinical characteristics was compared with that of the model created after adding ocular movement data.

Results

Significant differences were observed in certain eye-tracking features between DMF, MDD, and HC, particularly in orienting saccades and overlapping saccades. Incorporating eye-tracking features into the XGBoost model enhanced the predictive accuracy for DMF, as evidenced by an increase in the area under the curve (AUC) from 0.571 to 0.679 (p < 0.05), representing an 18.9% improvement. This suggests a notable enhancement in the model's ability to distinguish DMF from other groups. The velocity of overlapping saccades and task completion time during free viewing were identified as significant predictive factors.

Conclusion

Eye-tracking features, especially the velocity of overlapping saccades and free viewing task completion time, hold potential as non-invasive biomarkers for the identification of DMF. The integration of these parameters into the XGBoost machine learning model significantly improved the accuracy of DMF diagnosis, offering a promising approach for enhancing clinical decision-making in psychiatric settings.

How Age and Culture Influence Cognition: A Lifespan Developmental Perspective

It has long been assumed that cognitive aging is a universal phenomenon. However, increasing evidence substantiates the importance of individual differences in cognitive aging. How do experiential factors related to culture shape developmental trajectories of cognition? We propose a new model examining how age and culture influence cognitive processes, building on past models and expanding upon them to incorporate a lifespan developmental perspective. The current model posits that how age and culture interact to influence cognition depends on (a) the extent to which the cognitive task relies on top-down or bottom-up processes, and (b) for more top-down processes, the level of cognitive resources required to perform the task. To assess the validity of the model, we review literature not only from adulthood but also childhood, making this the first model to adopt a lifespan perspective in the study of culture and cognition. The current work advances understanding of cognitive aging by delineating the combined effects of biological aging processes, assumed to apply across cultures, and culture-dependent experiential aging processes, which reflect unique cultural experiences throughout one's lifespan. This approach enables understanding of comprehensive potential mechanisms that underlie the influence of culture on cognitive development across life stages.

Effect of ethnic diversity on the saccadic reaction time among healthy Indian and Dutch adults

Eye movement perimetry (EMP) expresses the decline in visual field (VF) responsiveness based on the deviation in saccadic reaction times (SRTs) from their expected age-similar responses (normative database). Since ethnic dissimilarities tend to affect saccade parameters, we evaluated the effect of such a factor on SRT and its interaction with age, stimulus eccentricity, and intensity. 149 healthy adults, spread into five age groups, drawn from Indian and Dutch ethnicities underwent a customized EMP protocol integrated with a saccade task from which the SRTs to 'seen' visual stimuli were computed. The EMP test had a total of 54 coordinates (five stimulus eccentricities) tested using Goldmann size III visual stimuli presented at four stimulus intensity (SI) levels against a constant background. Considering SRT as a dependent variable, a Generalized Linear Mixed Model analysis was conducted that revealed a statistically significant (p < 0.001) influence of ethnicity and interaction between the tested factors (ethnicity × age × stimulus eccentricity × intensity). However, during the post hoc analysis, out of the 100 possible pair-wise comparisons, only 6% (minor proportion) of the estimates showed statistical significance. Hence, the ethnic-specific differences need not be accounted for while implementing EMP in a diverse set of populations instead a collective database might serve the purpose.

Naturalistic Eye Movement Tasks in Parkinson's Disease: A Systematic Review

Background

Eye tracking assessments in the laboratory have previously highlighted clear differences in eye movements between Parkinson's disease (PD) and healthy aging. However, laboratory-based eye movement tasks are artificial and limit the ecological validity of observed results. Eye movement tasks utilizing more naturalistic scenarios may provide more accurate insight into cognitive function but research in this area is limited.

Objective

This systematic review aims to ascertain what naturalistic tasks have revealed about oculomotor deficits in PD and what this information may help us understand about the underlying sensorimotor and cognitive processes.

Methods

Adhering to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement, a literature search of PsycInfo, Medline, Scopus, and Web of Science was conducted using predetermined search terms. Articles including both individuals with PD and healthy older adults completing eye tracking tasks involving naturalistic eye movements (e.g., reading, video-watching, unrestricted visual search) or naturalistic stimuli were included.

Results

After screening, 30 studies were identified as matching the inclusion criteria. Results revealed consistent findings across tasks, including longer fixation durations and smaller saccadic amplitudes in PD compared to healthy aging. However, inconsistencies in the literature and a lack of standardization in tasks limit interpretation of these results.

Conclusions

Naturalistic eye movement tasks highlight some consistent differences in eye movements between people with PD and healthy aging. However, future research should expand the current literature in this area and strive towards standardization of naturalistic tasks that can preferably be conducted remotely.

Use of minimal working memory in visual comparison: An eye-tracking study

In this study, we used a novel application of the previous paradigm provided by Pomplun to examine the eye movement strategies of using minimal working memory in visual comparison. This paradigm includes two tasks: one is a free comparison and the other is a single sequential comparison. In the free comparison, participants can freely view two horizontally presented stimuli until they judge whether the two stimuli are the same or not. In the single sequential comparison, participants can only view the left-side stimuli one time, and when their eyes cross the invisible boundary at the center of the screen, the left-side stimuli disappear and the right-side stimuli appear. Participants need to judge whether the right-side stimuli are the same as the disappeared left-side stimuli. Eye movement data showed significant differences between the single sequential comparison and free comparison tasks that suggests the use of minimal working memory in free comparison. Moreover, when the number of items was more than three, an average of 2.87 items would be processed in each view sequence. Participants also used the alternating left-right reference strategy that made the shortest scan path with the use of minimal working memory. The typical eye movement strategy in visual comparison and its theoretical significance were discussed.

Exploring cross-cultural variations in visual attention patterns inside and outside national borders using immersive virtual reality

We examined theories of cross-cultural differences in cognitive style on a sample of 242 participants representing five cultural groups (Czechia, Ghana, eastern and western Turkey, and Taiwan). The experiment involved immersive virtual environments consisting of two salient focal objects and a complex background as stimuli, which were presented using virtual reality headsets with integrated eye-tracking devices. The oculomotor patterns confirmed previous general conclusions that Eastern cultures have a more holistic cognitive style, while Western cultures predominantly have an analytic cognitive style. The differences were particularly noticeable between Taiwan and the other samples. However, we found that the broader cultural background of each group was perhaps just as important as geographical location or national boundaries. For example, observed differences between Eastern (more holistic style) and Western Turkey (more analytic style), suggest the possible influence of varying historical and cultural characteristics on the cognitive processing of complex visual stimuli.

What Simon "knows" about cultural differences: The influence of cultural orientation and traffic directionality on spatial compatibility effects

Previous research has suggested that culture influences perception and attention. These studies have typically involved comparisons of Westerners with East Asians, motivated by assumed differences in the cultures' self-concept or position on the individualism-collectivism spectrum. However, other potentially important sources of cultural variance have been neglected, such as differences in traffic directionality shaped by the urban spatial environment (i.e., left-hand vs. right-hand traffic). Thus, existing research may potentially place too much emphasis on self-concepts or the individualism-collectivism dimension in explaining observed cultural differences in cognition. The present study investigated spatial cognition using a Simon task and tested participants from four nations (Australia, China, Germany, and Malaysia) that differ in both cultural orientation (collectivistic vs. individualistic) and traffic directionality (left-hand vs. right-hand traffic). The task used two possible reference frames underlying the Simon effect: a body-centered one based on global stimulus position relative to the screen's center versus an object-centered one based on local stimulus position relative to a context object. As expected, all groups showed a reliable Simon effect for both spatial reference frames. However, the global Simon effect was larger in participants from countries with left-hand traffic. In contrast, the local Simon effect was modulated by differences in cultural orientation, with larger effects in participants from collectivistic cultures. This pattern suggests that both sources of cultural variation, viz. cultural orientation and traffic directionality, contribute to differences in spatial cognition in distinct ways.

Sources of variation in search and foraging: A theoretical perspective

Search-the problem of exploring a space of alternatives to identify target goals-is a fundamental behaviour for many species. Although its foundation lies in foraging, most studies of human search behaviour have been directed towards understanding the attentional mechanisms that underlie the efficient visual exploration of two-dimensional (2D) scenes. With this review, we aim to characterise how search behaviour can be explained across a wide range of contexts, environments, spatial scales, and populations, both typical and atypical. We first consider the generality of search processes across psychological domains. We then review studies of interspecies differences in search. Finally, we explore in detail the individual and contextual variables that affect visual search and related behaviours in established experimental psychology paradigms. Despite the heterogeneity of the findings discussed, we identify that variations in control processes, along with the ability to regulate behaviour as a function of the structure of search space and the sampling processes adopted, to be central to explanations of variations in search behaviour. We propose a tentative theoretical model aimed at integrating these notions and close by exploring questions that remain unaddressed.

Active visual inhibition is preserved in the presence of a distracter: A cross-cultural, ageing and dementia study

The current study investigated a novel visual distracter task as a potential diagnostic marker for the detection of cognitive impairment and the extent to which this compares in healthy ageing across two cultures. The Inhibition of a Recent Distracter Effect (IRD) refers to the inhibition of a saccadic eye movement towards a target that is presented at the location of a previous distracter. Two studies compared the IRD across a large cross-cultural sample comprising of young (N = 75), old European participants (N = 119), old south Asian participants (N = 83), participants with Dementia due to Alzheimer's disease (N = 65) and Mild cognitive impairment (N = 91). Significantly longer saccadic reaction times on the target to distracter trials, in comparison to the target to target trials were evident in all groups and age cohorts. Importantly, the IRD was also preserved in participants with Alzheimer's Disease and mild cognitive impairment demonstrating that the IRD is robust across cultures, age groups and clinical populations. Eye-tracking is increasingly used as a dual diagnostic and experimental probe for the investigation of cognitive control in Alzheimer's disease. As a promising methodology for the early diagnosis of dementia, it is important to understand the cognitive operations in relation to eye-tracking that are well preserved as well as those that are abnormal. Paradigms should also be validated across ethnicity/culture, clinical groups and age cohorts.

The Wealth State Awareness Effect on Attention Allocation in People From Impoverished and Affluent Groups

Previous studies have shown that poverty influences cognitive abilities and that those who have a negative living environment exhibit worse cognitive performance. In addition, eye measures vary following the manipulation of cognitive processing. We examined the distinctive changes in impoverished and affluent persons during tasks that require a high level of concentration using eye-tracking measures. Based on the poverty effect in impoverished people, this study explored how wealth state awareness (WSA) influences them. It was found that the pupillary state indexes of the impoverished participants significantly changed when their WSA was regarding poverty. The results suggest that awareness of poverty may cause impoverished individuals to engage in tasks with more attention allocation and more concentration in the more difficult tasks but that a WSA regarding wealth does not have such effect on them. WSA has no significant effects on their more affluent peers. The findings of this study can contribute to research on WSA effects on impoverished individuals from the perspective of eye measures.

Cultural variations in global and local attention and eye-movement patterns during the perception of complex visual scenes: Comparison of Czech and Taiwanese university students

Previous research on cross-cultural differences in visual attention has been inconclusive. Some studies have suggested the existence of systematic differences in global and local attention and context sensitivity, while others have produced negative or mixed results. The objective in this study was to examine the similarities and differences in holistic and analytic cognitive styles in a sample of Czech and Taiwanese university students. Two cognitive tasks were conducted: a Compound Figures Test and a free-viewing scene perception task which manipulated several focal objects and measured eye-movement patterns. An analysis of the reaction times in the Compound Figures Test showed no clear differences between either sample. An analysis of eye-movement metrics showed certain differences between the samples. While Czechs tended to focus relatively more on the focal objects measured by the number of fixations, the Taiwanese subjects spent more time fixating on the background. The results were consistent for scenes with one or two focal objects. The results of a correlation analysis of both tasks showed that they were unrelated. These results showed certain differences between the samples in visual perception but were not as systematic as the theory of holistic and analytic cognitive styles would suggest. An alternative model of cross-cultural differences in cognition and perception is discussed.

The Disengagement of Visual Attention: An Eye-Tracking Study of Cognitive Impairment, Ethnicity and Age

Various studies have shown that Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is associated with an impairment of inhibitory control, although we do not have a comprehensive understanding of the associated cognitive processes. The ability to engage and disengage attention is a crucial cognitive operation of inhibitory control and can be readily investigated using the “gap effect” in a saccadic eye movement paradigm. In previous work, various demographic factors were confounded; therefore, here, we examine separately the effects of cognitive impairment in Alzheimer’s disease, ethnicity/culture and age. This study included young (N = 44) and old (N = 96) European participants, AD (N = 32), mildly cognitively impaired participants (MCI: N = 47) and South Asian older adults (N = 94). A clear reduction in the mean reaction times was detected in all the participant groups in the gap condition compared to the overlap condition, confirming the effect. Importantly, this effect was also preserved in participants with MCI and AD. A strong effect of age was also evident, revealing a slowing in the disengagement of attention during the natural process of ageing.

A comparison of post-saccadic oscillations in European-Born and China-Born British University Undergraduates

Previous research has revealed that people from different genetic, racial, biological, and/or cultural backgrounds may display fundamental differences in eye-tracking behavior. These differences may have a cognitive origin or they may be at a lower level within the neurophysiology of the oculomotor network, or they may be related to environment factors. In this paper we investigated one of the physiological aspects of eye movements known as post-saccadic oscillations and we show that this type of eye movement is very different between two different populations. We compared the post-saccadic oscillations recorded by a video-based eye tracker between two groups of participants: European-born and Chinese-born British students. We recorded eye movements from a group of 42 Caucasians defined as White British or White Europeans and 52 Chinese-born participants all with ages ranging from 18 to 36 during a prosaccade task. The post-saccadic oscillations were extracted from the gaze data which was compared between the two groups in terms of their first overshoot and undershoot. The results revealed that the shape of the post-saccadic oscillations varied significantly between the two groups which may indicate a difference in a multitude of genetic, cultural, physiologic, anatomical or environmental factors. We further show that the differences in the post-saccadic oscillations could influence the oculomotor characteristics such as saccade duration. We conclude that genetic, racial, biological, and/or cultural differences can affect the morphology of the eye movement data recorded and should be considered when studying eye movements and oculomotor fixation and saccadic behaviors.

(Why) Do You Like Scary Movies? A Review of the Empirical Research on Psychological Responses to Horror Films

Why do we watch and like horror films? Despite a century of horror film making and entertainment, little research has examined the human motivation to watch fictional horror and how horror film influences individuals' behavioral, cognitive, and emotional responses. This review provides the first synthesis of the empirical literature on the psychology of horror film using multi-disciplinary research from psychology, psychotherapy, communication studies, development studies, clinical psychology, and media studies. The paper considers the motivations for people's decision to watch horror, why people enjoy horror, how individual differences influence responses to, and preference for, horror film, how exposure to horror film changes behavior, how horror film is designed to achieve its effects, why we fear and why we fear specific classes of stimuli, and how liking for horror develops during childhood and adolescence. The literature suggests that (1) low empathy and fearfulness are associated with more enjoyment and desire to watch horror film but that specific dimensions of empathy are better predictors of people's responses than are others; (2) there is a positive relationship between sensation-seeking and horror enjoyment/preference, but this relationship is not consistent; (3) men and boys prefer to watch, enjoy, and seek our horror more than do women and girls; (4) women are more prone to disgust sensitivity or anxiety than are men, and this may mediate the sex difference in the enjoyment of horror; (5) younger children are afraid of symbolic stimuli, whereas older children become afraid of concrete or realistic stimuli; and (6) in terms of coping with horror, physical coping strategies are more successful in younger children; priming with information about the feared object reduces fear and increases children's enjoyment of frightening television and film. A number of limitations in the literature is identified, including the multifarious range of horror stimuli used in studies, disparities in methods, small sample sizes, and a lack of research on cross-cultural differences and similarities. Ideas for future research are explored.

Urbanisation, the arousal system, and covert and overt attentional selection

Urbanisation is growing rapidly. We review evidence that this growth is altering the default information processing style of human beings by impacting both overt and covert processes of attentional selection (i.e. attentional selection with and without eye movements respectively), in ways consistent with reduced attentional engagement and increased exploration. While the factors and systems mediating these effects are likely to be many and various, we focus on one system which may be responsible for mediating effects on both covert and overt attentional selection. Specifically, the neuromodulatory locus coeruleus-norepinephrine (LC-NE) system is key to regulating cognitive function in a behaviourally relevant and arousal-dependent manner and therefore well suited to supporting adaptation to the profound socio-ecological changes inherent in urbanisation.

Investigation of eye movement pattern parameters of individuals with different fluid intelligence

Eye movement studies are subject of interest in human cognition. Cortical activity and cognitive load impress eye movement influentially. Here, we investigated whether fluid intelligence (FI) has any effect on eye movement pattern in a comparative visual search (CVS) task. FI of individuals was measured using the Cattell test, and participants were divided into three groups: low FI, middle FI, and high FI. Eye movements of individuals were then recorded during the CVS task. Eye movement patterns were extracted and compared statistically among the three groups. Our experiment demonstrated that eye movement patterns were significantly different among the three groups. Pearson correlation coefficients between FI and eye movement parameters were also calculated to assess which of the eye movement parameters were most affected by FI. Our findings illustrate that saccade peak velocity had the greatest positive correlation with FI score and the ratio of total fixation duration to total saccade duration had the greatest negative correlation with FI. Next, we extracted 24 features from eye movement patterns and designed: (1) a classifier to categorize individuals and (2) a regression analysis to predict the FI score of individuals. In the best case examined, the classifier categorized subjects with 68.3% accuracy, and the regression predicted FI of individuals with a 0.54 correlation between observed FI and predicted FI. In our investigation, the results have emphasized that imposed loads on low FI individuals is greater than that of high FI individuals in the cognitive load tasks.