Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38425554›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in psychology2024

Ambient and focal attention during complex problem-solving: preliminary evidence from real-world eye movement data.

Yuxuan Guo, Sebastian Pannasch, Jens R Helmert, Aleksandra Kaszowska

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in psychology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
1.0field-weighted citation impact, top 28% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed, 3 citations in OpenAlex.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Yuxuan GuoInstitute of Psychology III, Engineering Psychology and Applied Cognitive Research, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
Sebastian PannaschInstitute of Psychology III, Engineering Psychology and Applied Cognitive Research, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
Jens R HelmertInstitute of Psychology III, Engineering Psychology and Applied Cognitive Research, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
Aleksandra KaszowskaDepartment of Electronic Systems, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark.
TU Dresden · DEAalborg University · DK

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Time course analysis of eye movements during free exploration of real-world scenes often reveals an increase in fixation durations together with a decrease in saccade amplitudes, which has been explained within the two visual systems approach, i.e., a transition from ambient to focal. Short fixations and long saccades during early viewing periods are classified as ambient mode of vision, which is concerned with spatial orientation and is related to simple visual properties such as motion, contrast, and location. Longer fixations and shorter saccades during later viewing periods are classified as focal mode of vision, which is concentrated in the foveal projection and is capable of object identification and its semantic categorization. While these findings are mainly obtained in the context of image exploration, the present study endeavors to investigate whether the same pattern of interplay between ambient and focal visual attention is deployed when people work on complex real-world tasks-and if so, when? Based on a re-analysis of existing data that integrates concurrent think aloud and eye tracking protocols, the present study correlated participants' internal thinking models to the parameters of their eye movements when they planned solutions to an open-ended design problem in a real-world setting. We hypothesize that switching between ambient and focal attentional processing is useful when solvers encounter difficulty compelling them to shift their conceptual direction to adjust the solution path. Individuals may prefer different attentional strategies for information-seeking behavior, such as ambient-to-focal or focal-to-ambient. The observed increase in fixation durations and decrease in saccade amplitudes during the periods around shifts in conceptual direction lends support to the postulation of the ambient-to-focal processing; however, focal-to-ambient processing is not evident. Furthermore, our data demonstrate that the beginning of a shift in conceptual direction is observable in eye movement behavior with a significant prolongation of fixation. Our findings add to the conclusions drawn from laboratory settings by providing preliminary evidence for ambient and focal processing characteristics in real-world problem-solving.

Indexed as

ambient attentionfixation durationfocal attentionproblem-solvingreal-world eye movementssaccade amplitudethink aloudtwo visual systems

Identifiers

PMID38425554
PMCPMC10902451
OpenAlexW4391842049

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.