Combining Eye-tracking Data with an Analysis of Video Content from Free-viewing a Video of a Walk in an Urban Park Environment.

As individuals increasingly live in cities, methods to study their everyday movements and the data that can be collected becomes important and valuable. Eye-tracking informatics are known to connect to a range of feelings, health conditions, mental states and actions. But because vision is the result of constant eye-movements, teasing out what is important from what is noise is complex and data intensive. Furthermore, a significant challenge is controlling for what people look at compared to what is presented to them. The following presents a methodology for combining and analyzing eye-tracking on a video of a natural and complex scene with a machine learning technique for analyzing the content of the video. In the protocol we focus on analyzing data from filmed videos, how a video can be best used to record participants' eye-tracking data, and importantly how the content of the video can be analyzed and combined with the eye-tracking data. We present a brief summary of the results and a discussion of the potential of the method for further studies in complex environments.

Communication changes with laryngectomy and impact on quality of life: a review.

PURPOSE: Patients with throat cancer at later stages often undergo total laryngectomy, a procedure that removes the larynx (voice box) and directly impacts the patient's ability to produce natural voice and communication. This narrative review aimed to explore how changes to communication following laryngectomy may impact quality of life (QoL) for patients. METHODS: Literature searches were conducted using CINAHL, MEDLINE and PsychInfo databases for studies published between 2007 and 2018. The search terms (and derivatives) of laryngectomy AND communication AND quality of life were used. A synthesis and appraisal of the studies was conducted. RESULTS: Twelve studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in this review. The two main themes identified relating to changes in communication and impact on QoL were changes in communication competency (immediate changes and communication option used) and adaptation to change (e.g. self-related factors and relationships with others). Regardless of the type of communication option used, participants in all studies reported negative changes in their communication competency and QoL post-laryngectomy. Voice-related factors and aesthetics of the communication option used were noted to influence self-ratings of QoL for the participants, rather than how well others understood them. Participants using tracheoesophageal speech (TES) consistently showed the highest self-reported QoL across the majority of studies. A model incorporating the findings from this review has been proposed which outlines how changes in communication post-laryngectomy may lead to an impact on QoL. Here, the factors of changes in communication competency, self-perception and social engagement impact each other and are also influenced by adaptation to change. CONCLUSION: This review has highlighted the complex nature of changes faced by patients following laryngectomy in relation to communication and QoL. The model linking communication changes to QoL may become a useful tool for researchers and clinicians in supporting the management of patients post-laryngectomy.

Eye movements during the handwriting of words: Individually and within sentences.

Handwriting, a complex motor process involves the coordination of both the upper limb and visual system. The gaze behavior that occurs during the handwriting process is an area that has been little studied. This study investigated the eye-movements of adults during writing and reading tasks. Eye and handwriting movements were recorded for six different words over three different tasks. The results compared reading and handwriting the same words, a between condition comparison and a comparison between the two handwriting tasks. Compared to reading, participants produced more fixations during handwriting tasks and the average fixation durations were longer. When reading fixations were found to be mostly around the center of word, whereas fixations when writing appear to be made for each letter in a written word and were located around the base of letters and flowed in a left to right direction. Between the two writing tasks more fixations were made when words were written individually compared to within sentences, yet fixation durations were no different. Correlation of the number of fixations made to kinematic variables revealed that horizontal size and road length held a strong correlation with the number of fixations made by participants.

Tongue/palate contact for the production of /s/ and /z/.

Productions of /s/ and /z/ by ten adult speakers were investigated using the electropalatograph (EPG). The participants, ten speech researchers who spoke English as their first language, recorded productions of /s/ and /z/ in nonsense and real words. The maximum contact frame was used as the point of reference to compare tongue/palate contact for each production. Each speaker had alveolar contact, lateral bracing and most had a midline groove for both /s/ and /z/; however, the array of contacted electrodes was unique for each speaker. The groove widths and lengths ranged from 0-3 electrodes. There was significantly greater alveolar tongue/palate contact for /z/ compared to /s/ in word-initial position, but not in word-final position for the following measures: alveolar palatal contact, medial groove width, medial groove length. However, when measures of total palate contact and centre of gravity were considered, there was a complex interaction between the phonemes /s/ and /z/, coarticulation with the vowel, word position, and word context (real and nonsense words).

Forensic handwriting examiners' expertise for signature comparison.

This paper reports on the performance of forensic document examiners (FDEs) in a signature comparison task that was designed to address the issue of expertise. The opinions of FDEs regarding 150 genuine and simulated questioned signatures were compared with a control group of non-examiners' opinions. On the question of expertise, results showed that FDEs were statistically better than the control group at accurately determining the genuineness or non-genuineness of questioned signatures. The FDE group made errors (by calling a genuine signature simulated or by calling a simulated signature genuine) in 3.4% of their opinions while 19.3% of the control group's opinions were erroneous. The FDE group gave significantly more inconclusive opinions than the control group. Analysis of FDEs' responses showed that more correct opinions were expressed regarding simulated signatures and more inconclusive opinions were made on genuine signatures. Further, when the complexity of a signature was taken into account, FDEs made more correct opinions on high complexity signatures than on signatures of lower complexity. There was a wide range of skill amongst FDEs and no significant relationship was found between the number of years FDEs had been practicing and their correct, inconclusive and error rates.