eyeScrollR: A software method for reproducible mapping of eye-tracking data from scrollable web pages.

The Internet has become an important part of our lives and an increasing number of researchers use eye-tracking technology to examine attention and behavior in online environments. Researchers, however, face a significant challenge in mapping eye-tracking data from scrollable web pages. We describe the R package eyeScrollR for mapping eye-tracking data from scrollable content such as web pages. The package re-maps eye-tracking gaze coordinates to full-page coordinates with a deterministic algorithm based on mouse scroll data. The package includes options for handling common situations, such as sticky menus or ads that remain visible when the user scrolls. We test the package's validity in different hardware and software settings and on different web pages and show that it is highly accurate when tested against manual coding. Compared to current methods, eyeScrollR provides a more reproducible and reliable approach for mapping eye-tracking data from scrollable web pages. With its open code and free availability, we recommend eyeScrollR as an essential tool for eye-tracking researchers, particularly those who adhere to open-science principles. The eyeScrollR package offers a valuable contribution to the field of eye-tracking research, facilitating accurate and standardized analysis of eye-tracking data in web scrolling contexts.

Estimation of cardiorespiratory fitness using heart rate and step count data.

Predicting cardiorespiratory fitness levels can be useful for measuring progress in an exercise program as well as for stratifying cardiovascular risk in asymptomatic adults. This study proposes a model to predict fitness level in terms of maximal oxygen uptake using anthropometric, heart rate, and step count data. The model was trained on a diverse cohort of 3115 healthy subjects (1035 women and 2080 men) aged 42 ± 10.6 years and tested on a cohort of 779 healthy subjects (260 women and 519 men) aged 42 ± 10.18 years. The developed model is capable of making accurate and reliable predictions with the average test set error of 3.946 ml/kg/min. The maximal oxygen uptake labels were obtained using wearable devices (Apple Watch and Garmin) during recorded workout sessions. Additionally, the model was validated on a sample of 10 subjects with maximal oxygen uptake determined directly using a treadmill protocol in a laboratory setting and showed an error of 4.982 ml/kg/min. Unlike most other models, which use accelerometer readings as additional input data, the proposed model relies solely on heart rate and step counts-data readily available on the majority of fitness trackers. The proposed model provides a point estimation and a probabilistic prediction of cardiorespiratory fitness level, thus it can estimate the prediction's uncertainty and construct confidence intervals.

Reading in Children Who Survived Cerebellar Tumors: Evidence from Eye Movements.

Cerebellar tumors often affect the eye movement centers located in vermis, negatively affecting cognitive development and learning abilities in children. Previous research has established that patients who survived cerebellar tumors tend to demonstrate various saccadic impairments (e.g., hypermetria) and poor gaze stability as compared to healthy controls. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the influence of oculomotor deficits in such patients on reading parameters. A total of 112 children (8-17 y.o.), 65 of whom survived cerebellar tumors, participated in the study. The study design included several oculomotor and reading tasks. Eye movements were recorded every 1/60 s monocularly with an Arrington eye tracker. We observed profound reading impairments in the patients as compared to healthy children, including longer reading time, greater numbers of fixations and regressive saccades, and longer fixation durations. We also found significant correlations between changes in basic oculomotor functions and reading parameters. The patients also demonstrated gaze fixation instability, large number of fixations, and long scanpath reflecting the return of the gaze to the already counted objects. Thus, oculomotor changes caused by cerebellar tumor and its treatment led to disturbances in such neurocognitive activity as reading. Our findings emphasize the necessity of considering these deficits in cerebellar tumor survivors when designing rehabilitation protocols.

Extrafoveal Processing in Categorical Search for Geometric Shapes: General Tendencies and Individual Variations.

The paper addresses the capabilities and limitations of extrafoveal processing during a categorical visual search. Previous research has established that a target could be identified from the very first or without any saccade, suggesting that extrafoveal perception is necessarily involved. However, the limits in complexity defining the processed information are still not clear. We performed four experiments with a gradual increase of stimuli complexity to determine the role of extrafoveal processing in searching for the categorically defined geometric shape. The series of experiments demonstrated a significant role of extrafoveal processing while searching for simple two-dimensional shapes and its gradual decrease in a condition with more complicated three-dimensional shapes. The factors of objects' spatial orientation and distractor homogeneity significantly influenced both reaction time and the number of saccades required to identify a categorically defined target. An analysis of the individual p-value distributions revealed pronounced individual differences in using extrafoveal analysis and allowed examination of the performance of each particular participant. The condition with the forced prohibition of eye movements enabled us to investigate the efficacy of covert attention in the condition with complicated shapes. Our results indicate that both foveal and extrafoveal processing are simultaneously involved during a categorical search, and the specificity of their interaction is determined by the spatial orientation of objects, type of distractors, the prohibition to use overt attention, and individual characteristics of the participants.

Attention Trade-Off for Localization and Saccadic Remapping.

Predictive remapping may be the principal mechanism of maintaining visual stability, and attention is crucial for this process. We aimed to investigate the role of attention in predictive remapping in a dual task paradigm with two conditions, with and without saccadic remapping. The first task was to remember the clock hand position either after a saccade to the clock face (saccade condition requiring remapping) or after the clock being displaced to the fixation point (fixation condition with no saccade). The second task was to report the remembered location of a dot shown peripherally in the upper screen for 1 s. We predicted that performance in the two tasks would interfere in the saccade condition, but not in the fixation condition, because of the attentional demands needed for remapping with the saccade. For the clock estimation task, answers in the saccadic trials tended to underestimate the actual position by approximately 37 ms while responses in the fixation trials were closer to veridical. As predicted, the findings also revealed significant interaction between the two tasks showing decreased predicted accuracy in the clock task for increased error in the localization task, but only for the saccadic condition. Taken together, these results point at the key role of attention in predictive remapping.

Postural balance in pediatric posterior fossa tumor survivors: Through impairments to rehabilitation possibilities.

BACKGROUND: The rehabilitation after pediatric brain tumors is a pressing issue in current neuro-oncology. The purpose of this study was to reveal the peculiarities of postural stability in pediatric posterior fossa tumor survivors as compared to the healthy controls. Additionally, we aimed to determine the feasibility of the balance biofeedback training for these patients. METHODS: We measured 6 postural stability parameters with the eyes opened and closed in 35 patients and 25 healthy controls aged 7-17. Further, the patients were divided into two groups: the intervention and waitlist. The intervention group was the first to undergo a 2-week biofeedback training designed to enhance balance control, while the waitlist group performed only the usual exercises. Then the groups were interchanged. Pre- and post-stability scores were measured in each condition. FINDINGS: The current results suggest the pronounced deficiency of stability in the patients. Their results in both opened and closed eyes conditions were similar. The post-training measurements revealed that some stability parameters were improved: ellipse square and mean root square oscillations in the frontal and sagittal planes. INTERPRETATION: The patients predictably demonstrated the significantly worse stability measurements as compared to the healthy controls. Moreover, they were shown not to use visual information to correct postural balance thus prompting us to assume severe deficits of the eye movements control due to the cerebellar pathology. This specificity, as well as the post-training significant improvement, emphasizes the clinical necessity to consider them when designing the rehabilitation protocols for posterior fossa tumor survivors.

Features of Media Multitasking in School-Age Children.

The paper addresses the phenomenon of media multitasking that is being widely spread among children and adolescents in the context of digital socialization. The previous research has revealed its strong connection with cognitive control, executive functions, and academic performance, yet the specificity and efficacy of media multitasking performance, especially among children while they carry out usual activities, remains insufficiently studied. A quasi-experimental study, including digital tasks of various types on a computer and smartphone, the dots task for executive functions, and a socio-psychological questionnaire, was conducted with the participants of three age groups: 7-10, 11-13, and 14-16 years old (N = 154). The results indicate that media multitasking is connected not with sex, but age; the older the participants are, the more likely they tend to work in a multitasking mode. Furthermore, preference for multitasking has been found to be positively related to higher user activity. Although the total task performance rate is insignificantly lower in the multitasking group as compared to the non-multitasking one, a significant negative effect of media multitasking on total performance time was revealed. The results of the study that indicate a strong connection of media multitasking with the intensity of Internet usage, cognitive functions, and performance time, suggest its considerable role in social and cognitive functioning of children and adolescents.