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Interpretation of Geometric Shapes – An Eye Movement Study
                      Miquel Prats1                                            Iestyn Jowers2                                 Nieves Pedreira3
                      Steve Garner4                                            Alison McKay5                                University of A Coruña
                    The Open University                                       University of Leeds

Abstract                                                                                           recognition in order to implement shape grammars through
                                                                                                   repeated recognition and replacement of parts of shapes. Early
This paper describes a study that seeks to explore the correlation                                 results are promising, and a research prototype has been built,
between eye movements and the interpretation of geometric                                          but early adoption is limited, in part because the time and
shapes. This study is intended to inform the development of an                                     intellectual overhead needed to drive such systems interferes
eye tracking interface for computational tools to support and                                      with the creative flow. The research reported in this paper is
enhance the natural interaction required in creative design.                                       exploring the use of eye tracking technology as a means of
                                                                                                   providing user interactions that allow designers to focus on their
A common criticism of computational design tools is that they                                      design activity, with the design system as a tool that supports
do not enable manipulation of designed shapes according to all                                     whilst minimising disturbances to their creative flow.
perceived features. Instead the manipulations afforded are
limited by formal structures of shapes. This research examines                                     This paper reports results from early experiments investigating
the potential for eye movement data to be used to recognise and                                    what eye movements can reveal about a person’s interpretation
make available for manipulation the perceived features in shapes.                                  of a visual phenomenon. It is concerned with a particular type of
                                                                                                   visual phenomenon, namely that of shape defined by line against
The objective of this study was to analyse eye movement data                                       a plain ground. The early stages of this work is concerned with
with the intention of recognising moments in which an                                              geometric shapes but it is intended that it will progress into the
interpretation of shape is made. Results suggest that fixation                                     rather less clear world of sketched representations made as part
duration and saccade amplitude prove to be consistent indicators                                   of a creative designing process. This process can be
of shape interpretation.                                                                           characterised as the creation of design ‘structures’ through the
                                                                                                   combining of design ‘features’. It is a transformational process
CR Categories: I.3.6 Interaction techniques; I.5.2 Feature                                         revealing ‘moments’ when perceptions are transformed from
evaluation and selection; J.6.0 Computer-aided design                                              one state to another. This paper introduces our investigation of
                                                                                                   structures and features and offers findings from studies using
                                                                                                   eye tracking that explore this notion of design moments during
Keywords: Eye tracking, shape perception, design
                                                                                                   the interpretation of geometric shapes.

1       Introduction                                                                               2     Background
Conceptual design involves the creation, exploration and
development of design shape alternatives. Designers typically
                                                                                                   2.1     Shape Interpretation in Design
use freehand sketching to support this process, largely because it
offers ambiguity and so supports the reinterpretation of shapes                                    The ability to interpret shape is a fundamental skill in visually
that is key to effective shape exploration and development.                                        creative activities, such as conceptual design. It has been
Commercially available computer aided design (CAD) systems                                         observed that, when sketching, designers often produce series of
are used during detail design and design definition, but they are                                  ideas that are, in places, deliberately ambiguous and open to
not well suited to conceptual design activities because the                                        reinterpretation. These design alternatives are explored visually
support they offer for the reinterpretation of shapes is poor.                                     and can suggest patterns and associations that lead to new
Recent research has explored the feasibility of providing                                          avenues of exploration. Schön and Wiggins [1992] describe this
computer support for conceptual design through the integration                                     as a ‘seeing-moving-seeing’ process where seeing a sketch can
of shape grammar and computer vision technologies [McKay et                                        result in its reinterpretation according to emergent forms or
al. 2009]. Shape grammars are production systems which use                                         structures, and this in turn informs the development of future
the ambiguity of shapes in the formal generation of designs. The                                   sketches. Exploration in this way typically involves the
research presented by McKay et al., uses a method of object                                        recognition and transformation of shapes in sketches – such as
                                                                                                   overall outline shapes or the embedded parts of shapes (so-
    1                                                                                              called ‘subshapes’) [Prats et al. 2009]. Reinterpretation of
      email: m.prats@open.ac.uk
    2
      email: i.jowers@leeds.ac.uk                                                                  sketches to recognise alternative shapes or subshapes is a vital
    3
      email: nieves@udc.es                                                                         element in design exploration and is believed to be a decisive
    4
      email: s.w.garner@open.ac.uk                                                                 component of innovative design [Suwa 2003].
    5
      email: a.mckay@leeds.ac.uk
                                                                                                   2.2     Computational Shape Interpretation

Copyright © 2010 by the Association for Computing Machinery, Inc.                                  Despite the importance of reinterpretation in design exploration
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classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed
                                                                                                   it is not readily afforded by the current generation of
for commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the             computational design tools [Henderson 1999]. When a digital
first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be                product model is created a specific structure is defined using a
honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, to republish, to post on         fixed set of geometric elements, such as edges and surfaces.
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                                                                                             243
Reinterpretation of this structure to allow for newly recognised             exploration of designed shapes without disturbing their creative
patterns and associations is only straightforward when these                 flow.
emergent forms conform to subsets of the original set of
geometric elements. Otherwise, reinterpretation of a model                   2.3     Eye tracking and Shape Perception
necessitates redefinition according to a new set of elements. A
fixed structure such as this can lead to inconsistencies between
                                                                             Eye movements and points of visual fixation can reveal much
what can be perceived in a design model and the manipulations
allowed. Designers cannot easily manipulate all of the subshapes             about how shapes are viewed and interpreted in design. For
                                                                             example, some studies suggest that eye movements are
that they perceive and so cannot take advantage of emergent
                                                                             influenced by the semantic content of a scene [Henderson and
structures. As a result they are not free to explore the patterns
and associations that emerge as a designed shape is being                    Hollingworth 1998]. Yarbus [1967] illustrated that in addition to
                                                                             the content of a scene, eye movements and fixations are also
developed. They are restricted to manipulating shapes according
                                                                             influenced by a viewer’s intent. These studies were based on
to the structure by which the design was initially defined.
                                                                             viewers studying classical paintings, but the results have been
                                                                             successfully replicated for viewers looking at designed shapes
A variety of approaches have been proposed that aim to tackle
                                                                             [Koivunen et al. 2004].
this problem by enabling the manipulation of design models
according to perceived structures. For example, Saund and
                                                                             Research in perceptual localisation suggests that when looking
Moran [1994] present a WYPIWYG (What You Perceive is
                                                                             at a simple shape the eye is naturally drawn to the centroid, or
What You Get) drawing system that uses an image interpretation
architecture based on token grouping. Tokens are organised into              centre of gravity [Melcher and Kowler 1999; Vishwanath and
                                                                             Kowler 2003]. A common hypothesis argues that salient points,
a lattice structure which enables perceptual interpretations of a
                                                                             such as borders or edges, play an important role in this attraction
sketched shape to be specified and manipulated according to
simple gestures. Similarly, Gross [2001] presents the ‘Back of               [Itti and Koch 2000]. An alternative hypothesis proposed by
                                                                             Renninger et al. [2007] argues that the attraction occurs due to
an Envelope’ system - a drawing program that automates the
                                                                             task-relevant information collected during eye movements.
recognition of emergent subshapes in a sketch. The system
recognises these emergent forms by using standard pattern
                                                                             Studies in visual search suggest that shapes are recognised
recognition techniques commonly employed in drawing systems
                                                                             according to structural decompositions of simpler parts and the
to recognise and identify elements and configurations in
freehand input. Jowers et al. [2008] present an approach based               spatial relations between the parts [Hoffman and Richards 1984;
                                                                             Biederman 1987]. In creative design, it is believed that designers
on the shape grammar formalism [Stiny 2006], in which shape
                                                                             employ a similar process of decomposition, however the
replacement rules are applied to recognise and manipulate
perceived subshapes in a design. These shape rules provide a                 interpreted parts and the relationships between them can change
                                                                             dynamically throughout the design process as alternative
dual advantage, since as well as enabling the perceived structure
                                                                             interpretations of a shape are recognised [Stiny 2006]. This
of a design to be freely recognised they also formalise the
creative process by which a design is generated and thereby                  process of interpretation is similar to the perceptual phenomena
                                                                             exemplified by Kanizsa [1976] figures and the Necker [1832]
enable repetition of the process.
                                                                             cube, where a change in interpretation can result in the
A major limitation to each of these systems lies in the cognitive            recognition of alternative structures in a shape.
overhead needed to interface with them. For example, in Saund
                                                                             Studies concerning the viewing of ambiguous shapes, such as
and Moran’s system, a user is required to learn specific gestures
in order to specify a particular perception of a design. Gross’              the Necker cube, are inconclusive with respect to the relation
                                                                             between eye movements and interpretation. For example, Flam
system requires previous training with respect to emergent
                                                                             and Bergum [1977] conclude that eye movements and reversals
shapes that designers might find interesting. In Jowers et al.’s
system, users specify and manipulate perceived subshapes by                  of interpretation are unrelated, while Ellis and Stark [1978]
                                                                             conclude that eye movements precede the reversal of
defining shape replacement rules. In each of these, additional
                                                                             interpretation, and Einhäuser et al. [2004] conclude that eye
effort is needed to interact with the system to specify a particular
perception of a shape and no matter how small this effort is, it             movements follow reversals.
can result in an interruption to the creative flow of the user. A
                                                                             The research described in this paper is based on an assumption
more intuitive, dynamic system, one that better supports a
cognitive process of ‘seeing-moving-seeing’, would offer real                that there is a relation between eye movements and shape
                                                                             interpretation, and from this relation that interpretation can be
benefits in avoiding the need for users to explicitly define their
                                                                             deduced from eye movements. In particular, the study presented
interpretation of designed shapes. To this end eye tracking
technology presents itself as a potential interface for drawing              here explores eye movements with the intention of identifying
                                                                             moments at which an interpretation of an ambiguous shape takes
systems.
                                                                             place. This identification is a first step to developing an interface
Past research has explored the application of eye tracking as an             for drawing systems that enables natural interaction with
                                                                             perceived shapes and structures.
alternative drawing interface, to replace traditional mouse and
keyboard input, e.g. Hornof et al. [2004]. Here, it is proposed
that eye tracking can serve as an additional interface,                      3     Methodology
augmenting traditional input. It is proposed that eye tracking
data can reveal a users interpretation of a shape at a particular            The study described here is concerned with analysing eye
moment in time, and that a drawing system can respond to this                movement data with the objective of recognising moments at
interpretation by affording appropriate manipulations of the                 which interpretations of ambiguous shapes are made. To this end,
shape. Such an interface would allow designers to focus on their             participants in the study were asked to observe a series of shapes
design activity, with the design system as a tool that supports the          and perform set tasks, which naturally lead them to interpret the
                                                                             shapes in different ways. The tasks presented to the participants




                                                                       244
were simple viewing-based tasks requiring no specific skills or             square. The second image shown to the participants was similar
abilities, and as a result the participants were chosen without             to this, but contained a single triangle which they were asked to
consideration of background or experience. In total, 11                     find. The image in Figure 1b) was shown to the participants
participants were included in the study - these were a mixture of           three times, and each time they were shown the image they were
students and university staff, both male and female, with varied            asked to search for a different shape. These were an arrow, a
research interests, and ages ranging from early 30s to late 40s.            Pacman shape, and a T. In the image in Figure 1b), the three
Due to inaccuracies in calibration, data from 4 of these had to be          shapes emerge through figure-ground reversal or as a result of
discounted and consequently, the results presented here are                 overlapping and intersecting geometric primitives. As a result, in
drawn from the data of 7 participants.                                      order to find these shapes it was necessary for participants to
                                                                            reinterpret the shapes in the image.
3.1     Setup

During the study eye movement data was collected with a Tobii
X120 eye tracker (accuracy 0.5°, drift < 0.3°, binocular tracking,
data rate 120 Hz). This equipment is nonintrusive and includes a
head-motion compensation mechanism that allows for a freedom
of movement of 0 × 22 × 30cm. Despite this, participants were
asked to keep as steady as possible in order to ensure eye
movements were consistently captured. A dual VDU
arrangement allowed the facilitator to monitor the participants in
order to ensure that eye movement data was captured at all times.

Participants were encouraged to think-aloud whilst conducting                        Figure 1: Examples of images used in Task 1.
the tasks and a webcam with microphone was used to record any
verbalisations as well as any interaction between the facilitator           Task 2 – Shape recognition:
and the participants.
                                                                            Task 2 was a natural viewing task in which participants were
3.2     Shape interpretation tasks                                          asked to look at a series of three images and describe the shapes
                                                                            that they contain. The three images were all composed of
                                                                            overlapping polygons. For example, one of these images is
Participants were asked to complete three tasks which were
                                                                            illustrated in Figure 2, and is composed of three rectangles.
designed to encourage reinterpretation of ambiguous shapes.                 Participants had 10 seconds to view each image and name the
These were based on studies by Yarbus [1967], in which
                                                                            shapes that they recognised while performing the task.
participants were given different objectives that then influenced
their eye movements when viewing pieces of classical art. Here,
however, participants were not presented with meaningful art
forms. They were instead presented with abstract images
composed of geometric primitives, such as squares and triangles,
which were highly suggestive and open to reinterpretation [Stiny
2006].

Generally speaking, the three tasks can be classified according
to three visual strategies: i) shape detection; ii) shape
recognition; and iii) shape reinterpretation. Here, shape
detection is concerned with searching for a particular shape;
shape recognition is concerned with applying a meaning or                            Figure 2: Example of an image used in Task 2.
interpretation to a shape; shape reinterpretation is concerned
with recognising an alternative meaning or interpretation of a              Task 3 – Shape reinterpretation:
shape. These three strategies are not distinct and cannot be
considered independently, however each of the three tasks was               Task 3 was also a search task and, similar to Task 1, participants
intended to emphasise one strategy over the others.                         were asked to detect a specific shape in a series of three images,
                                                                            under no time constraint. As in Task 1, participants were asked
Task 1 – Shape detection                                                    to vocalise when they had found the shape by saying “Now”,
                                                                            and then focus on it for a few seconds.
Task 1 was a search task in which participants were asked to                The images the participants were shown were the same three
detect specific shapes in a series of three images, under no time           images used in Task 2, an example of which is illustrated in
constraint. The three images were composed of geometric                     Figure 2. In all three images, the participants were asked to find
primitives, and before each one was displayed the participants              the same six-sided polygon, illustrated in Figure 3. This shape
were shown a short instruction, e.g. 'If you look carefully, in the         was shown to participants at the beginning of the task, and in
next image you will find an arrow similar to this one (an image             order to detect it participants had to reinterpret the shapes they
of the arrow was shown)’. They were also asked to vocalise                  had previously seen in Task 2.
when they had found the shape by saying “Now”, and then focus
on it for a few seconds.

The image in Figure 1a) was the first image shown to the
participants. In this image, participants were asked to find the




                                                                      245
Table 2: Extract of participants’ transcript.

                                                                                     Time        Speaker       Transcript and actions
                                                                                    (mm:ss)
                                                                                     10.56                             Start task
                Figure 3: Target shape in Task 3.                                    11.00      Participant        humming to self
                                                                                     11.02      Participant             “Now”
3.3     Analysis                                                                     11.03      Participant      “It’s in front of me”
                                                                                     11.06      Facilitator          “Very good”
Eye movement data was analysed according to fixation                                 11.08                              End task
durations and saccade amplitudes. Longer fixation durations
indicate that the stimulus is engaging in some way, while shorter
durations are indicative of search [Just and Carpenter 1976].                These two sources of data were also supported by scan path data
Short saccades indicate a period of localised learning, while long           collected during the tasks, which was analysed visually. For
saccades suggest that the eye is attracted to distinct areas of the          example, in Figure 4 the scan path data for a participant viewing
stimulus [Goldberg et al. 2002]. Indeed, Unema et al. [2005] and             the image in Figure 1b) is illustrated. Here, fixations are
Velichkovsky et al. [2005] explore the relationship between                  presented as red circular nodes, with the diameter of the nodes
saccade amplitude and fixation duration in both ‘ambient’ and                representing duration, and saccades are presented as links
‘focal’ visual fixations and, based on this, it was expected that if         between the nodes.
an interpretation of a shape – related to focal processing – was
sufficiently engaging then it would result in longer fixation
durations together with shorter saccade amplitudes.

An extract of the data is presented in Table 1. Fixation points
were defined with a minimum fixation duration of 150 ms and a
fixation radius of 50 pixels. In Table 1, the Time values indicate,
in minutes and seconds, the timestamp at the start of a fixation;
the X and Y values are the screen coordinates, in pixels, of the
mean central point of a fixation. FD values are the duration, in
milliseconds, of a fixation; and SA values are the saccade                                 Figure 4: Example of scan path data
amplitude, in pixels, calculated between the centre points of
successive fixations. This data was plotted in graphs that                   4     Results
visualise the fixation duration (in milliseconds) and saccade
amplitude (in pixels) as they change over time. Examples of
these graphs are presented and discussed in the next section.                The objective of this research was to explore the possibility of
                                                                             using eye tracking as an interface for a computational design
             Table 1: Extract of participants’ data.                         system. It is intended that eye movements will be used to inform
                                                                             such a system with respect to users’ interpretations of designed
                                                                             shapes. To this end, the study reported here is concerned with
           Time          X        Y        FD        SA
                                                                             recognising patterns in eye movements that correspond with
          (mm:ss)       (px)     (px)     (ms)      (px)
                                                                             moments at which an interpretation of a shape is made, termed
          10:31.454    524.19    486.00    966       -                       the ‘Now’ moments. The following discussion explores the
          10:31.904    438.91    495.53    533    85.812                     significance of participants’ data with respect to the three visual
          10:32.453    441.88    623.29    566    127.80                     strategies of shape detection, shape recognition, and shape
                                                                             reinterpretation.
          10:33.170    447.96    481.35    866    142.08
          10:33.836    443.04    479.41    366      5.28                     4.1     Task 1 – Shape detection
          10:34.319    449.30    596.81    600    117.56
          10:34.877    446.40    639.00    416     42.29                     Figure 5 illustrates three graphs plotting one participant’s data
          10:35.368    454.34    474.09    533    165.10                     from Task 1. Similar graphs were plotted for each participant
                                                                             and each task. In these graphs fixation durations and saccade
          10:36.159    465.07    460.70    949     17.16                     amplitudes are plotted against time. Fixation duration is plotted
          10:36.875    463.09    454.96    600      6.08                     as a dashed blue line and corresponds to the axis on the left-hand
                                                                             side of the graphs, while saccade amplitude is plotted as a
                                                                             continuous red line and corresponds to the axis on the right-hand
In addition to the numerical data, the verbalisations made by                side. Also plotted on the graphs are the ‘Now’ moments –
participants during the tasks were transcribed and analysed.                 moments at which a target shape is detected. These moments
Participants were encouraged to express their interpretations of             were specified by considering transcripts of participants’
images as they viewed them and, especially, in Task 1 and Task               vocalisations, as illustrated in Table 2. In the first of these
3, they were instructed to indicate the moments at which                     graphs, the target shape was a square which was to be found in
requested shapes were found, as illustrated by the extract in                the image in Figure 1a), in the second graph the target shape was
Table 2. The transcripts provide further qualitative data to                 a triangle, and in the third the target shape was a Pacman shape
support conclusions drawn from the quantitative data discussed               which was to be found in the image in Figure 1b).
in Section 4.




                                                                       246
primary source of data for this analysis, and instead must be
                                                                           used only to support conclusions drawn from the quantitative
                                                                           data.

                                                                           4.2     Task 2 – Shape recognition

                                                                           Figure 7 illustrates three graphs plotting participants’ data from
                                                                           Task 2. In this task natural viewing of the images was
                                                                           encouraged and participants were not asked to detect or focus on
                                                                           any particular shape. Instead they were free to recognise any
                                                                           shapes in the images, and were asked to verbalise the shapes that
                                                                           they recognised. The three graphs illustrated are based on data
                                                                           collected as participants viewed the image in Figure 2.

                                                                           The graphs from Task 2 were analysed independently of the
                                                                           verbal data in order to identify fixation patterns as identified in
                                                                           analysis of Task 1. If such patterns correlate to moments of
                                                                           interpretation, the ‘Now’ moments, then they should be apparent
                                                                           in the graphs at moments that shapes are recognised. In the first
                                                                           and second graphs in Figure 7 three ‘Now’ moments were
                                                                           identified, while in the last graph in Figure 7 four ‘Now’
                                                                           moments were identified. Each of these moments follows an
                                                                           increase in the fixation duration and a decrease of saccade
                                                                           amplitude.
       Figure 5: Plots of participants’ data from Task 1.                  With these moments identified, the verbal data was consulted in
In each of these three graphs, it is clear that ‘Now’ moments              order to verify that they are indeed moments at which shapes
follow immediately after an increase in the fixation duration and          were recognised in the image. Each of the three participants
a decrease of saccade amplitude. A similar pattern was visible in          recognised the image in Figure 2 as three overlapping rectangles.
more than 70% of the graphs plotted based on the data from this            In particular, the verbal data corresponding to the first graph in
study, which confirms our expectation based on the literature              Figure 7 revealed that this interpretation was made at time 09:56,
[Just and Carpenter 1976; Goldberg et al. 2002].                           the verbal data for the second graph in Figure 7 revealed that
                                                                           this interpretation was made at time 9:05, and the verbal data
An anomalous graph, that does not follow this trend, is                    revealed that the interpretation in the last graph in Figure 7 was
illustrated in Figure 6. Here, the target shape was a square which         made at time 9:26, and also at time 9:32 referring to another
was to be found in the image in Figure 1a). Unlike the graphs in           interpretation. Small discrepancies in these two sources of data
Figure 5, the ‘Now’ moment in this graph is not immediately                can be attributed to delays in verbal responses, as discussed
preceded by a decrease of saccade amplitude. However, analysis             earlier. Most of these moments of shape recognition correlate
of the participant’s scan path data suggests that this anomaly is          with identified ‘Now’ moments in the graphs.
caused by a significant delay between the detection of the target
shape and the verbal confirmation of this detection. The fixation
point labelled 5 in the graph was located within the target shape
– the square – and immediately following this fixation there was
an increase in fixation duration and decrease in saccade
amplitude. This indicates that the target shape was detected at
this moment, and the participant only verbalised the detection
after further visual search of the image. Similarly, fixation
points labelled 12 and 18 were also located within the target
shape, and are also preceded by an increase in fixation duration
and decrease in saccade amplitude.




   Figure 6: Another plot of participants’ data from Task 1.

It is likely that delay between detection of the target shape and
the verbalisation of this detection is common across all
participants. As a result, the verbal data cannot be considered a                 Figure 7: Plots of participants’ data from Task 2.




                                                                     247
The additional ‘Now’ moments identified in the graphs also                 scan path data. In Figure 9 the scan path data for three of the
correlate to moments of shape recognition, as evidenced by the             participants as they viewed the shape in Figure 2 is illustrated.
verbal data. For example, the verbal data corresponding to the             Here, two different interpretations of the shape are presented
last graph in Figure 7 is presented in Table 3. Each of the ‘Now’          which result from the participants responding to Task 2 and
moments in the graph corresponds to a vocalisation in this                 Task 3.
transcript.

Table 3: Transcript corresponding to the last graph in Figure 7.

  Time        Speaker            Transcript and actions
 (mm:ss)
  09.21                                  Start task
  09.24      Facilitator         “What do you see here?”
  09.26      Participant         “Uh, three rectangles...”
  09.29      Participant   “...and superimposed on each other”
  09.31      Facilitator                   “OK”
  09.32      Participant   “...creating the image of triangles”
  09.33                                  End task

4.3     Task 3 – Shape reinterpretation

Analyses of the data from Task 1 and 2 has suggests that
fixation patterns can be used to identify moments at which
shapes are detected and recognised. The visual strategies of
shape detection and shape recognition both include elements of
shape interpretation, and Task 3 was concerned with exploring
fixation patterns that result when such an interpretation is
changed through reinterpretation. In particular the participants
were asked to reinterpret the shapes from Task 2 in order to               Figure 9: Records of eye movements by three different subjects.
detect the shape in Figure 3.                                              The images on the left column were interpreted differently from
                                                                                             those on the right column.
Figure 8 illustrates a graph plotting a participant’s data from
Task 3, which was collected as the participant viewed the image            The column on the left-hand side of Figure 9 illustrates the scan
in Figure 2. In the graph, a ‘Now’ moment was identified based             paths of the participants as they respond to Task 2. Here, the
on the fixation patterns – it follows an increase in the fixation          participants were asked to view the image naturally and state the
duration and a decrease of saccade amplitude. The verbal data              shapes they recognised – they all recognised three rectangles.
for this participant is presented in Table 2 and the ‘Now’                 The scan paths of all participants show a similar pattern with
moment identified in the graph correlates with this. The                   short fixation durations and long saccade amplitudes. The scan
participant who produced this data also produced the data                  paths explore the intersections of the three rectangles.
plotted in the first of the graphs in Figure 7. However, despite
these two graphs being based on two sets of data in which two              The column on the right-hand side of Figure 9 illustrates the
different interpretations of the same shape are made they                  scan paths of the participants as they respond to Task 3. Here,
provide no insight into the particular interpretations made. The           participants were asked to detect the shape illustrated in Figure 3,
graphs can only identify the moments at which an interpretation            and there is a clear difference in the scan path that results from
was made.                                                                  this reinterpretation of the shape. Here, fixation durations are
                                                                           typically longer and saccade amplitudes are shorter. The scan
                                                                           paths are also concentrated inside the target shape. Note that
                                                                           participant C erroneously detected the alternative target shape in
                                                                           the bottom left corner of the image.

                                                                           It can be seen from these scan paths that the interpretation of
                                                                           shape in the right-hand column is different from the
                                                                           interpretation on the left-hand side. Also it can be seen that in
                                                                           the right-hand side column participant C made a different
                                                                           interpretation from participant A and B. This suggests that it
                                                                           may be possible to deduce interpretations of shape by
                                                                           considering scan path patterns.

      Figure 8: A plot of a participant’s data from Task 3.                5     Discussion and future work

In order to analyse participants’ interpretations of a shape it is         This paper has explored how the human eye examines
necessary to consider alternative eye movement data. For                   geometrical shapes according to three visual strategies – shape
example, some conclusions can be drawn by considering the                  detection, shape recognition, and shape reinterpretation. Our




                                                                     248
initial results suggest that, to some extent, eye movements                 References
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possibility that subjects’ verbalization might influence gaze               GOLDBERG, J.H., STIMSON, M.J., LEWENSTEIN, M., SCOTT, N.,
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The research reported in this paper was carried out as part of the            People Perceive Design in Products. In Proceedings of the
Designing with Vision project (http://design.open.ac.uk/DV),                  Computer in Art and Design Education.
funded by The Leverhulme Trust. The authors would like to
thank the participants in the study.                                        LOSCHKY, L.C., MCCONKIE, G.W., Y ANG, J. AND MILLER, M.E.
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Prats Interpretation Of Geometric Shapes An Eye Movement Study

  • 1. Interpretation of Geometric Shapes – An Eye Movement Study Miquel Prats1 Iestyn Jowers2 Nieves Pedreira3 Steve Garner4 Alison McKay5 University of A Coruña The Open University University of Leeds Abstract recognition in order to implement shape grammars through repeated recognition and replacement of parts of shapes. Early This paper describes a study that seeks to explore the correlation results are promising, and a research prototype has been built, between eye movements and the interpretation of geometric but early adoption is limited, in part because the time and shapes. This study is intended to inform the development of an intellectual overhead needed to drive such systems interferes eye tracking interface for computational tools to support and with the creative flow. The research reported in this paper is enhance the natural interaction required in creative design. exploring the use of eye tracking technology as a means of providing user interactions that allow designers to focus on their A common criticism of computational design tools is that they design activity, with the design system as a tool that supports do not enable manipulation of designed shapes according to all whilst minimising disturbances to their creative flow. perceived features. Instead the manipulations afforded are limited by formal structures of shapes. This research examines This paper reports results from early experiments investigating the potential for eye movement data to be used to recognise and what eye movements can reveal about a person’s interpretation make available for manipulation the perceived features in shapes. of a visual phenomenon. It is concerned with a particular type of visual phenomenon, namely that of shape defined by line against The objective of this study was to analyse eye movement data a plain ground. The early stages of this work is concerned with with the intention of recognising moments in which an geometric shapes but it is intended that it will progress into the interpretation of shape is made. Results suggest that fixation rather less clear world of sketched representations made as part duration and saccade amplitude prove to be consistent indicators of a creative designing process. This process can be of shape interpretation. characterised as the creation of design ‘structures’ through the combining of design ‘features’. It is a transformational process CR Categories: I.3.6 Interaction techniques; I.5.2 Feature revealing ‘moments’ when perceptions are transformed from evaluation and selection; J.6.0 Computer-aided design one state to another. This paper introduces our investigation of structures and features and offers findings from studies using eye tracking that explore this notion of design moments during Keywords: Eye tracking, shape perception, design the interpretation of geometric shapes. 1 Introduction 2 Background Conceptual design involves the creation, exploration and development of design shape alternatives. Designers typically 2.1 Shape Interpretation in Design use freehand sketching to support this process, largely because it offers ambiguity and so supports the reinterpretation of shapes The ability to interpret shape is a fundamental skill in visually that is key to effective shape exploration and development. creative activities, such as conceptual design. It has been Commercially available computer aided design (CAD) systems observed that, when sketching, designers often produce series of are used during detail design and design definition, but they are ideas that are, in places, deliberately ambiguous and open to not well suited to conceptual design activities because the reinterpretation. These design alternatives are explored visually support they offer for the reinterpretation of shapes is poor. and can suggest patterns and associations that lead to new Recent research has explored the feasibility of providing avenues of exploration. Schön and Wiggins [1992] describe this computer support for conceptual design through the integration as a ‘seeing-moving-seeing’ process where seeing a sketch can of shape grammar and computer vision technologies [McKay et result in its reinterpretation according to emergent forms or al. 2009]. Shape grammars are production systems which use structures, and this in turn informs the development of future the ambiguity of shapes in the formal generation of designs. The sketches. Exploration in this way typically involves the research presented by McKay et al., uses a method of object recognition and transformation of shapes in sketches – such as overall outline shapes or the embedded parts of shapes (so- 1 called ‘subshapes’) [Prats et al. 2009]. Reinterpretation of email: m.prats@open.ac.uk 2 email: i.jowers@leeds.ac.uk sketches to recognise alternative shapes or subshapes is a vital 3 email: nieves@udc.es element in design exploration and is believed to be a decisive 4 email: s.w.garner@open.ac.uk component of innovative design [Suwa 2003]. 5 email: a.mckay@leeds.ac.uk 2.2 Computational Shape Interpretation Copyright © 2010 by the Association for Computing Machinery, Inc. Despite the importance of reinterpretation in design exploration Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed it is not readily afforded by the current generation of for commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the computational design tools [Henderson 1999]. When a digital first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be product model is created a specific structure is defined using a honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, to republish, to post on fixed set of geometric elements, such as edges and surfaces. servers, or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from Permissions Dept, ACM Inc., fax +1 (212) 869-0481 or e-mail permissions@acm.org. ETRA 2010, Austin, TX, March 22 – 24, 2010. © 2010 ACM 978-1-60558-994-7/10/0003 $10.00 243
  • 2. Reinterpretation of this structure to allow for newly recognised exploration of designed shapes without disturbing their creative patterns and associations is only straightforward when these flow. emergent forms conform to subsets of the original set of geometric elements. Otherwise, reinterpretation of a model 2.3 Eye tracking and Shape Perception necessitates redefinition according to a new set of elements. A fixed structure such as this can lead to inconsistencies between Eye movements and points of visual fixation can reveal much what can be perceived in a design model and the manipulations allowed. Designers cannot easily manipulate all of the subshapes about how shapes are viewed and interpreted in design. For example, some studies suggest that eye movements are that they perceive and so cannot take advantage of emergent influenced by the semantic content of a scene [Henderson and structures. As a result they are not free to explore the patterns and associations that emerge as a designed shape is being Hollingworth 1998]. Yarbus [1967] illustrated that in addition to the content of a scene, eye movements and fixations are also developed. They are restricted to manipulating shapes according influenced by a viewer’s intent. These studies were based on to the structure by which the design was initially defined. viewers studying classical paintings, but the results have been successfully replicated for viewers looking at designed shapes A variety of approaches have been proposed that aim to tackle [Koivunen et al. 2004]. this problem by enabling the manipulation of design models according to perceived structures. For example, Saund and Research in perceptual localisation suggests that when looking Moran [1994] present a WYPIWYG (What You Perceive is at a simple shape the eye is naturally drawn to the centroid, or What You Get) drawing system that uses an image interpretation architecture based on token grouping. Tokens are organised into centre of gravity [Melcher and Kowler 1999; Vishwanath and Kowler 2003]. A common hypothesis argues that salient points, a lattice structure which enables perceptual interpretations of a such as borders or edges, play an important role in this attraction sketched shape to be specified and manipulated according to simple gestures. Similarly, Gross [2001] presents the ‘Back of [Itti and Koch 2000]. An alternative hypothesis proposed by Renninger et al. [2007] argues that the attraction occurs due to an Envelope’ system - a drawing program that automates the task-relevant information collected during eye movements. recognition of emergent subshapes in a sketch. The system recognises these emergent forms by using standard pattern Studies in visual search suggest that shapes are recognised recognition techniques commonly employed in drawing systems according to structural decompositions of simpler parts and the to recognise and identify elements and configurations in freehand input. Jowers et al. [2008] present an approach based spatial relations between the parts [Hoffman and Richards 1984; Biederman 1987]. In creative design, it is believed that designers on the shape grammar formalism [Stiny 2006], in which shape employ a similar process of decomposition, however the replacement rules are applied to recognise and manipulate perceived subshapes in a design. These shape rules provide a interpreted parts and the relationships between them can change dynamically throughout the design process as alternative dual advantage, since as well as enabling the perceived structure interpretations of a shape are recognised [Stiny 2006]. This of a design to be freely recognised they also formalise the creative process by which a design is generated and thereby process of interpretation is similar to the perceptual phenomena exemplified by Kanizsa [1976] figures and the Necker [1832] enable repetition of the process. cube, where a change in interpretation can result in the A major limitation to each of these systems lies in the cognitive recognition of alternative structures in a shape. overhead needed to interface with them. For example, in Saund Studies concerning the viewing of ambiguous shapes, such as and Moran’s system, a user is required to learn specific gestures in order to specify a particular perception of a design. Gross’ the Necker cube, are inconclusive with respect to the relation between eye movements and interpretation. For example, Flam system requires previous training with respect to emergent and Bergum [1977] conclude that eye movements and reversals shapes that designers might find interesting. In Jowers et al.’s system, users specify and manipulate perceived subshapes by of interpretation are unrelated, while Ellis and Stark [1978] conclude that eye movements precede the reversal of defining shape replacement rules. In each of these, additional interpretation, and Einhäuser et al. [2004] conclude that eye effort is needed to interact with the system to specify a particular perception of a shape and no matter how small this effort is, it movements follow reversals. can result in an interruption to the creative flow of the user. A The research described in this paper is based on an assumption more intuitive, dynamic system, one that better supports a cognitive process of ‘seeing-moving-seeing’, would offer real that there is a relation between eye movements and shape interpretation, and from this relation that interpretation can be benefits in avoiding the need for users to explicitly define their deduced from eye movements. In particular, the study presented interpretation of designed shapes. To this end eye tracking technology presents itself as a potential interface for drawing here explores eye movements with the intention of identifying moments at which an interpretation of an ambiguous shape takes systems. place. This identification is a first step to developing an interface Past research has explored the application of eye tracking as an for drawing systems that enables natural interaction with perceived shapes and structures. alternative drawing interface, to replace traditional mouse and keyboard input, e.g. Hornof et al. [2004]. Here, it is proposed that eye tracking can serve as an additional interface, 3 Methodology augmenting traditional input. It is proposed that eye tracking data can reveal a users interpretation of a shape at a particular The study described here is concerned with analysing eye moment in time, and that a drawing system can respond to this movement data with the objective of recognising moments at interpretation by affording appropriate manipulations of the which interpretations of ambiguous shapes are made. To this end, shape. Such an interface would allow designers to focus on their participants in the study were asked to observe a series of shapes design activity, with the design system as a tool that supports the and perform set tasks, which naturally lead them to interpret the shapes in different ways. The tasks presented to the participants 244
  • 3. were simple viewing-based tasks requiring no specific skills or square. The second image shown to the participants was similar abilities, and as a result the participants were chosen without to this, but contained a single triangle which they were asked to consideration of background or experience. In total, 11 find. The image in Figure 1b) was shown to the participants participants were included in the study - these were a mixture of three times, and each time they were shown the image they were students and university staff, both male and female, with varied asked to search for a different shape. These were an arrow, a research interests, and ages ranging from early 30s to late 40s. Pacman shape, and a T. In the image in Figure 1b), the three Due to inaccuracies in calibration, data from 4 of these had to be shapes emerge through figure-ground reversal or as a result of discounted and consequently, the results presented here are overlapping and intersecting geometric primitives. As a result, in drawn from the data of 7 participants. order to find these shapes it was necessary for participants to reinterpret the shapes in the image. 3.1 Setup During the study eye movement data was collected with a Tobii X120 eye tracker (accuracy 0.5°, drift < 0.3°, binocular tracking, data rate 120 Hz). This equipment is nonintrusive and includes a head-motion compensation mechanism that allows for a freedom of movement of 0 × 22 × 30cm. Despite this, participants were asked to keep as steady as possible in order to ensure eye movements were consistently captured. A dual VDU arrangement allowed the facilitator to monitor the participants in order to ensure that eye movement data was captured at all times. Participants were encouraged to think-aloud whilst conducting Figure 1: Examples of images used in Task 1. the tasks and a webcam with microphone was used to record any verbalisations as well as any interaction between the facilitator Task 2 – Shape recognition: and the participants. Task 2 was a natural viewing task in which participants were 3.2 Shape interpretation tasks asked to look at a series of three images and describe the shapes that they contain. The three images were all composed of overlapping polygons. For example, one of these images is Participants were asked to complete three tasks which were illustrated in Figure 2, and is composed of three rectangles. designed to encourage reinterpretation of ambiguous shapes. Participants had 10 seconds to view each image and name the These were based on studies by Yarbus [1967], in which shapes that they recognised while performing the task. participants were given different objectives that then influenced their eye movements when viewing pieces of classical art. Here, however, participants were not presented with meaningful art forms. They were instead presented with abstract images composed of geometric primitives, such as squares and triangles, which were highly suggestive and open to reinterpretation [Stiny 2006]. Generally speaking, the three tasks can be classified according to three visual strategies: i) shape detection; ii) shape recognition; and iii) shape reinterpretation. Here, shape detection is concerned with searching for a particular shape; shape recognition is concerned with applying a meaning or Figure 2: Example of an image used in Task 2. interpretation to a shape; shape reinterpretation is concerned with recognising an alternative meaning or interpretation of a Task 3 – Shape reinterpretation: shape. These three strategies are not distinct and cannot be considered independently, however each of the three tasks was Task 3 was also a search task and, similar to Task 1, participants intended to emphasise one strategy over the others. were asked to detect a specific shape in a series of three images, under no time constraint. As in Task 1, participants were asked Task 1 – Shape detection to vocalise when they had found the shape by saying “Now”, and then focus on it for a few seconds. Task 1 was a search task in which participants were asked to The images the participants were shown were the same three detect specific shapes in a series of three images, under no time images used in Task 2, an example of which is illustrated in constraint. The three images were composed of geometric Figure 2. In all three images, the participants were asked to find primitives, and before each one was displayed the participants the same six-sided polygon, illustrated in Figure 3. This shape were shown a short instruction, e.g. 'If you look carefully, in the was shown to participants at the beginning of the task, and in next image you will find an arrow similar to this one (an image order to detect it participants had to reinterpret the shapes they of the arrow was shown)’. They were also asked to vocalise had previously seen in Task 2. when they had found the shape by saying “Now”, and then focus on it for a few seconds. The image in Figure 1a) was the first image shown to the participants. In this image, participants were asked to find the 245
  • 4. Table 2: Extract of participants’ transcript. Time Speaker Transcript and actions (mm:ss) 10.56 Start task Figure 3: Target shape in Task 3. 11.00 Participant humming to self 11.02 Participant “Now” 3.3 Analysis 11.03 Participant “It’s in front of me” 11.06 Facilitator “Very good” Eye movement data was analysed according to fixation 11.08 End task durations and saccade amplitudes. Longer fixation durations indicate that the stimulus is engaging in some way, while shorter durations are indicative of search [Just and Carpenter 1976]. These two sources of data were also supported by scan path data Short saccades indicate a period of localised learning, while long collected during the tasks, which was analysed visually. For saccades suggest that the eye is attracted to distinct areas of the example, in Figure 4 the scan path data for a participant viewing stimulus [Goldberg et al. 2002]. Indeed, Unema et al. [2005] and the image in Figure 1b) is illustrated. Here, fixations are Velichkovsky et al. [2005] explore the relationship between presented as red circular nodes, with the diameter of the nodes saccade amplitude and fixation duration in both ‘ambient’ and representing duration, and saccades are presented as links ‘focal’ visual fixations and, based on this, it was expected that if between the nodes. an interpretation of a shape – related to focal processing – was sufficiently engaging then it would result in longer fixation durations together with shorter saccade amplitudes. An extract of the data is presented in Table 1. Fixation points were defined with a minimum fixation duration of 150 ms and a fixation radius of 50 pixels. In Table 1, the Time values indicate, in minutes and seconds, the timestamp at the start of a fixation; the X and Y values are the screen coordinates, in pixels, of the mean central point of a fixation. FD values are the duration, in milliseconds, of a fixation; and SA values are the saccade Figure 4: Example of scan path data amplitude, in pixels, calculated between the centre points of successive fixations. This data was plotted in graphs that 4 Results visualise the fixation duration (in milliseconds) and saccade amplitude (in pixels) as they change over time. Examples of these graphs are presented and discussed in the next section. The objective of this research was to explore the possibility of using eye tracking as an interface for a computational design Table 1: Extract of participants’ data. system. It is intended that eye movements will be used to inform such a system with respect to users’ interpretations of designed shapes. To this end, the study reported here is concerned with Time X Y FD SA recognising patterns in eye movements that correspond with (mm:ss) (px) (px) (ms) (px) moments at which an interpretation of a shape is made, termed 10:31.454 524.19 486.00 966 - the ‘Now’ moments. The following discussion explores the 10:31.904 438.91 495.53 533 85.812 significance of participants’ data with respect to the three visual 10:32.453 441.88 623.29 566 127.80 strategies of shape detection, shape recognition, and shape reinterpretation. 10:33.170 447.96 481.35 866 142.08 10:33.836 443.04 479.41 366 5.28 4.1 Task 1 – Shape detection 10:34.319 449.30 596.81 600 117.56 10:34.877 446.40 639.00 416 42.29 Figure 5 illustrates three graphs plotting one participant’s data 10:35.368 454.34 474.09 533 165.10 from Task 1. Similar graphs were plotted for each participant and each task. In these graphs fixation durations and saccade 10:36.159 465.07 460.70 949 17.16 amplitudes are plotted against time. Fixation duration is plotted 10:36.875 463.09 454.96 600 6.08 as a dashed blue line and corresponds to the axis on the left-hand side of the graphs, while saccade amplitude is plotted as a continuous red line and corresponds to the axis on the right-hand In addition to the numerical data, the verbalisations made by side. Also plotted on the graphs are the ‘Now’ moments – participants during the tasks were transcribed and analysed. moments at which a target shape is detected. These moments Participants were encouraged to express their interpretations of were specified by considering transcripts of participants’ images as they viewed them and, especially, in Task 1 and Task vocalisations, as illustrated in Table 2. In the first of these 3, they were instructed to indicate the moments at which graphs, the target shape was a square which was to be found in requested shapes were found, as illustrated by the extract in the image in Figure 1a), in the second graph the target shape was Table 2. The transcripts provide further qualitative data to a triangle, and in the third the target shape was a Pacman shape support conclusions drawn from the quantitative data discussed which was to be found in the image in Figure 1b). in Section 4. 246
  • 5. primary source of data for this analysis, and instead must be used only to support conclusions drawn from the quantitative data. 4.2 Task 2 – Shape recognition Figure 7 illustrates three graphs plotting participants’ data from Task 2. In this task natural viewing of the images was encouraged and participants were not asked to detect or focus on any particular shape. Instead they were free to recognise any shapes in the images, and were asked to verbalise the shapes that they recognised. The three graphs illustrated are based on data collected as participants viewed the image in Figure 2. The graphs from Task 2 were analysed independently of the verbal data in order to identify fixation patterns as identified in analysis of Task 1. If such patterns correlate to moments of interpretation, the ‘Now’ moments, then they should be apparent in the graphs at moments that shapes are recognised. In the first and second graphs in Figure 7 three ‘Now’ moments were identified, while in the last graph in Figure 7 four ‘Now’ moments were identified. Each of these moments follows an increase in the fixation duration and a decrease of saccade amplitude. Figure 5: Plots of participants’ data from Task 1. With these moments identified, the verbal data was consulted in In each of these three graphs, it is clear that ‘Now’ moments order to verify that they are indeed moments at which shapes follow immediately after an increase in the fixation duration and were recognised in the image. Each of the three participants a decrease of saccade amplitude. A similar pattern was visible in recognised the image in Figure 2 as three overlapping rectangles. more than 70% of the graphs plotted based on the data from this In particular, the verbal data corresponding to the first graph in study, which confirms our expectation based on the literature Figure 7 revealed that this interpretation was made at time 09:56, [Just and Carpenter 1976; Goldberg et al. 2002]. the verbal data for the second graph in Figure 7 revealed that this interpretation was made at time 9:05, and the verbal data An anomalous graph, that does not follow this trend, is revealed that the interpretation in the last graph in Figure 7 was illustrated in Figure 6. Here, the target shape was a square which made at time 9:26, and also at time 9:32 referring to another was to be found in the image in Figure 1a). Unlike the graphs in interpretation. Small discrepancies in these two sources of data Figure 5, the ‘Now’ moment in this graph is not immediately can be attributed to delays in verbal responses, as discussed preceded by a decrease of saccade amplitude. However, analysis earlier. Most of these moments of shape recognition correlate of the participant’s scan path data suggests that this anomaly is with identified ‘Now’ moments in the graphs. caused by a significant delay between the detection of the target shape and the verbal confirmation of this detection. The fixation point labelled 5 in the graph was located within the target shape – the square – and immediately following this fixation there was an increase in fixation duration and decrease in saccade amplitude. This indicates that the target shape was detected at this moment, and the participant only verbalised the detection after further visual search of the image. Similarly, fixation points labelled 12 and 18 were also located within the target shape, and are also preceded by an increase in fixation duration and decrease in saccade amplitude. Figure 6: Another plot of participants’ data from Task 1. It is likely that delay between detection of the target shape and the verbalisation of this detection is common across all participants. As a result, the verbal data cannot be considered a Figure 7: Plots of participants’ data from Task 2. 247
  • 6. The additional ‘Now’ moments identified in the graphs also scan path data. In Figure 9 the scan path data for three of the correlate to moments of shape recognition, as evidenced by the participants as they viewed the shape in Figure 2 is illustrated. verbal data. For example, the verbal data corresponding to the Here, two different interpretations of the shape are presented last graph in Figure 7 is presented in Table 3. Each of the ‘Now’ which result from the participants responding to Task 2 and moments in the graph corresponds to a vocalisation in this Task 3. transcript. Table 3: Transcript corresponding to the last graph in Figure 7. Time Speaker Transcript and actions (mm:ss) 09.21 Start task 09.24 Facilitator “What do you see here?” 09.26 Participant “Uh, three rectangles...” 09.29 Participant “...and superimposed on each other” 09.31 Facilitator “OK” 09.32 Participant “...creating the image of triangles” 09.33 End task 4.3 Task 3 – Shape reinterpretation Analyses of the data from Task 1 and 2 has suggests that fixation patterns can be used to identify moments at which shapes are detected and recognised. The visual strategies of shape detection and shape recognition both include elements of shape interpretation, and Task 3 was concerned with exploring fixation patterns that result when such an interpretation is changed through reinterpretation. In particular the participants were asked to reinterpret the shapes from Task 2 in order to Figure 9: Records of eye movements by three different subjects. detect the shape in Figure 3. The images on the left column were interpreted differently from those on the right column. Figure 8 illustrates a graph plotting a participant’s data from Task 3, which was collected as the participant viewed the image The column on the left-hand side of Figure 9 illustrates the scan in Figure 2. In the graph, a ‘Now’ moment was identified based paths of the participants as they respond to Task 2. Here, the on the fixation patterns – it follows an increase in the fixation participants were asked to view the image naturally and state the duration and a decrease of saccade amplitude. The verbal data shapes they recognised – they all recognised three rectangles. for this participant is presented in Table 2 and the ‘Now’ The scan paths of all participants show a similar pattern with moment identified in the graph correlates with this. The short fixation durations and long saccade amplitudes. The scan participant who produced this data also produced the data paths explore the intersections of the three rectangles. plotted in the first of the graphs in Figure 7. However, despite these two graphs being based on two sets of data in which two The column on the right-hand side of Figure 9 illustrates the different interpretations of the same shape are made they scan paths of the participants as they respond to Task 3. Here, provide no insight into the particular interpretations made. The participants were asked to detect the shape illustrated in Figure 3, graphs can only identify the moments at which an interpretation and there is a clear difference in the scan path that results from was made. this reinterpretation of the shape. Here, fixation durations are typically longer and saccade amplitudes are shorter. The scan paths are also concentrated inside the target shape. Note that participant C erroneously detected the alternative target shape in the bottom left corner of the image. It can be seen from these scan paths that the interpretation of shape in the right-hand column is different from the interpretation on the left-hand side. Also it can be seen that in the right-hand side column participant C made a different interpretation from participant A and B. This suggests that it may be possible to deduce interpretations of shape by considering scan path patterns. Figure 8: A plot of a participant’s data from Task 3. 5 Discussion and future work In order to analyse participants’ interpretations of a shape it is This paper has explored how the human eye examines necessary to consider alternative eye movement data. For geometrical shapes according to three visual strategies – shape example, some conclusions can be drawn by considering the detection, shape recognition, and shape reinterpretation. Our 248
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