During collaboration, people communicate using verbal and non-verbal cues, including gaze cues. Spoken language is usually the primary medium of communication in these interactions, yet despite this co-occurrence of speech and gaze cueing, most experiments have used paradigms without language. Furthermore, previous research has shown that myriad social factors influence behaviour during interactions, yet most studies investigating responses to gaze have been conducted in a lab, far removed from any natural interaction. It was the aim of this thesis to investigate the relationship between language and gaze cue utilisation in natural collaborations. For this reason, the initial study was largely observational, allowing for spontaneous natural language and gaze. Participants were found to rarely look at their partners, but to do so strategically, with listeners looking more at speakers when the latter were of higher social status. Eye movement behaviour also varied with the type of language used in instructions, so in a second study, a more controlled (but still real-world) paradigm was used to investigate the effect of language type on gaze utilisation. Participants used gaze cues flexibly, by seeking and following gaze more when the cues were accompanied by distinct featural verbal information compared to overlapping spatial verbal information. The remaining three studies built on these findings to investigate the relationship between language and gaze using a much more controlled paradigm. Gaze and language cues were reduced to equivalent artificial stimuli and the reliability of each cue was manipulated. Even in this artificial paradigm, language was preferred when cues were equally reliable, supporting the idea that gaze cues are supportive to language. Typical gaze cueing effects were still found, however the size of these effects was modulated by gaze cue reliability. Combined, the studies in this thesis show that although gaze cues may automatically and quickly affect attention, their use in natural communication is mediated by the form and content of concurrent spoken language.

prepared by John E. Ward, Mark E. Connelly, Avram K. Tetewsky. / Final report / Bibliography: p. 188-193. / "July 31, 1978." -- "September, 1978."--Cover. "Submitted to: Transportation Systems Center, Department of Transportation, Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA 02142." / DOT-TSC-1274 M.I.T. Project. 84492

Background Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have been reported to show socio-communicative impairments which are associated with impaired face perception and atypical gaze behaviour. Attending to faces and interpreting the important socio-communicative cues presented allows us to understand other’s cognitive states, emotions, wants and desires. This information enables successful social encounters and interactions to take place. Children with ASD not attending to these important social cues on the face may cause some of the socio-communicative impairments observed within this population. Examining how children with ASD attend to faces will enhance our understanding of their communicative impairments. Aim The present thesis therefore aimed to use eye-tracking methodology to examine attention allocation to faces for communicative cues in children with ASD. Method The first line of enquiry examined how children with ASD (n = 21; age = 13y7m) attended to faces presented within their picture communication systems compared to typically developing children matched on chronological age, verbal ability age and visuo-spatial ability age. The next investigation was conducted on the same group of children and examined how children with ASD attended to faces of different familiarity including, familiar, unfamiliar and the child’s own face. These faces were also presented with direct gaze or averted gaze to investigate how this would impact on the children’s allocation of attention. The final exploration highlighted how children with ASD (n = 20; age = 12y3m) attended to socially salient information (faces) and non-socially salient information (objects) presented within social scenes of varying complexity, compared to typically developing controls. Again groups were matched based on chronological age, verbal ability age, and visuo-spatial ability age. Results Children with ASD were shown to allocate attention to faces presented within their picture communication symbols similarly compared to their typically developing counterparts. All children were shown to fixate significantly longer on the face images compared to the object images. The children with ASD fixated for similar amounts of time to the eye and mouth regions regardless of familiarity and gaze direction compared to their controlled matches. All groups looked significantly longer at the eye areas compared to the mouth areas of the faces across all familiarity types. The children also fixated longer on the eye and mouth regions of direct gazing faces compared to the regions presented on the averted gazing faces. The children with ASD fixated on the faces and objects presented within social scenes similar to their typically developing counterparts across all complexity conditions. The children were shown to fixate significantly longer on the objects compared to the faces. Conclusions Children with ASD showed typical allocation of attention to faces. This suggests that faces are not aversive to them and they are able to attend to the relevant areas such as eye and mouth regions. This may have been influenced by the inclusion of high functioning children with ASD. However these results may also suggest that attention allocation and gaze behaviour are not the only factors which contribute to the socio-communicative impairments observed in ASD.

<p>U okviru disertacije predložen je nacrt za generisanje efektne kompleksnosti<br />štampanog oglasa na osnovu generisanja kompleksnih tipografskih odlika i<br />generisanja kompleksnosti slike. Predmet disertacije predstavljao je razvoj<br />modela efektnosti tipografije u štampanim oglasima na osnovu uticaja<br />semantičih odlika, odnosno kompleksnih odlika formalnih atributa slovnog<br />znaka. Predložen model dopunjuje postojeći prilaz uloge tipografije u<br />oglašavanju u okviru segmenta uticaja kompleksnih oblika tipografskog pisma.<br />Na osnovu predloženog modela projektuje se onlajn aplikacija za procenu<br />efektnosti odnosa između kompleksnih tipografskih odlika i slike koja ima<br />praktični značaj za proces grafičkog dizajna.</p> / <p>This dissertation proposes a framework for generating effective complexity of print<br />advertisements based on the generated complexity of typeface properties and image<br />complexity. The subject area of the dissertation was a development of a model for the<br />effectiveness of typography in print advertisements. The model takes into account the<br />effects of typeface semantic properties i.e. complex features of the letter&rsquo;s formal<br />attributes. This approach updates the existing model of the role of typography in<br />advertising. Specifically, it updates the category on the influence of the form<br />complexity. Furthermore, based on the proposed model, a concept fora n online<br />application is presented. The purpose of the application a practical assistance for<br />graphic designers which provides information on the effectiveness of the relationship<br />between the complex typeface properties and image complexity.</p>