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Detta examensarbete gjordes i samarbete med det svenska eye tracking företaget Tobii AB, på avdelningen Tobii Tech. Syftet med arbetet var att utforska termen mänsklig teknologi och undersöka hur deras produkt EyeX i högre grad kan skapa naturligare och intuitivare interaktioner med datorn. För att åstadkomma detta har ett explorativt tillvägagångssätt, uppdelat i en teoretisk och praktisk del med sekundära, godtagbara källor och kvalitativ datainsamling. Examensarbetet initierades med den teoretiska delen i syfte att erhålla generell kunskap om eye tracking och dess nuvarande tillämpningsområden. Idag används eye tracking främst i forskningssyften och som kommunikations- och interaktionsverktyg för funktionshindrande. Tvärtemot dess nuvarande användningsområden, är målet med EyeX är att nå ut till konsumentoch spelmarknaden och därmed har examensarbete begränsats till icke funktionshindrande. Den teoretiska delen fortsattes med: mänskliga faktorer och mänskligare människa-dator interaktioner. Detta utgjorde en bas för att skapa en förståelse för hur mänskliga relationer skapas och hur mänskliga emotionella faktorer skulle kunna kopplas till datorinteraktion. Vidare i arbetet gjordes den praktiska delen: tre workshops, för att utreda relevansen av resultatet från litteraturstudien och en kvalitativ datainsamling i form av intervjuer och observationer av EyeX användare. Användarstudien visade att emotionella faktorer är viktiga vid design utav gränssnitt och därmed bör användas vid utveckling av människa–datorinteraktioner. Slutligen, för att undersöka till vilken grad mänskliga aspekter skulle kunna användas, gjordes ytterligare en workshop, där fakta från litteraturstudien användes för att koppla till praktiska tillämpningar av eye tracking och datorinteraktioner. Slutsatserna av arbetet resulterade  iutvecklingen av två utvärderingsmetoder för att analysera mänsklig teknologi: en designguide uppbyggd på frågor för att utveckla mänskligare datorinteraktioner. / This thesis has been done in collaboration with the Swedish eye tracking company Tobii AB, at the department Tobii Tech. The purpose has been to investigate what humanized technology means and how Tobii’s product EyeX can enhance a more natural and humanized interaction with the computer. This work has been conducted throughout an explorative approach; using secondary sources from relevant literature and qualitative studies; divided in a theoretical and practical part. Firstly, a theoretical part was conducted to gain general knowledge about the eye tracking and its different areas of implementation. Currently, eye tracking can be found in various fields of research and communication tools for people with neurological disabilities. Contrary to those application areas of eye tracking, EyeX is aimed for the consumer and gaming market and therefore the work is limited to able-bodied users. This was continued by research concerning: human interactions and humanization in human-computer interaction. The theoretical part of this project created a foundation for how relationships are created and how emotional aspects of human characteristics could possibly be related to computer interaction. It also described how a meaningful and lasting relationship could be created with computers and their various features by the means of habits. Furthermore, the work continued with the practical part: three workshops, performed to further understand the relevance of the results from the related work and qualitative data collection through interviews and observations with EyeX users. By the end of the user study it could be assumed that emotional aspects of human characteristics was essential for the development of interfaces and therefore should be implemented in human-computer interactions. Finally, a supplementary workshop was conducted to clarify how emotional and abstract factors could easier be related to practical eye tracking and computer features. Also, two evaluation methods were created for evaluating humanization and emotional aspects in features/products.

There is a lot of research conducted on how vehicle drivers become worse when they sleep less. A vehicle driver who sleeps for six hours is 30% more likely to be responsible for vehicle accident, which makes a strict application of the Swedish armed forces rules for drivers rest (6 hours) dangerous. The research conducted on vehicle drivers is made in civilian envionments or in laboratory environments, not military environments. The military environment, wether it is in war zones or during field exercises, will lead to increased stress and poorer sleep for the individual. No research is currently conducted on how military drivers ability to operate a vehicle is affected by the military environment. This thesis aim is to explore this gap in research.  The research question is ‘Does military personnel sleep enough to safely operate a vehicle in a military environment?’. The question is asked in the context of military environments and is answered by conducting experiments on conscripted soldiers who operate a vehicle while conducting a field exercise. The experiment uses 5 participants who drive for 45 minutes along a highway at three separate occasions. The participants are analyzed with an eye tracking system, which assess wether or not the participant is fatigued or distracted.  The result did not give a conclusive answer. At the first occasion all participants participated in the experiment, the results where that they had increased fatigued for 19,8% of the time they spent operating the vehicle. During occasion 2/3 there were three participants of 5, where from only two participants could be used. The results shows that the participant experience drivers fatigue earlier at later occasions, but never so fatigued as to pose a traffic safety risk. This result is wildly inconclusive due to the low participation rate of occasion 2 and 3. When the participants had sun in their eyes the eye tracking system seems prone to assess the participants as more fatigued than they are. The conclusions from this experiment is that more data is needed to draw any conclusions of quality, but it seems as though the participants become more fatigued earlier the longer they are in a military environment. / Det finns mycket forskning som fokuserar på hur mycket sämre trötta förare är när de kör bil. En förare som har sovit i sex timmar har 30% högre sannolikhet att vara ansvarig för en trafikolycka, vilket gör Försvarsmaktens lägsta nivå för förarvila (6 timmar) farlig. Den forskning som genomförs på fordonsförare är gjord på förare i civila miljöer eller i labbmiljöer, inte  i militära miljöer. Den militära miljön, oavsett om det är i krigszoner eller under fältövningar, kommer bidra till ökad stress och sämre sömn för individer. Ingen forskning är i nuläget gjord på hur militära förares framförande av fordon påverkas av den militära miljön. Denna uppsats utforskar denna forskningslucka. Frågeställningen är  ’Sover militära förare tillräckligt mycket för att kunna framföra ett fordon säkert i militär miljö?[KE1] ’. Frågan ställs i föhållande till den miljön som militärer är i och besvaras genom experiment där värnpliktiga förare framför ett fordon när de genomför en fältövning. Experimentet går ut på att fem deltagare kör en personbil i ca 45 minuter längs med en motorväg vid tre tillfällen. Deltagarna analyseras med hjälp av ett eye tracking system, som bedömer hur trötta förarna är och om de är distraherade när de kör. Resultatet gav inte ett entydigt svar. Vid tillfälle 1 deltog samtliga fem deltagare och resultatet gav i genomsnitt att förarna hade förhöjda trötthetsnivåer 19,8% av körtiden. Vid tillfälle 2 och tillfälle 3 kunde endast data från två deltagare användas varav tre deltagare deltog. Datan från tillfälle 2 och 3 pekar på att förarna blev tröttare, men var aldrig farligt trötta under en längre period. På grund av begränsad mängd data kan inga definitiva  slutsatser dras av resultatet. När deltagarna hade sol i ögonen verkade systemet analysera förarna som mer trötta än vad de faktiskt är. Slutsatserna från detta experiment är att mer data behövs för att dra säkra slutsatser, men att det verkar som att förare blir tröttare när de kör bil ju längre in i övningen de kommer.  [KE1]otydligt med en retorisk fråga och titeln på arbetet kopplat mot frågeställningen.

Master of Science / Mathematics / Andrew G. Bennett / This study utilizes eye-tracking technology as a tool to measure college algebra students’ mathematical noticing as defined by Lobato and colleagues (2012). Research in many disciplines has used eye-tracking technology to investigate the differences in visual attention under the assumption that eye movements reflect a person’s moment-to-moment cognitive processes. Motivated by the work done by Madsen and colleagues (2012) who found visual differences between those who correctly and incorrectly solve introductory college physics problems, we used eye-tracking to observe the visual attention difference between correct and incorrect solvers of college algebra problems. More specifically, we consider students’ visual attention when presented tabular representations of linear functions. We found that in several of the problems analyzed, those who answered the problem correctly spend more time looking at relevant table values of the problem while those who answered the problem incorrectly spend more time looking at irrelevant table labels x, y, y = f(x) of the problem in comparison to the correct solvers. More significantly, we found a noteworthy group of students, who did not move beyond table labels, using these labels solely to solve the problem. Future analyses need to be done to expand on the differences between eye patterns rather than just focusing on dwell time in the relevant and irrelevant areas of a table.

The learnability principle relates to improving usability of software, performance and productivity. It was formulated mainly for the adult user group. Children represent an important user group, but fewer guidelines exist for their educational and entertainment applications. This study compares these groups, addressing the question: “Does learnability of software interfaces have a different meaning for children and adults?”. A literature survey conducted on learnability and learning processes considered the meaning of learnability across generations. Users learning software systems were observed in a usability laboratory where eye tracking data could also be recorded. Insights emerged, from data analysis, showing different tactics when children and adults approached unfamiliar software and revealing aspects of interfaces they approached differently. The findings will help designers distinguish varying needs of users and improve learnability. An additional subprinciple of learnability, „engageability‟, is proposed. Factors that make products engaging for children are different from those engaging adults.

Smooth tracking and efficient reaching for moving objects require the ability to predict the velocity and trajectory of the object. This skill is important to be able to perceive human action and object motion in the world. This thesis explores early visual motor development in full term and preterm infants. Study I showed that horizontal eye tracking develops ahead of vertical (full term infants at 5, 7 and 9 months of age). The vertical component is also more affected when a second dimension is added during circular pursuit. It is concluded that different mechanisms appear to underlie vertical and horizontal eye movements Study II-IV compared the development of the ability to visually track and reach for moving objects in very preterm infants born <32 gestational weeks to healthy infants born at term. The development of horizontal smooth pursuit at 2 and 4 months of corrected age was delayed for the preterm group (Study II). Some infants were catching up whereas others were not improving at all. A question raised by the results was whether the delay was caused by specific injuries as a result of the prematurity. However, the delays persisted when all infants with known neonatal complications and infants born small for gestational age were excluded (Study III), indicating that they were caused by prematurity per se. At 8 months corrected age preterm and full term infants were equally good at aiming reaches and successfully catching a moving object. Nevertheless, the preterm group used a bimanual strategy more often and had a more jerky and circuitous path than the full term group (Study IV). In summary, preterm infants showed a delayed visual motor development compared to infants born at term. The results of these studies suggest that there is additional diffuse damage to the visual motor system that is not related to neonatal complications as diagnosed today. Measuring smooth pursuit could potentially be a new method for early non-invasive diagnosis of impaired visual function.

Depleted water supplies, along with industrial and human waste, are driving a world water crisis that poses a growing risk to food markets, energy production, political stability, and human health (Global Water Security 2012). One obvious example of the this crisis is the more than 1 billion people who obtain their drinking water from contaminated sources (WHO/UNICEF 2006; Clasen et al. 2008). With a projected increase of 1.3 billion people between now and 2050, Africa will add more to the global population than any other world region (Haub and Kaneda 2013). For this research, visual learning design factors were incorporated into water literacy materials in order to study ways in which cultural and societal barriers can be overcome through culture- and gender-appropriate graphics designed to foster visual storytelling in the West African country of Niger. Women were targeted as the study population since they are the primary water fetchers and handlers in sub-Saharan Africa. Eye-tracking technology and GIS tools were used for quantification of the visual design characteristics. Research was conducted in 23 villages along the Niger River, and included 510 interviews, 693 focus group participants, 9 different cultural groups, over 30 hours of audio interviews, and 464 eye-tracking trials. Tobii X2-60 eye-tracking equipment was used in bush maternity wards, medicinal depositories, and mud-brick homes. Eye-tracking data were imported into an ArcGIS platform, where kernel density estimation (KDE) analyses were performed in an effort to compare and contrast the KDE of varying education levels, age groups, ethnic groups, and village types. Spatial autocorrelation analyses were used to evaluate whether the spatial pattern of attribute values (fixation time) was clustered, dispersed, or random. Results from this research suggest that visual communication can be used to overcome low education and cultural barriers for waterborne disease prevention. Using an adaptive visual-learning approach for the research method provided a creative alternative to conventional water-education materials, as most do not consider mother tongue and low literacy. Through visual communication, a novel way has been developed to understand how disadvantaged populations in sub-Saharan Africa visually process water literacy materials.

This thesis is a single case study of the introduction and evaluation of new resources and new technologies in higher education; in which e-Proof was chosen as a single case. E-proofs are a multimedia representation of proofs, were created by Alcock (2009), and aimed to help undergraduates to read proofs for better proof comprehension. My thesis aimed to investigate whether the impact of reading such technology-based resource, e-Proofs, on undergraduates proof comprehension was better compared to reading written textbook proofs and if so, then why (or why not). To evaluate the effectiveness of e-Proofs, I used both qualitative and quantitative methods. First I measured undergraduates satisfaction, which is a most common research practice in evaluation studies, by using self-reporting methods such as web-based survey and interviews. A web-based survey and focus-group interviews showed that undergraduates liked to have e-Proofs and they believed that e-Proofs had positive impact on their proof comprehension. However, their positive views on e-Proofs did not evidence the educational impact of e-Proofs. I conducted an interview with Alcock for better understanding of her intentions of creating e-Proof and her expectations from it. Next, I conducted the first experiment which compared the impact of reading an e-Proof with a written textbook proof on undergraduates proof comprehension. Their comprehension was measured with an open-ended comprehension test twice immediately after reading the proof and after two weeks. I found that the immediate impact of reading an e-Proof and a textbook proof were essentially the same, however the long term impact of reading an e-Proof was worse than reading a textbook proof (for both high and low achieving undergraduates). This leads to the second experiment in which I investigated how undergraduates read e-Proofs and textbook proofs. In the second experiment, participants eye-movements were recorded while read- ing proofs, to explore their reading comprehension processes. This eye-tracking experiment showed that undergraduates had a sense of understanding of how to read a proof without any additional help. Rather, additional help allowed them to take a back seat and to devote less cognitive effort than they would otherwise. Moreover, e-Proofs altered undergraduates reading behaviours in a way which can harm learning. In sum, this thesis contributes knowledge into the area of reading and compre- hending proofs at undergraduate level and presents a methodology for evaluation studies of new pedagogical tools.

Empirical studies have shown that learning from worked examples is an effective learning strategy. A worked example provides step-by-step explanations of how a problem is solved. Many studies have compared learning from examples to unsupported problem solving, and suggested presenting worked examples to students in the initial stages of learning, followed by problem solving once students have acquired enough knowledge. Recently, researchers have started comparing learning from examples to supported problem solving in Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs). ITSs provide multiple levels of assistance to students, adaptive feedback being one of them. The goal of this research is to investigate using examples in constraint-based tutors by adding examples into SQL-Tutor. SQL-Tutor is a constraint-based tutor that teaches the Structured Query Language (SQL). Students with different prior knowledge benefit differently from studying examples; thus, another goal of the research is to propose an adaptive model that considers the student’s prior knowledge for providing worked examples. Evaluation of this research produced promising results. First, a fixed sequence of alternating examples and problems was compared with problems only and examples only. The result shows that alternating examples and problems is superior to the other two conditions. Then, a study was conducted, in which a fixed sequence of alternating worked examples and tutored problem solving is compared with a strategy that adapts the assistance level to students’ needs. The adaptive strategy determines the type of the task (a worked example, a faded example or a problem to be solved) based on how much assistance the student received in the previous problem. The results show that students in the adaptive condition learnt significantly more than their peers who were presented with the fixed sequence of worked examples and problem solving. The final study employed eye tracking and demonstrated that novices and advanced students study SQL examples differently. Such information can be used to provide proactive rather than reactive feedback messages to students’ actions.

Screening individuals for concealed knowledge has traditionally been the purview of professional interrogators investigating a crime. But the ability to detect when a person is hiding important information would be of high value to many other fields and functions. This dissertation proposes design principles for and reports on an implementation and empirical evaluation of a non-invasive, automated system for human screening. The screening system design (termed an automated screening kiosk or ASK) is patterned after a standard interviewing method called the Concealed Information Test (CIT), which is built on theories explaining psychophysiological and behavioral effects of human orienting and defensive responses. As part of testing the ASK proof of concept, I propose and empirically examine alternative indicators of concealed knowledge in a CIT. Specifically, I propose kinesic rigidity as a viable cue, propose and instantiate an automated method for capturing rigidity, and test its viability using a traditional CIT experiment. I also examine oculomotor behavior using a mock security screening experiment using an ASK system design. Participants in this second experiment packed a fake improvised explosive device (IED) in a bag and were screened by an ASK system. Results indicate that the ASK design, if implemented within a highly controlled framework such as the CIT, has potential to overcome barriers to more widespread application of concealed knowledge testing in government and business settings.