The broad autism phenotype (BAP) has been defined both behaviorally and biologically. There has been little research on the association of the BAP, behaviorally defined, with neural or cognitive biomarkers typically associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). People diagnosed with ASD tend to show reduced gaze fixation toward the eye region, but much less eye-tracking research has been done related to the BAP (Boraston & Blakemore, 2007). In this study, we sought to assess eye gaze patterns in people with the behaviorally defined BAP, as defined by a score of 30 or above on the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ; Baron-Cohen et al., 2001). It was hypothesized that the BAP group participants would exhibit longer average fixation duration to the eye region during an emotion recognition condition, relative to a free-viewing condition, whereas the comparison group participants (defined as an AQ score of 24 and below) would not show a difference in fixation duration to the eye region between conditions. Nine hundred and thirty-nine undergraduates completed an online survey, and 45 of these students (15 BAP group and 30 comparison group) participated in the eye-tracking session, where they viewed a series of human faces, each presented twice within a condition. Results revealed a significant negative relationship between social anxiety and eye region fixation duration in the free-viewing condition, for both presentations of faces. Contrary to expectation, BAP predicted longer eye region fixation duration in the free-viewing condition, for the second presentation of faces. Possible explanations for these surprising findings are discussed. / Master of Science

Prior research has shown that both emotion recognition and expression in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) differs from that of typically developing children, and that these differences may contribute to observed social impairment. This study extends prior research in this area with an integrated examination of both expression and recognition of emotion, and evaluation of spontaneous generation of emotional expression in response to another person's emotion, a behavior that is characteristically deficient in ASD. The aim of this study was to assess eye gaze patterns during scripted and spontaneous emotion expression tasks, and to assess quality of emotional expression in relation to gaze patterns. Youth with ASD fixated less to the eye region of stimuli showing surprise (F(1,19.88) = 4.76, p = .04 for spontaneous task; F(1,19.88) = 3.93, p = .06 for the recognition task), and they expressed emotion less clearly than did the typically developing sample (F(1, 35) = 6.38, p = .02) in the spontaneous task, but there was not a significant group difference in the scripted task across the emotions. Results do not, however, suggest altered eye gaze as a candidate mechanism for decreased ability to express an emotion. Findings from this research inform our understanding of the social difficulties associated with emotion recognition and expression deficits. / Master of Science

Previous research on emotion identification in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) has demonstrated inconsistent results. While some studies have cited a deficit in emotion identification for individuals with ASD compared to controls, others have failed to find a difference. Many studies have used static photographs that do not capture subtle details of dynamic, real-life facial expressions that characterize authentic social interactions, and therefore have not been able to provide complete information regarding emotion identification. The current study aimed to build upon prior research by using dynamic, talking videos where the speaker expresses emotions of happiness, sadness, fear, anger, and excitement, both with and without a voice track. Participants included 10 children with ASD between the ages of four and 12, and 10 gender- and mental age-matched children with typical development between six and 12. Overall, both ASD and typically developing groups performed similarly in their accuracy, though the group with typical development benefited more from the addition of voice. Eye tracking analyses considered the eye region and mouth as areas of interest (AOIs). Eye tracking data from accurately identified trials resulted in significant main effects for group (longer and more fixations for participants with typical development) and condition (longer and more fixations on voiced emotions), and a significant condition by AOI interaction, where participants fixated longer and more on the eye region in the voiced condition compared to the silent condition, but fixated on the mouth approximately the same in both conditions. Treatment implications and directions for future research are discussed. / Master of Science

Emerging research suggests that many adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) experience impairing Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) or social anxiety symptoms (e.g., Joshi et al., 2013; Kleinhans et al., 2010), yet there is little guidance or agreement about how to best assess social anxiety in this population. Direct examination of overt eye gaze patterns may help determine if the attentional biases often reported in people with SAD also operate in those with ASD and co-occurring social anxiety. This study sought to assess the influence of social anxiety on gaze patterns in adults with ASD. An exploratory aim was to better understand the phenomenology of SAD within ASD. Three groups of participants were included: adults with ASD (n = 25), adults with SAD (n = 25), and adults without ASD or SAD (n = 25). As hypothesized, a large subset (n = 11; 44%) of the participants with ASD met diagnostic criteria for SAD. Contrary to study hypotheses related to gaze patterns, however, there was no evidence for gaze vigilance followed by avoidance for socially threatening stimuli in either the ASD or SAD groups, and there was no relationship between fear of negative evaluation and gaze duration toward socially threatening stimuli within the ASD group. Possible reasons for these null findings are considered. Clinical implications and suggestions for future research are also discussed. / Ph. D.

Prior studies have identified diminished attending to faces, and in particular the eye region, in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), which may contribute to the impairments they experience with emotion recognition and expression. The current study evaluated the acceptability, feasibility, and preliminary effectiveness of an attention modification intervention designed to attenuate deficits in facial emotion recognition and expression in children with ASD. During the 10-session experimental treatment, children watched videos of people expressing different emotions with the facial features highlighted to guide children's attention. Eight children with ASD completed the treatment, of nine who began. On average, the children and their parents rated the treatment to be acceptable and helpful. Although treatment efficacy, in terms of improved facial emotion recognition (FER), was not apparent on task-based measures, children and their parents reported slight improvements and most parents indicated decreased socioemotional problems following treatment. Results of this preliminary trial suggest that further clinical research on visual attention retraining for ASD, within an experimental therapeutic program, may be promising. / PHD / Previous studies have shown that individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) show lower looking at faces, especially the eyes, which may lead to the difficulties they show with ability to recognize other’s emotions and express their own emotions. This study looked at a new treatment designed to decrease the difficulties in emotion recognition and expression in children with ASD. The study looked at whether the treatment is possible, acceptable to children and their parents, and successful in decreasing the difficulty with emotion recognition. During the 10-session treatment, children watched videos of people making different expressions. The faces of the actors in the videos were highlighted to show the children the important area to look at. Eight children with ASD completed the treatment, of nine who started the treatment. On average, the children and their parents said that the treatment is acceptable and helpful. While the treatment was not successful in improving ability to recognize emotions on other’s faces on several tasks, children and their parents reported slight improvements. In addition, most parents reported less problems with social skills and emotion recognition and expression after the treatment. These results suggest that more clinical research may be needed to evaluate usefulness of such attention retraining for children with ASD.

As generations have moved away from the farm, the population has become less aware of the practices behind the agriculture industry. However, people are becoming interested in how their food is produced. Since most of the population has not received an agriculture education, they look towards social media as their source of information. Social media has become a platform for sharing opinions and knowledge on certain topics. It has also been studied the perceptions of others can be influenced by emotionalizing and repeating stories related to the topic. Farmers and ranchers are now sharing their knowledge and experiences regarding agriculture through the convenience of social media. This leaves the question can a farmer’s use of social media influence a change in the public opinion of agriculture to a positive one. Therefore, this study focuses on the potential influence and impact farm-fluencers have on public perceptions of agriculture, through using social media.

Profundas transformações têm impactado não somente os processos interacionais e comunicacionais como, também, a forma de se fazer pesquisa em comunicação. Tal busca por um maior entendimento passa pela dinâmica científica e seus métodos no campo da comunicação. O avanço das metodologias mais ligadas à neurociência e suas aplicações em outras áreas do conhecimento, incluindo a comunicação, fez emergir um crescente interesse por pesquisadores do campo. Entretanto, a contribuição efetiva de tais metodologias, como a aferição no nível condutância de pele e o rastreamento ocular (eye tracking) ainda não é devidamente clara. A presente pesquisa tem como objetivo aprofundar o diálogo interdisciplinar entre os campos da comunicação e neurociência, no que se refere ao emprego combinado das metodologias do eye tracking e de condutância de pele, a fim de se identificar possíveis contribuições e limitações dos métodos para a comunicação. Para tanto, foi conduzido um experimento com 46 universitários homens e mulheres, que tiveram seus dados de rastreamento ocular e nível de condutância de pele aferidos enquanto observavam um dos três tipos de abordagem (frame) em campanhas de segurança no trânsito (neutra, positiva e negativa). Os dados foram, então, analisados de forma quantitativa e qualitativa, e comparados com avaliações atitudinais autodeclaradas pelos participantes. Como principais resultados, houve diferenças entre três as abordagens consoante a forma e métrica de avaliação, sugerindo que a escolha por determinada forma de análise exerce um considerável efeito sobre os resultados. As considerações finais indicam que, apesar de apresentarem limitações, o eye tracking e a condutância de pele constituem métodos importantes e complementares às formas tradicionais de pesquisa em comunicação, ao conferirem uma maior objetividade e comparabilidade de informações relativas a aspectos atencionais e emocionais de conteúdos comunicacionais persuasivos. / Deep transformations have impacted not only on interactional and communication processes but also on the way of conducting research in communication. This search for a greater understanding goes through the scientific dynamics and its methods in the field of communication. The advancement of methodologies closely related to neuroscience and its applications in other areas of knowledge including applied social sciences - communication, has given rise to a growing interest by researchers in the field. However, the effective contribution of such methodologies, e.g. the measurement of the level of skin conductance and eye tracking, is not yet properly clear. The present research aims at deepening the interdisciplinary dialogue between the fields of communication and neuroscience regarding the combined use of the methodologies of eye tracking and skin conductance to identify possible contributions and limitations of methods for communication. In order to do so, an experiment was conducted with 46 male and female university students, who had their eye tracking data and skin conductance level collected while observing one of the three types of approach in traffic safety campaigns (neutral, positive and negative). The data were then analyzed in a quantitative and qualitative manner and compared with self-reported attitudinal answers by the participants. As the main results, there were differences between three approaches depending on the form and metric of evaluation, suggesting that the choice for a particular form of analysis exerts a considerable effect on the results. The final considerations indicate that despite limitations eye tracking and skin conductance are important and complementary methods to traditional forms of communication research, by providing greater objectivity and comparability of information regarding the attentional and emotional aspects of persuasive communication contents.

Diese vorliegende Dissertation nutzt Koregistrierung von EEG und Eye-Tracking um neuronale Korrelate der Wortverarbeitung beim natürlichen Lesen zu untersuchen. EKP-Forschung hat unser Verständnis der Wortverarbeitung stark geprägt. Jedoch wird Lesen in EKP-Experimenten üblicherweise im unnatürlichen RSVP Paradigma untersucht. Der Blickbewegungsforschung verdanken wir viele Erkenntnisse über die Koordination von Sprachverarbeitung und Blickbewegungsplanung, allerdings nur auf der Verhaltensebene. Drei Leseexperimente in dieser Arbeit untersuchten a) foveale und parafoveale Wortverarbeitung, b) Wortschwierigkeit in Form von Wortfrequenzeffekten und c) den Einfluss von Blickbewegungen. Ein viertes Experiment untersuchte die Generalisierbarkeit parafovealer Vorverarbeitungs-Effekte (Preview-Effekte), indem diese mit chinesischen Sätzen repliziert wurden. Die Ergebnisse zeigten einen reliablen Effekt parafovealer Vorverarbeitung auf neuronale Korrelate der fovealen Worterkennung in Form eines frühen Effekts auf der N1 Komponente. Interaktionen zwischen dem Preview-Effekt und Wortfrequenz zeigten Wechselwirkungen der Verarbeitung aufeinanderfolgender Worte im fovealen und parafovealen Blickfeld. Preview-Effekte waren schwächer nach Worten mit niedriger Frequenz, was zeigt, wie komplexe foveale Wortverarbeitung Resourcen für parafoveale Information bindet. Andererseits beeinflusste parafoveale Verarbeitung auch die foveale Verarbeitung: Erstens durch den oben beschriebenen Preview-Effekt, zweitens durch eine Verlangsamung der Wortverarbeitungsrate nach schweren Vorschaubedingungen. Außerdem zeigten sich foveale Wortfrequenzeffekte früher nach valider parafovealer Wortvorschau. Der Preview-Effekt war stärker, wenn Blickbewegungen ausgeführt werden mussten. Der Grund hierfür sind verdeckte Aufmerksamkeitsverschiebungen vor einer Sakkade. (EKP-)Forschung zur visuellen Wortverarbeitung sollte zukünftig Blickbewegungen und parafoveale Vorverarbeitung berücksichtigen. / The current dissertation uses co-registration of EEG with eye tracking to study the brain-electric correlates of word processing under natural reading circumstances. ERP research has advanced our understanding of the neuronal mechanisms of word processing greatly but traditionally used the RSVP paradigm that is not ecologically valid. Eye tracking research has greatly advanced our understanding of the coordination of linguistic processing with eye movement execution but provides only indirect insight into the actual brain processes during reading. Three reading experiments were conducted to study a) foveal and parafoveal processing, b) word processing in the form of frequency effects, and c) the impact of eye movement planning and execution on a neuronal as well as behavioral level. A fourth experiment tested the generalizability of the preview effects by replicating preview effects in Chinese sentence reading. Results show a robust effect of parafoveal preview on brain-electric correlates of foveal word recognition in the form of an early effect on the N1 component. The preview effect interacted with word frequency in different ways, revealing interactions between the processing of subsequent words in parafoveal and foveal vision. Preview effects were smaller after low frequency words, showing that parafoveal processing is reduced if foveal processing is complex. Also, parafoveal processing also affected foveal processing: Firstly, by providing preview benefit as described above and secondly, by slowing processing rates after a difficult preview (delayed POF effects). Lastly, foveal word frequency effects were found earlier if valid parafoveal preview had been provided. Preview effects were much stronger if eye movements had to be executed, which is most likely due to pre-saccadic attention shifts. Results show the shortcomings of traditional ERP studies and suggest that research on visual word recognition needs to consider eye movements and parafoveal processing.

A popularização mundial da internet facilita para seus usuários o compartilhamento de informações, opiniões e experiências sobre diversas questões, como seus interesses, produtos, serviços e locais que visitaram ou que pretendem visitar. Nesse contexto, abre-se espaço para que as organizações também participem desse processo, de modo a conhecer melhor seus públicos e desenvolver ações para influenciar positivamente suas decisões; esse conjunto de práticas forma a chamada comunicação digital. Dentro da competição internacional para atrair investimentos, turistas, imigrantes e estimular exportações, muitos países passaram a adotar estratégias e práticas de criação e gestão de marcas a fim de melhorar suas imagens para obter melhores resultados nessa competição (inclusive o Brasil, através da Marca Brasil) e, com isso, a comunicação digital surge como um importante aliado. Entretanto, observa-se uma escassez de pesquisas que abordem a interdisciplinaridade desses assuntos. Assim, o objetivo geral desta pesquisa é avaliar a experiência de navegação de usuários estrangeiros nos conteúdos de comunicação digital no portal Visit Brasil. A pesquisa foi definida como qualitativa exploratória e, num primeiro momento, realizou entrevistas em profundidade com os profissionais envolvidos na criação e gerenciamento de tais práticas no caso brasileiro. Num segundo momento, foram entrevistados usuários estrangeiros dos conteúdos gerados para a Marca Brasil, contando também com as informações complementares obtidas pelo uso de um equipamento de eye tracking. Os dados qualitativos levantados serviram de base para uma análise de conteúdo. Os resultados obtidos fomentam a conclusão de que o portal Visit Brasil atinge seu objetivo de atrair potenciais turistas estrangeiros a visitar o país, mas falha em seu outro propósito de suprir as necessidades de informações turísticas desses indivíduos. Além disso, conclui-se que o portal não é capaz de influenciar mudanças na imagem do Rio de Janeiro como um destino turístico. Este estudo traz contribuições ao desenvolvimento de novos trabalhos sobre o assunto, além de fornecer aos profissionais envolvidos, e potencialmente às empresas do setor brasileiro de turismo, uma melhor compreensão e o descobrimento de novas oportunidades a respeito das práticas de comunicação digital desenvolvidas em prol da Marca Brasil e de seus resultados até o momento. / The worldwide popularization of the internet makes easier for its users to share information, opinions and experiences about several subjects, like their interests, products, services and places they\'ve been to or intend to go in the future. In this context, companies have the opportunity to also take part into this process, being able to know better their audiences and developing actions to positively influence their decisions, putting into practice digital marketing activities. As the international competition to attract investments, tourists, immigrants and stimulate exports continues to grow, many countries now adopt branding strategies and practices trying to improve their own images to get better results into this competition (including Brazil, through the Brazil Brand), and digital marketing is now an important ally for that attempt. However, studies that approach the interdisciplinarity of those subjects are scarce. Therefore, this study was developed to evaluate the experience of foreign users towards the digital marketing contents developed to the Brazil Brand through the website Visit Brasil. First, through a qualitative approach, in depth interviews were developed with professionals involved on the creation and management of those practices. After that, foreign users of the Brazil Brand online materials interacted with those contents, and these interactions were recorded and analyzed with an eye tracking equipment. In depth interviews also were conducted. All the collected data were analyzed through a content analysis. The results supports the conclusion that the website succeeds to attract potential foreign tourists to visit Brasil, but fails to supply all tourist\'s information needs. Also, it is possible to conclude that the website is incapable of influencing changes about the image of Rio de Janeiro as a tourist destination. This study contributes to the development of new researches on this field, and also will provide to the involved professionals and tourism companies, better comprehensions and new opportunities related to digital marketing practices developed to the Brazil Brand and its results so far.

Die Informationssuche und –integration konnten bei gedächtnisbasierten Multi-Attribut-Entscheidungen bislang nicht untersucht werden. Die vorliegende Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Entwicklung eines neuen prozessbasierten Verfahrens, das auf einer Analyse von Blickbewegungen beruht. Das Verfahren wurde in einer experimentellen Untersuchung erprobt. In einer vorangestellten Lernphase eigneten sich die Versuchsteilnehmer Eigenschaftsausprägungen (Cue-Ausprägungen) von sechs verschiedenen Alternativen an. Die Eigenschaftsausprägungen waren in Textform in rechteckigen Kästen um eine bildliche Darstellung einer Alternative angeordnet. In der darauf folgenden Entscheidungsphase führten die Teilnehmer gedächtnisbasierte Entscheidungen zwischen jeweils zwei der Alternativen durch. Die eine Hälfte der Versuchsteilnehmer bekam die nichtkompensatorische Take the best (TTB) Heuristik instruiert, die andere Hälfte die kompensatorische Dawes Rule (DR). Während der Entscheidungsphase wurden die Blickbewegungen der Versuchsteilnehmer aufgezeichnet. Es wurde angenommen, dass sich die Blickbewegungen zwischen den zwei Gruppen instruierter und nach ihrem Entscheidungsverhalten klassifizierter Versuchsteilnehmer hinsichtlich der strategieinduzierten Suchmuster unterscheiden würden. Diese Annahme beruht auf Befunden, die zeigen, dass Versuchsteilnehmer beim Informationsabruf an die Orte zurückblicken, an denen sie zuvor Informationen aufgenommen haben, selbst wenn diese Informationen dort nicht mehr stehen. Verwender der TTB Heuristik zeigten mehr Blickwechsel zwischen den Alternativen, je später der erste Cue differenzierte, und sie verweilten kürzer in einer Alternative, bevor sie den Blick auf die andere Alternative richteten. Bei DR Verwendern fanden sich erwartungsgemäß keine Unterschiede in den Blickwechselhäufigkeiten, je später der erste Cue differenzierte, und sie verweilten länger innerhalb einer Alternative vor einem Blickwechsel. Die Ergebnisse stützen die Idee, dass Blickbewegungen wertvolle Informationen über die kognitiven Prozesse während der Gedächtnissuche liefern können. Das Potenzial der Blickbewegungsmessung als Prozessmaß zur Untersuchung gedächtnisbasierter Entscheidungen wird diskutiert. / The common methods for studying heuristics in memory-based multi-attribute decisions provide outcome and response measures but do not directly observe information search. Hence, foregoing cognitive processes cannot be explored. In the presented experiment a novel process-tracing method is introduced that uses eye-tracking to study memory-based decisions. It is based on the so-called ‘looking at nothing’ effect that assumes that people fixate on blank locations if a relevant visual stimulus previously occupied that location. Therefore, participants learned cue information of decision alternatives in spatial frames. In the decision phase they were presented with emptied displays of two alternatives and performed binary choices between them. Participants were instructed to decide either according to a lexicographic or a compensatory strategy. Fixation patterns on former cue locations and reaction times mirrored memory search and cue processing as assumed for the tested strategies.