Thesis (M. S.)--Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009. / Committee Chair: Griffin, Zenzi; Committee Member: Blanchard-Fields, Fredda; Committee Member: Spieler, Daniel

The aim of this study was to identify and compare the gaze behaviour of both advancement levels (Advanced and Not Advanced) and genders (female and male) during successful serve reception. A quantitative, exploratory and quasi-experimental research design was used in which 50 ToppVolley Norway student athletes aged 16 to 19 years were sampled. The gaze behaviour of junior volleyball athletes was assesed as they received two types of serves (1 float and 1 top spin jump serve) and performed a forearm and/or overhead pass to a setter’s target while wearing an ASL mobile eye tracker. Gaze characteristics such as fixation number, fixation duration and areas of interest were used to achieve the aim of the study. The study found that Advanced participants differed from the Not Advanced athletes in employing fewer (9.70 ± 1.14 versus 10.77 ± 3.63 , p<.05, d>.20 ) fixations but for longer durations per fixations (1.64 ± 0.20 versus 1.60 ± 0.34, p<.05, d>.20 ) in receiving the float serve. Contrary, for the reception of the top spin jump serve, the Advanced athletes employed more fixations (12.11 ± 2.40 versus 11.83 ± 2.17, p<.05, d>.20 ) but for shorter durations per fixations (1.57 ± 0.26 versus 1.65 ± 0.34 sec, p<.05, d>.20 ) than the Not Advanced athletes. Male athletes in this study were more experienced than their female counterparts (5.97 ± 1.62 years versus 4.75 ± 1.59 years, p<.05, d>.20 ) with males employing more fixations than the females (11.02 ± 3.63 versus 9.19 ± 1.55 and 12.26 ± 2.46 versus 11.36 ± 1.69, p<.05, d>.20 ) for the float and top spin serves respectively but for shorter durations per fixation (1.62 ± 0.27 versus 1.76 ± 0.29 sec (float) and 1.56 ± 0.32 versus 1.73 ± 0.28 sec (top spin) p<.05, d>.20 ) than the female athletes. These results and findings suggests that Advanced athletes for both serves attended to the most appropriate visual information through the top-down approach, their knowledge and past experiences. For gender differences, the results show that the female athletes employed fewer fixation points in receiving float serves, however the employment of fewer fixation points during the top spin jump serves was due to receiving serves characterised by easily identifiable trajectories and lower speeds. The contradicting finding of the Advanced athletes employing more fixation points for the top spin jump serve may be due to task complexity demands. Thirteen areas of interests were also identified. The combined results for both gender and advancement levels suggest that the athletes fixated on similar areas of interests, primarily the upper body and secondary on the ball (flight), serve reception phase, arrival at target and contact point. The aim and objectives of this study were achieved in that both absolute and relative values for number of fixations, duration of fixations and areas of interest fixated on, were established. However the outcome of comparisons made, were not all expected particularly that of the Advanced group for the top spin jump serve. Possible explanations were offered, but further research is required in this regard.

Research on the psychology of women, and women's negative embodied experiences, frequently implicates societal practices of objectification as catalysts for the internalization of objectification in women, or self-objectification. While extant models and theories provide excellent frameworks for identifying the causes, consequences and development of self-objectification in women, much detail is required before these formulations achieve their full clinical application. Information on women's immediate emotional, cognitive, and behavioural responses to objectifying social experiences would assist clinicians and clients to identify common concomitants of objectification and self-objectification, particularly those that aggregate over time into long-term negative psychological outcomes. / In the present study, hypotheses regarding women's social experiences of objectification and self-objectification were tested on 228 college-age women who completed the Objectification Response Questionnaire (ORQ; Robinson, 2001), and measures assessing Objectified Body Consciousness (OBC; McKinley & Hyde, 1996) and Self-Objectification (SOQ; Noll & Fredrickson, 1997). On the ORQ, participants report on emotional and cognitive responses, as well as behavioural responses in the form of social looking, to hypothetical scenarios depicting social experiences of objectifying gazing by a stranger. ORQ responses were unrelated to SOQ scores, but were related to OBC Self-Surveillance and Control Beliefs subscales. Interactions of OBC scores and observer characteristics of gender and attractiveness were also significantly related to ORQ scores. Results are discussed in the context of augmenting prevailing theories and models in the area of women and self-objectification, specifically in the form of clinical applications to disrupt certain social experiences of objectification and self-objectification, and facilitate behaviours, thoughts and attitudes associated with resilience, competence and subjectification.

The primary aim of this study was to determine the visual gaze behaviour of sub-elite cricket batsmen when facing fast in-swing and out-swing bowling. To achieve the aim of this study, two main objectives were set: (1) to describe and compare the visual gaze behaviour of sub-elite cricket batsmen for both successful and unsuccessful trials irrespective of the ball faced; and (2) to describe and compare the visual gaze behaviour of sub-elite cricket batsmen for both in-swing and out-swing bowling trials irrespective of the outcome. The gaze behaviour characteristics were described and compared in terms areas of interest (AOI), number of fixations, duration of each fixation, starting and last fixation, and order of fixations. The study was pre-experimental in nature and utilised a quantitative approach. A One group post-test only design was followed in this study. A total of 13 batsmen were tested that met the inclusion criteria and were included in the study by means of purposive sampling. Four different variables were assessed: eye dominance, visual gaze behaviour, the speed of delivery and ambient light. No significant differences were found for the mean number and duration of fixations irrespective of the stroke outcome and the ball type faced. However, significant differences were obtained when specifically looking at the stroke outcome and the ball type faced. Results suggest that the AOI, upper body, arm/ ball release and pitch are considered as task relevant cues. Information appears to be acquired from the aforementioned AOI in a sequential manner to contribute to successful batting performance. In addition, batsmen should attempt to diminish the number of blinks at the end of trials to contribute towards more successful batting performance.

No description available.

Eye movements during picture description were used to investigate the time course for structuring embedded clauses. According to the frame-based model of language production (e.g., Garrett, 1975; Ferreira, 2000) speakers make decisions about syntactic structure using structural frames corresponding to clauses or verb phrases. On-line theories allow structure to be built piecemeal corresponding to individual words and phrases (e.g., Kempen & Hoenkamp, 1987). These predictions were tested in two studies where speakers answered questions based on scenes that depicted someone communicating or thinking about an embedded event, eliciting descriptions like A woman is thinking about (a man being chased by a bear/a bear chasing a man). Based on previous eye movement studies (e.g., Meyer & Van Der Meulen, 2000), gaze shifts between agents (bear) and patients (man) were expected to occur less often after hearing biased questions, which provided multiple structural cues, than after unbiased ones. The timing of a difference in gaze shifts would then reflect when speakers considered order of mention and committed to an active or passive structure. Study 1 partially supports a frame-based theory of the syntactic planning while study 2 did not provide evidence for either model. Results are discussed in terms of models of language production and reiterate the need for experimental paradigms that use on-line methods in the investigation of the time-course structuring spoken utterances.

Eye fixations of the face are normally directed towards either the eyes or the mouth, however the proportions of gaze to either of these regions are dependent on context. Previous studies of gaze behavior demonstrate a tendency to stare into a target’s eyes, however no studies investigate the differences between when participants believe they are engaging in a live interaction compared to knowingly watching a pre-recorded video, a distinction that may contribute to studies of memory encoding. This study examined differences in fixation behavior for when participants falsely believed they were engaging in a real-time interaction over the internet (“Real-time stimulus”) compared to when they knew they were watching a pre-recorded video (“Pre-recorded stimulus”). Results indicated that participants fixated significantly longer towards the eyes for the pre-recorded stimulus than for the real-time stimulus, suggesting that previous studies which utilize pre-recorded videos may lack ecological validity. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

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.

Within the past thirty years, privacy concerns among American citizens are rising with counter-terrorist surveillance going beyond targeting people of interest. These concerns are reflected in American cinema where many contemporary films have explored surveillance in society. The textual analyses presented in the thesis will focus on three such films, Strange Days (1995), Southland Tales (2005), and Nightcrawler (2014). Throughout this thesis, I examine how each of these films offers a unique, reflexive take on surveillance, adhering to generative mechanisms that evoke differing attitudes about surveillance through their form. My analysis draws on Laura Mulvey and Patricia Pisters’ theories on the gaze to understand the politics of looking in contemporary surveillance cinema and highlight how cinematic scopophilia evolved into a networked perspective. My analysis suggests that the politics of surveillance cinema is reflected in these films as their differences mirror the changing perception of surveillance and the gaze over time. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

There are many factors that contributed to the proliferation of visual codes, metaphors and references to the gendered gaze in women's fiction of the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries. This thesis argues that the visual details in women's novels published between 1778 and 1815 are more significant than scholars have previously acknowledged. My analysis of the oeuvres of Jane Austen, Ann Radcliffe, Maria Edgeworth and Fanny Burney shows that visuality — the nexus between the verbal and visual communication — provided them with a language within language capable of circumventing the cultural strictures on female expression in a way that allowed for concealed resistance. It conveyed the actual ways in which women ‘should' see and appear in a society in which the reputation was image-based. My analysis journeys through physiognomic, psychological, theatrical and codified forms of visuality to highlight the multiplicity of its functions. I engage with scholarly critiques drawn from literature, art, optics, psychology, philosophy and anthropology to assert visuality's multidisciplinary influences and diplomatic potential. I show that in fiction and in actuality, women had to negotiate four scopic forces that determined their ‘looks' and manners of looking: the impartial spectator, the male gaze, the public eye and the disenfranchised female gaze. In a society dominated by ‘frustrated utterance,' penetrating gazes and the perpetual threat of misinterpretation, women novelists used references to the visible and the invisible to comment on emotions, socio-economic conditions and patriarchal abuses. This thesis thus offers new insights into verbal economy by reassessing expression and perception from an unconventional point-of-view.