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Context: This report covers the development of a benchmarking extension to the eye-tracking software ”EyesOnTheCode” that utilizes WebGazer. The extension makes it possible tobenchmark the software and for researchers to quantify externalfactors’ impact on eye-tracking.Objective: To create a benchmarking extension to EyesOnTheCode that measures the accuracy of its readings. Additionally,to create a data analysis tool that assists researchers in interpretingthe data more easily.Approach: The benchmarking software displays a movingobject on the screen that the user follows with their gaze. Thesoftware records data throughout the benchmarking sessionthat can then be analyzed through the data analysis tool. Thetool makes it possible to generate charts that can be used forresearch purposes.Results: The use of reading glasses increased the Euclideandistance by 44.55 pixels, with a decrease in accuracy fromthe control test by 20.5 percent. A decrease in web cameraresolution from 1920 by 1080 to 1280 by 720 pixels reducedthe accuracy by an average of 77.5 pixels or roughly 35.7percent. Increasing the web camera resolution from 1920 by1080 to 3840 by 2160 pixels decreased the Euclidean distanceby 27.66 pixels, increasing accuracy by roughly 12.7 percent.Conclusion: Data polled from the software indicates thatusing reading glasses and low web camera resolution negativelyimpacts eye-tracking. Further work and more test samples must bemade to verify the data, but the benchmarking software showspromising results. More features may need to be implemented tomake the software more usable for researchers.

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The purposes of this study were (1) to learn how many persons who were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were blind, (2) to determine the social and economic conditions of these blind members, and (3) to learn what the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has done to promote employment of blind members through its Welfare Program, and how this was accomplished.

This dissertation examines comparative constructions, both in terms of their representation in syntax and semantics and in terms of the way these representations are built and interpreted incrementally during sentence processing. While there has been extensive investigation of comparatives in the syntax and semantics literature (see Bresnan, 1973; von Stechow, 1984; Heim, 1985; Kennedy, 1999, among others), there has been little work on how comparatives are processed (although see Fults and Phillips, 2004; Wellwood et al., 2009 for work on so-called comparative illusions). In the first half of the dissertation, I address issues that are primarily syntactic in nature; in the second half, I address issues that are primarily at the semantic and pragmatic levels. In Chapter 2, I examine the basic syntax of English comparatives and readers’ expectations for the structure of comparatives during parsing. I present evidence from eye movements during reading to argue that a curious pattern of acceptability in comparatives (observed by Osborne, 2009) arises from processing factors rather than the grammar. Chapter 3 provides evidence from self-paced reading that, in contrast to what has been shown for other more widely studied structures, in comparative clauses subject gaps are more difficult to process than object gaps. Some potential accounts for this asymmetry between comparatives and other structures are discussed, and in Chapter 4, I argue for a grammar-based account of the subject gap penalty. Chapters 5 and 6 investigate questions in the semantics/pragmatics and semantic processing of comparatives. In Chapter 5, I introduce a previously unstudied type of comparative, which I call subset comparatives, and investigate their appropriate formal representation. In addition to their theoretical interest, subset comparatives can provide insight into comprehenders’ expectations regarding the relationship between the two sets of entities involved in comparatives. Evidence from eye movement studies suggests that readers have an initial preference for contrast, or disjointness, between sets in comparatives. Chapter 6 investigates issues in the comparison of pluralities during on-line sentence processing, again as studied through eye movements during reading. This chapter provides evidence that, when comparing sets, comparisons that involve degrees along an adjectival scale involve complexity beyond that involved in comparing sets in terms of their cardinalities. The results of my experimental studies on comparatives are related to broader issues in linguistics and psycholinguistics, such as the sources of well-formedness (or ill-formedness) in language, the representation of linguistically described sets in language processing, and the interaction between levels of information (syntactic, semantic, and conceptual/world knowledge) in comprehension.

This document only includes an excerpt of the corresponding thesis or dissertation. To request a digital scan of the full text, please contact the Ruth Lilly Medical Library's Interlibrary Loan Department (rlmlill@iu.edu).

Subconcussions in sport is a growing field of interest and concern as deteriorative effects of these impacts have been shown in athletes without a diagnosed concussion. Detecting subconcussions is extremely difficult and there is no standardized method to recognize these injuries. A first step in identifying subconcussion is taking a closer look at concussions. The vestibular system has been shown to be negatively affected after concussive injuries which can be quantified via oculomotor function and pupillometry. Currently, King Devick (KD) style tests and Pupillary Light Reflex (PLR) are two popular tests that can be administered to athletes to gather clinical eye measures relating to oculomotor function and pupillometry. This study aimed to investigate how clinical eye measures change through serial in-season testing of Division 1 (D1) soccer athletes. Head impacts throughout a soccer season were recorded and we hypothesized that a greater number of head impacts would result in negative clinical changes even in the absence of a diagnosed concussion. No major trends were observed in soccer athletes that can be associated with trends seen in concussed populations. Soccer athletes were found to be slightly more likely to test abnormally than non-contact controls and soccer athletes with a greater number of head impacts were found to have slightly more abnormal tests than athletes with fewer head impacts. Overall, this study provides a dataset of pre and post-season measurements and uniquely includes multiple in-season measurements to provide a new perspective on oculomotor function and pupillary light reflex over the course of a sports season. / Master of Science / Subconcussions in sport is a growing field of interest and concern as deteriorative effects of these impacts have been shown in athletes without a diagnosed concussion. Detecting subconcussions is extremely difficult and there is no standardized method to recognize these injuries. The first step at identifying subconcussions is to more closely look at concussions. Eye movements and pupil response to stimuli can be affected after a concussive injury. Currently, King Devick (KD) style tests and Pupillary Light Reflex (PLR) are two popular tests that can be administered to athletes to gather clinical eye measures relating to eye motion and pupil response to stimuli. This study aimed to investigate how clinical eye measures change through repeated in-season testing of Division 1 (D1) soccer athletes. Head impacts throughout a soccer season were recorded and we hypothesized that a greater number of head impacts would result in negative clinical changes even in the absence of a diagnosed concussion. No major trends were observed in soccer athletes that can be associated with trends seen in concussed populations. Soccer athletes were found to be slightly more likely to test abnormally than non-contact controls and soccer athletes with a greater number of head impacts were found to have slightly more abnormal tests than athletes with fewer head impacts. Overall, this study provides a dataset of pre and post-season measurements and uniquely includes multiple in-season measurements to provide a new perspective on clinical eye measures over the course of a sports season.

Research on eye movement control during first language (L1) reading has long since established that (i) words are read most efficiently when the first saccade into the word lands near its center, (ii) words are refixated more often when landing positions deviate from the center of the word, and (iii) relatively proficient readers' saccades land closer to this center position. Eye-tracking studies of second language (L2) reading tend to compare participant groups based on their language background (L1 vs L2) rather than L2 proficiency. As of yet, there has been no comparison of these approaches. This study reports a comparative analysis of the Multilingual Eye-movement COrpus (MECO), which contains data on English text reading and its component skills from 543 participants representing 12 different L1s. Analyses of the distributions of initial landing positions and refixation probabilities establish that the gradient measure of proficiency in English (as L1 or L2) has a greater explanatory power than categorical contrasts between language backgrounds. We also found that English proficiency has a gradient effect on efficiency of saccadic targeting: more proficient readers landed their initial saccades closer to the word's center. However, more proficient readers of English were also less accurate in their saccadic targeting, showing greater dispersion of initial landing positions. We link this puzzling finding to the observation that landing in a suboptimal position comes with a much higher processing cost (refixation probability) for less proficient readers. This study discusses theoretical and methodological implications of the novel findings for reading research. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / When we read text, we do not continuously move our eyes across it, but we make a series of rapid eye fixations on different parts of the text. Scientists know that if we fixate our eyes on a center of a word rather than on its beginning or end, we will understand that word the fastest. Highly skilled readers make the first fixation on any word in a more optimal place compared to less skilled readers. Making such optimal fixations allows highly skilled readers to understand each word they encounter faster, which makes them better readers and leads to more successful outcomes later in life. In this research project we were interested in how reader's proficiency in reading related skills affects the efficiency of their eye-movements during reading English as a first and second language. The results found that more proficient readers were found to have a lighter penalty to the speed of their reading when fixating their eyes farther away from the optimal position in words. Additionally, the results demonstrated that proficiency in reading related skills is a better indicator of the efficient eye-movement behavior than native language of the reader.

During reading, readers engage in comprehension and metacognitive processes. When problems in integrating the current information with the situation model occur, readers tend to make regressions—backward eye movements—to find information in prior text to resolve the problem (Schotter et al., 2014). Prior research suggests that cues related to regressions are used when making metacomprehension judgments. The usage of these cues may be influenced by a person’s ability to attend to comprehension processes during reading. The current study examined the relationship between comprehension and metacomprehension processes by using regressions as a measure of online monitoring. Experiment 1 examined how attention to end-of-sentence regressions affected the usage of cues related to regressions. During reading, participants heard tones when an end-of-sentence regression was made, random tones, or did not hear tones. Participants in the random tone condition were less likely to use cues related to regressions than participants that did not hear any tones. Experiment 2 examined how awareness of comprehension difficulties and working memory affected the usage of cues related to regressions when making metacomprehension judgments. During reading, participants performed a secondary task that influenced the ability to attend to comprehension processes. Participants also completed working memory tasks. Participants in the distracted condition were less likely to use cues related to regressions than participants in the control condition. In addition, participants with low attentional control were more likely to use cues related to regressions than participants with high attentional control. The findings suggest that attention to comprehension processes and working memory play an important role in the relationship between comprehension and metacomprehension.

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