The present study examined differences in visual search and locomotor behavior among a group of skilled 10–12 year-old football players. The participants watched video clips of a 4-to-4 position game, presented on a large screen. The participants were asked to take part in the game by choosing the best position for the reception of the ball passed by one of the players in the clip. Participants’ visual search and locomotor behavior were collected continuously throughout the presentation of the clip. A within-group comparison was made based upon the participants’ interception score, i.e., more at the correct position. The findings show that the high-score group looked more to the ball area, while the players in the low-score group concentrated on the receiving player and on the hips/upper-body region of the passing player. The players in the high-score group covered a significantly greater distance compared to the low-score group. It was concluded that differences in visual search and locomotion behavior can be used as indicators for identifying talented junior football players.
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In foul decision-making by football referees, visual search is important for gathering task-specific information to determine whether a foul has occurred. Yet, little is known about the visual search behaviours underpinning excellent on-field decisions. The aim of this study was to examine the on-field visual search behaviour of elite and sub-elite football referees when calling a foul during a match. In doing so, we have also compared the accuracy and gaze behaviour for correct and incorrect calls. Elite and sub-elite referees (elite: N = 5, Mage ± SD = 29.8 ± 4.7yrs, Mexperience ± SD = 14.8 ± 3.7yrs; sub-elite: N = 9, Mage ± SD = 23.1 ± 1.6yrs, Mexperience ± SD = 8.4 ± 1.8yrs) officiated an actual football game while wearing a mobile eye-tracker, with on-field visual search behaviour compared between skill levels when calling a foul (Nelite = 66; Nsub−elite = 92). Results revealed that elite referees relied on a higher search rate (more fixations of shorter duration) compared to sub-elites, but with no differences in where they allocated their gaze, indicating that elites searched faster but did not necessarily direct gaze towards different locations. Correct decisions were associated with higher gaze entropy (i.e. less structure). In relying on more structured gaze patterns when making incorrect decisions, referees may fail to pick-up information specific to the foul situation. Referee development programmes might benefit by challenging the speed of information pickup but by avoiding pre-determined gaze patterns to improve the interpretation of fouls and increase the decision-making performance of referees.
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Numerous laboratory-based studies recorded eye movements in participants with varying expertise when watching video projections in the lab. Although research in the lab offers the advantage of internal validity, reliability and ethical considerations, ecological validity is often questionable. Therefore the current study compared visual search in 13 adult cyclists, when cycling a real bicycle path and while watching a film clip of the same road. Dwell time towards five Areas of Interest (AOIs) is analysed. Dwell time (%) in the lab and real-life was comparable only for the low quality bicycle path. Both in real-life and the lab, gaze is predominantly driven towards the road. Since gaze behaviour in the lab and real-life tends to be comparable with increasing task-complexity (road quality), it is concluded that under certain task constraints laboratory experiments making use of video clips might provide valuable information regarding gaze behaviour in real-life.
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This study explored how dressage judges focus their attention on different parts of horse-rider performances during competitions. By using eye tracking technology, we analyzed where judges look and how long they focus on specific areas. We included twenty judges with varying levels of experience and recorded their eye movements as they assessed Grand Prix dressage tests on video. We found that all judges mostly looked at the front of the horse compared to the rider or other parts of the horse. However, advanced level judges paid more attention to the horse’s feet, while judges engaged at the lower level of the sport looked more at the rider. These patterns suggest that judges concentrate on a few highly relevant areas, depending on the underlying criteria for evaluating performances. Understanding judges’ visual patterns and how they interpret what they see can help improve judging, making it more accurate and transparent, ensuring more consistent evaluations in competition and improving equine welfare.
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In daily interaction with horses, humans primarily rely on facial expression as a non-verbal equine cue for emotional information. Difficulties in correctly recognizing these signals might arise due to the species-specificity of facial cues, possibly leading to diminished equine welfare and health. This study aimed to explore human visual search patterns when assessing equine facial expressions indicative of various pain levels, utilizing eye-tracking technology. Hundred and eight individuals (N = 108), classified into three groups (affinity with horses (N = 60), pet owners with no affinity with horses (N = 32), and individuals with no affinity with animals (N = 16)) participated in the study; with their eye movements recorded using eye tracking glasses they evaluated four photos of horses with different levels of pain. Error score, calculated by comparing participant scores to Gold Standard Visual Analogue Score levels and fixation metrics (number of fixations and duration of fixations) were analysed across the four photos, participant group and Areas of Interest (AOIs): eyes, ears, nostrils, and mouth. Statistical analysis utilized linear mixed models. Highlighting the critical role of the eyes as key indicators of pain, findings showed that the eyes played a significant role in assessing equine emotional states, as all groups focused on them for a longer time and more frequently compared to other facial features. Also, participants showed a consistent pattern in how they looked at a horse's face, first focusing on the eyes, then the ears, and finally the nose/mouth region, indicating a horse-specific pattern. Moderate pain was assessed with similar accuracy across all groups, indicating that these signals are broadly recognizable. Nevertheless, non-equestrians faced challenges with recognizing the absence of pain, possibly highlighting the role of experience in interpreting subtle equine expressions. The study's limitations, such as variability in assessment conditions may have impacted findings. Future work could further investigate why humans follow this visual search pattern and whether they recognize the significance of a horse's ears. Additionally, emphasis should be placed on developing targeted training interventions to improve equine pain recognition, possibly benefiting equine welfare and health.
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For environmental governance to be more effective and transformative, it needs to enhance the presence of experimental and innovative approaches for participation. This enhancement requires a transformation of environmental governance, as too often the (public) participation process is set up as a formal obligation in the development of a proposed intervention. This article, in search of alternatives, and in support of this transformation elaborates on spaces where participatory and deliberative governance processes have been deployed. Experiences with two mediated participation methodologies – community art and visual problem appraisal – allow a demonstration of their potential, relevance and attractiveness. Additionally, the article analyzes the challenges that result from the nature of these arts-based methodologies, from the confrontational aspects of voices overlooked in conventional approaches, and from the need to rethink professionals’ competences. Considering current environmental urgencies, mediated participation and social imaginaries still demonstrate capacities to open new avenues for action and reflection.
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The research project In search of pedagogical sensitivity is executed from the research department of the knowledge circle renewing methods and didactics for teacher education and training of the Hogeschool Utrecht in the Netherlands under supervision of Hans Jansen (associated professor of the Hogeschool Utrecht - chair: renewing methods and didactics for teacher education and training) by Karel Mulderij, Renée van der Linde and Loes Houweling (all senior teachers and senior researchers of the Hogeschool Utrecht and members of the knowledge circle renewing methods and didactics for teacher education and training) with assistance of 25 students (teachers) studying in a three year Master course Ecological Pedagogy.
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As shown by Fuglesang’s work, some sparks on specific aspects of visual communication and media design were present in the 1980s and 1990s. Notwithstanding these insights, the field of international development for a long time continued to focus on the semiotic point of view, analysing and decoding the ‘language’ of the messages transmitted, and the quest for “systematic study on the evaluation of instructional media took place in different fields. It was in thenext millennium and inspired by the field of the arts that arguments were built toconceive language and text beyond the understanding of visual literacy asopposed to a merely word-based or written language to recognize visual communication and visual languages.
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Autonomous driving in public roads requires precise localization within the range of few centimeters. Even the best localization systems based on GNSS cannot always reach this level of precision, especially in an urban environment, where the signal is disturbed by surrounding buildings and artifacts. Recent works have shown the advantage of using maps as a precise, robust, and reliable way of localization. Typical approaches use the set of current readings from the vehicle sensors to estimate its position on the map. The approach presented in this paper exploits a short-range visual lane marking detector and a dead reckoning system to construct a registry of the detected back lane markings corresponding to the last 240 m driven. This information is used to search in the map the most similar section, to determine the vehicle localization in the map reference. Additional filtering is used to obtain a more robust estimation for the localization. The accuracy obtained is sufficiently high to allow autonomous driving in a narrow road. The system uses a low-cost architecture of sensors and the algorithm is light enough to run on low-power embedded architecture.
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In the Netherlands, over 40% of nursing home residents are estimated to have visual impairments. This results in the loss of basic visual abilities. The nursing home environment fits more or less to residents’ activities and social participation. This is referred to as environmental fit. To raise professional awareness of environmental fit, an Environmental Observation tool for the Visually Impaired was developed. This tool targets aspects of the nursing home environment such as ‘light’, the use of ‘colours and contrasts’ and ‘furnishing and obstacles’. Objective of this study is to validate the content of the observation tool to have a tool applicable for practice. Based on the content validity approach, we invited a total of eight experts, six eye care professionals and two building engineering researchers, to judge the relevance of the items. The Item Content Validity approach was applied to determine items to retain and reject. The content validity approach led to a decrease in the number of items from 63 to 52. The definitive tool of 52 items contains 21 for Corridors, 17 for the Common Room, and 14 for the Bathroom. All items of the definite tool received an Item-Content Validity Index of 0.875 and a Scale-Content Validity Index of 0.71. The content validity index of the scale and per item has been applied, resulting in a tool that can be applied in nursing homes. The tool might be a starting point of a discussion among professional caregivers on environmental interventions for visually impaired older adults in nursing homes
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