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The study involves approximately 250 Chinese university students from eight institutions to determine what parts of a representative sample of Chinese characters are crucial to their correct identification. One-hundred and two simplified characters were presented to participants using a web-based experimental platform. The characters were partially obscured using a gaussian blurring technique. The direction of maximum blur could either be from top to bottom, bottom to top, left to right, or right to left. Participants were asked to identify the blurred character and type its pinyin. Overall, participants correctly identified 88% of characters. The effects of all forms of blurring on correct recognition were correlated with character structures. Phonetic radicals seem to be more sensitive to the blurring than semantic radicals, while the radical transparency and radical frequency also plays a role in the recognition accuracy. The blurring conditions that impacted most significantly on correct recognition were top to bottom and bottom to top, which caused, respectively, the upper and lower parts of the character to be obscured.

This paper describes the use of semantic similarity measures based on distributed representations of words, sentences, and paragraphs (so-called “embeddings”) to assess the impact of supra-lexical factors on eye-movement data from early readers of Chinese. In addition, we used a corpus-based measure of surprisal to assess the impact of local word predictability. Eye movement data from 56 Chinese students were collected (a) in the students’ 4th grade and (b) one year later while they were in 5th grade. Results indicated that surprisal and some text similarity measures have a significant impact on the momentto- moment processing of words in reading. The paper presents an easy-to-use set of tools for linking the low-level aspects of fixation durations to a hierarchy of sentence-level and paragraph-level features that can be computed automatically. The study is the first attempt, as far as we are aware, to track the developmental trajectory of these influences in developing readers across a range of reading abilities. The similarity-based measures described here can be used (a) to provide a measure of reader sensitivity to sentence and paragraph cohesion and (b) to assess specific texts for their suitability for readers of different reading ability levels.

We report on a visual perception study to measure differences between numerical error in reconstructions from digital holograms of real-world objects that have undergone lossy compression, and the loss in quality perceived by human observers.

We study observers looking at a 3D scene captured in a traditional glass plate hologram using eye-tracking. We compare this with stereoscopic and 2D images. Our results can guide development of future digital holographic displays.

It has recently been found that adult native readers of Thai, an alphabetic scriptio continua language, engage similar oculomotor patterns as readers of languages written with spaces between words; despite the lack of inter-word spaces, first and last characters of a word appear to guide optimal placement of Thai readers’ eye movements, just to the left of word-centre. The issue addressed by the research described here is whether eye movements of Thai children also show these oculomotor patterns. Here the effect of first and last character frequency and word frequency on the eye movements of 18 Thai children when silently reading normal unspaced and spaced text was investigated. Linear mixed-effects model analyses of viewing time measures (first fixation duration, single fixation duration, and gaze duration) and of landing site location revealed that Thai children’s eye movement patterns were similar to their adult counterparts. Both first character frequency and word frequency played important roles in Thai children’s landing sites; children tended to land their eyes further into words, close to the word centre, if the word began with higher frequency first characters, and this effect was facilitated in higher frequency words. Spacing also facilitated more effective use of first character frequency and it also assisted in decreasing children’s viewing time. The use of last-character frequency appeared to be a later development, affecting mainly single fixation duration and gaze duration. In general, Thai children use the same oculomotor control mechanisms in reading spaced and unspaced texts as Thai adults, who in turn have similar oculomotor control as readers of spaced texts. Thus, it appears that eye movements in reading converge on the optimal landing site using whatever cues are available to guide such placement.

Using Best’s (1995) perceptual assimilation model (PAM), we investigated auditory–visual (AV), auditory-only (AO), and visual-only (VO) perception of Thai tones. Mandarin and Cantonese (tone-language) speakers were asked to categorize Thai tones according to their own native tone categories, and Australian English (non-tone-language) speakers to categorize Thai tones into their native intonation categories—for instance, question or statement. As comparisons, Thai participants completed a straightforward identification task, and another Australian English group identified the Thai tones using simple symbols. All of the groups also completed an AX discrimination task. Both the Mandarin and Cantonese groups categorized AO and AV Thai falling tones as their native level tones, and Thai rising tones as their native rising tones, although the Mandarin participants found it easier to categorize Thai level tones than did the Cantonese participants. VO information led to very poor categorization for all groups, and AO and AV information also led to very poor categorizations for the English intonation categorization group. PAM’s predictions regarding tone discriminability based on these category assimilation patterns were borne out for the Mandarin group’s AO and AV discriminations, providing support for the applicability of the PAM to lexical tones. For the Cantonese group, however, PAM was unable to account for one specific discrimination pattern—namely, their relatively good performance on the Thai high–rising contrast in the auditory conditions—and no predictions could be derived for the English groups. A full account of tone assimilation will likely need to incorporate considerations of phonetic, and even acoustic, similarity and overlap between nonnative and native tone categories.

This paper provides a short overview of current issues in research on continuous reading in non-Roman orthographies. At the same time it also serves as an introduction to the present Reading and Writing Special Issue on this topic. The main questions examined in the contributions to this volume are closely related to issues that have been central to research debates on reading in English, German and French. However, we argue that these innovative approaches to the dynamics of reading in Chinese, Japanese and Korean go far beyond a simple comparative research strategy. Instead, by illuminating phenomena like word segmentation, parafoveal processing and semantic analysis from their unique perspectives, they provide valuable insights into the more general question of to what extent information processing in reading is universal as opposed to language specific. Moreover, we expect that these initial studies will trigger more basic research on non-alphabetic reading, providing a foundation for useful application.

The objective of our study was to design, implement, and evaluate an oculomotor training system for beginning readers. The system is based on the theory of optimal viewing position for word identification. It consists of an eye tracking device and a computer program that gives real-time feedback in the form of a game to the reader about their fixation position on words. An experimental study was conducted with 8- year old children. The effectiveness of the training system was evaluated for each child by comparing saccade landing site distributions, gaze durations, and number of fixations per word before and after playing the game. We found that the peak of the landing site distribution moved towards the optimal viewing position after playing the game. We also determined that training had a positive effect on the evaluated measures in the majority of subjects. We propose that this type of oculomotor training may have potential benefits for some underperforming beginning readers or dyslexic readers., Tutkimuksen tavoite oli suunnitella, toteuttaa ja arvioida aloitteleville lukijoille tarkoitettua silmänliikkeiden kontrollin harjoittelujärjestelmää. Järjestelmä perustuu teoriaan optimaalisesta katseenkohdistuspaikasta sanan tunnistamiseksi. Se koostuu silmänliikeseurantalaitteesta ja tietokoneohjelmasta, jotka antavat reaaliaikaista palautetta pelin muodossa lukijalle hänen fiksaatiopaikastaan sanassa. Kokeellinen tutkimus tehtiin 8-vuotiaiden lasten kanssa. Järjestelmän vaikuttavuutta arvioitiin jokaisen lapsen kohdalla verraten sakkadien laskeutumispaikkajakaumaa, katseen kestoa ja fiksaatioiden määrää sanaa kohti ennen ja jälkeen pelin pelaamisen. Päädyimme tulokseen, että koulutuksella oli positiivinen vaikutus arvioinnin kohteena olleiden mittarien valossa suurimmassa osassa koehenkilöitä. Tämänkaltaisesta silmänliikkeiden kontrollia tukevasta harjoittelujärjestelmästä saattaisi potentiaalisesti olla apua lukihäiriöisille tai aloitteleville heikkotaitoisille lukijoille.

In this paper, a new method of blotch detection for digitised film sequences is proposed. Due to the aging of film stocks, their poor storage and/or repeated viewing, it is estimated that approximately 50% of all films produced prior to 1950 have either been destroyed or rendered unwatchable [1,2]. To prevent their complete destruction, original film reels must be scanned into digital format; however, any defects such as blotches will be retained. By combining a variation of a linear time, contour tracing technique with a simple temporal nearest neighbour algorithm, a preliminary detection system has been created. Using component labelling of dirt and sparkle the overall performance of the completed system, in terms of time and accuracy, will compare favourably to traditional motion compensated detection methods. This small study (based on 13 film sequences) represents a significant first step towards automatic blotch detection.

Until recently, filming has been an analogue process; it requires a mechanical process to record and view, and the source material itself is prone to decay & abrasion [1]. Film is expensive to store, and prohibitively expensive to restore. All footage - historical, documentary or entertainment – may completely degrade over time. While many archival films stocks are currently being scanned and further damage thus prevented, the digital copies are far from the quality of the original. The types of aberrations found are varied, from frame jitter and line scratches to dirt and sparkle. It is the detection of the latter two (which are frame based abnormalities) that will be examined here.

Although the development of the field of reading has been impressive, there are a number of issues that still require much more attention. One of these concerns the variability of skilled reading within the individual. This paper explores the topic in three ways: (1) it quantifies the extent to which, two factors, the specific reading task (comprehension vs. word verification) and the format of reading material (sentence vs. passage) influence the temporal aspects of reading as expressed in word-viewing durations; (2) it examines whether they also affect visuomotor aspects of eye-movement control; and (3) determine whether they can modulate local lexical processing. The results reveal reading as a dynamic, interactive process involving semi-autonomous modules, with top-down influences clearly evident in the eye-movement record.

A model for predicting student performance on introductory programming modules is presented. The model uses attributes identified in a study carried out at four third-level institutions in the Republic of Ireland. Four instruments were used to collect the data and over 25 attributes were examined. A data reduction technique was applied and a logistic regression model using 10-fold stratified cross validation was developed. The model used three attributes: Leaving Certificate Mathematics result (final mathematics examination at second level), number of hours playing computer games while taking the module and programming self-esteem. Prediction success was significant with 80% of students correctly classified. The model also works well on a per-institution level. A discussion on the implications of the model is provided and future work is outlined.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between self-regulated learning (SRL) and introductory programming performance. Participants were undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory computer programming module at a third-level (post-high school) institution. The instrument used in this study was designed to assess the motivations and learning strategies (cognitive, metacognitive and resource management strategies) of college students. The data gathered was analyzed to determine if a relationship existed between self-regulation and programming performance and investigate if SRL could be used to predict performance on the module. The study found that students who perform well in programming use more metacognitive and resource management strategies than lower performing students. In addition, students who have high levels of intrinsic motivation and task value perform better in programming and use more metacognitive and resource management strategies than students with low levels of intrinsic motivation and task value. Finally, a regression model based on cognitive, metacognitive and resource management strategies was able to account for 45% of the variance in programming performance results.

This paper documents a study, carried out in the academic year 2003-2004, on fifteen factors that may influence performance on a first year object-oriented programming module. The factors included prior academic experience, prior computer experience, self-perception of programming performance and comfort level on the module and specific cognitive skills. The study found that a student's perception of their understanding of the module had the strongest correlation with programming performance, r=0.76, p‹0.01. In addition, Leaving Certificate (LC) mathematics and science scores were shown to have a strong correlation with performance. A regression module, based upon a student's perception of their understanding of the module, gender, LC mathematics score and comfort level was able to account for 79% of the variance in programming performance results.

This paper describes the analysis and clustering of motion trajectories obtained while users navigate within a virtual environment (VE). It presents a neural network simulation that produces a set of five clusters which help to differentiate users on the basis of efficient and inefficient navigational strategies. The accuracy of classification carried out with a self-organising map algorithm was tested and improved to in excess of 85% by using learning vector quantisation. This paper considers how such user classifications could be utilised in the delivery of intelligent navigational support and the dynamic reconfiguration of scenes within such VEs. We explore how such intelligent assistance and system adaptivity could be delivered within a Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) context.

According to Pulvermüller (1999), words are represented in the brain by cell assemblies (Hebb, 1949) distributed over different areas, depending on semantic properties of the word. For example, a word with strong visual associations will be represented by a cell assembly involving neurons in the visual cortex, while a word suggesting action will selectively activate neurons in the motor areas. The present work aims to test the latter hypothesis by means of behavioural measures. Specifically it tests the prediction that there should be a selective influence (in terms either of interference or priming) of performed/observed movements on the performance (reaction times and accuracy) of lexical decision involving words with a strong action association. Similarly, a selective influence of visual images on lexical decision involving words with strong visual associations should be observed. Two experiments were carried out. Results provided partial support for the hypothesis.

The objective of our study is to design and evaluate an oculomotor reading aid for beginning readers. The aid consists of an eye-tracking device and a computer program that gives real-time feedback in the form of a game to the subject about their fixation position on words. An experimental study was conducted with 8-year-old children. We evaluated the effectiveness of the aid for each child by comparing the landing site distributions before and after playing the game. We found that the peak of the landing site distribution moved towards the optimal viewing position (OVP) for word identification after playing the game. We also determined that training had a positive effect on gaze duration, on the mean and distribution of number of fixations per word, and on the percentage of words with refixations in the majority of subjects.

This study investigates the differences in movement patterns followed by users navigating within a virtual environment. The analysis has been carried out between two groups of users, identified on the basis of their performance on a search task. Results indicate significant differences between efficient and inefficient navigators’ trajectories. They are related to rotational, translational and localised-landmarks behaviour. These findings are discussed in the light of theoretical outcomes provided by environmental psychology.

The paper highlights the relationship between each of four bi-polar dimensions of personality cognitive style, such as extraversion–introversion, sensing–intuition, thinking–feeling and judging–perceiving, and the level of sense of presence experienced. Findings indicate that individuals who are more sensitive, more feeling or more introverted experience a higher level of presence. While not reaching statistical significance, differing cognitive styles appear to impact on task performance. The apparent negative relationship discovered between sense of presence and task performance should be considered in the light of task characteristics. We discuss the implications of these findings and how they contribute to an understanding of the complex relationship that exists between presence and task performance and how this subsequently ought to influence the design of virtual environments.

In this paper we present a novel system which automatically converts text documents into XML by extracting information from previously tagged XML documents. The system uses the Self-Organizing Map (SOM) learning algorithm to arrange tagged documents on a two-dimensional map such that nearby locations contain similar documents. It then employs the inductive learning algorithm C5.0 to automatically extract and apply auto-tagging rules from the nearest SOM neighbours of an untagged document. The system is designed to be adaptive, so that once a document is tagged in XML, it learns from its errors in order to improve accuracy. The automatically tagged documents can be categorized on the SOM, further improving the map’s resolution. Various experiments were carried out on our system, using documents from a number of different domains. The results show that our approach performs well with impressive accuracy.

This study proposes a modular system for clustering on-line motion trajectories obtained while users navigate within a virtual environment. It presents a neural network simulation that gives a set of five clusters which help to differentiate users on the basis of efficient and inefficient navigational strategies. The accuracy of classification carried out with a self-organizing map algorithm was tested and improved to above 85% by using learning vector quantization. The benefits of this approach and the possibility of extending the methodology to the study of navigation in Human Computer Interaction are discussed.

As the number of computational models of eye-movement control in reading increases, so too will their coverage and complexity. This will make their comparison and testing increasingly challenging. We argue here that there is a need to develop a methodology for constructing and evaluating such models, and outline aspects of a possible methodology.

In this paper we present a novel system that can automatically mark up text documents into XML. The system uses the Self-Organizing Map (SOM) algorithm to organize marked documents on a map so that similar documents are placed on nearby locations. Then by using the inductive learning algorithm C5, it automatically generates and applies the markup rules from the nearest SOM neighbours of an unmarked document. The system is adaptive in nature and learns from errors in the automatically marked-up document to improve accuracy. The automatically marked-up documents are again arranged on the SOM.

In her Behavioral and Brain Sciences target article, Greenfield (1991) proposed that early in a child's development Broca's area may serve the dual function of coordinating object assembly and organizing the production of structured utterances. As development progresses, the upper and lower regions of Broca's area become increasingly specialized for motor coordination and speech, respectively. This commentary presents a connectionist simulation of aspects of this proposal. The results of the simulation confirm the main thrust of Greenfield's argument and suggest that an important impetus for the developmental differentiation in Broca's area may be the increasing complexity of the computational demands made upon it.

The goal of this chapter is to propose a candidate for consideration as a building block of cortical computation. The candidate in question is the collaborative cell assembly (CCA), and I will make the case in the rest of this chapter that the concept provides a unifying framework for accounting for the mechanisms of perceptual “binding” in the sensory areas of the brain, as well as providing a mechanism for the incremental construction of cognitive and language systems from simpler components.

This paper investigates the relation between the sound patterns of interjections and their functional realisation in the discourse process. It considers whether certain interjection functions tend to have particular sound distributions. In order to address these questions a classification scheme for American English nonlexical interjections in terms of discourse markers is also presented.