The diagnostic potential of eye tracking and pupilometry in the context of spatial thinking
Fehringer, Benedict C. O. F.
Document Type:
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Doctoral dissertation
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Year of publication:
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2019
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Place of publication:
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Mannheim
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University:
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Universität Mannheim
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Evaluator:
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Münzer, Stefan
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Date of oral examination:
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19 February 2019
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Publication language:
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English
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Institution:
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Außerfakultäre Einrichtungen > Graduate School of Economic and Social Sciences- CDSS (Social Sciences) School of Social Sciences > Bildungspsychologie (Münzer 2012-)
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Subject:
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150 Psychology
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Keywords (English):
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spatial thinking , visualization , psychological testing , eye tracking , pupillometry
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Abstract:
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Eye tracking and pupillometry are promising techniques in the context of psychological
diagnostics. Standard tests are usually based on accuracy and/or reaction times as critical
measures for ability estimation. Deeper insights in how participants solve certain tasks or why
they fail can mostly be detected insufficiently by those measures. In contrast, gaze fixation
patterns are able to reflect cognitive processes while a participant is solving a specific task.
Furthermore, pupillary-based measures can indicate the cognitive workload. Hence, eye tracking
and pupillometry have the potential to improve psychological tests by providing information to
establish sophisticated cognitive processing models that allow obtaining a differential profile of a
participant. The goal of the present studies was to reveal this potential in the context of spatial
thinking by demonstrating how and which prerequisites has to be performed to be able to
establish such a cognitive processing model. In the first four studies, the R-Cube-Vis test was
developed and validated to overcome the drawbacks of standard spatial thinking test with respect
to the usage of eye tracking. The R-Cube-Vis test measures the first factor of spatial thinking,
visualization, and was developed as short and long version. For comparison reasons, the R-CubeSR test was developed and validated in addition, measuring the second factor of spatial thinking,
spatial relations. The studies’ results indicate high evidence of discriminant and convergent
validity of each test for different investigated measures and tasks. Additionally, the studies
delivered strong evidence for conformity of the R-Cube-Vis test with the linear logistic test
model with six difficulty levels. In the fifth study, various gaze-fixation-based indicators were
analyzed to identify item-independent patterns indicating the cognitive processes that are
presumably necessary to solve an item versus item-dependent patterns that only reflect random
characteristics of the item’s visual appearance that, however, are not connected with the
demanded cognitive processes. In the second part of the fifth study, these indicators were
analyzed regarding their potential to indicate test performance and the correctness of the answer
of a single item. The sixth study investigated the Index of Cognitive Activity (ICA), a pupillarybased measure of cognitive workload, for its usage with the R-Cube-Vis test. In addition to the
expected ordering (i.e., low ICA values for easier items and higher values for more difficult
items), further aspects such as the effect of fatigue, hemispheric lateralization, and controlling of
inter-individual differences were analyzed to derive recommendations for an appropriate usage.
In the final application study, changes from the first to the last item within each of the six
difficulty levels were analyzed for behavioral measures, self-assessment as well as eye-trackingbased and pupillary-based measures. All measures were also investigated with respect to
differences between participants regarding their ability in visualization. The results showed the
gain of information by gaze-related and pupillary-based measures that goes beyond the
information from item accuracy and reaction times. Although no cognitive processing model was
established, the studies demonstrate the high potential of gaze-related and pupillary-based
measures for psychological testing but also show the necessary requirements for the stimulus
materials as well as the need of preliminary work to be able to interpret the respective indicators
in an appropriate way.
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| Dieser Eintrag ist Teil der Universitätsbibliographie. |
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