{"id":10752,"date":"2013-02-15T09:28:33","date_gmt":"2013-02-15T14:28:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/?p=10752"},"modified":"2013-02-15T12:30:34","modified_gmt":"2013-02-15T17:30:34","slug":"study-suggests-eye-vergence-influences-visual-attention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/2013\/02\/study-suggests-eye-vergence-influences-visual-attention\/","title":{"rendered":"Study suggests eye vergence influences visual attention"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>From the University of Barcelona press release via AlphaGalileo:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-9870\" alt=\"eyes\" src=\"http:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/brown_eyes.jpg\" width=\"201\" height=\"300\" \/>The journal <em>PLOS ONE<\/em> has recently published a study which provides new data around attention and visual perception<\/strong>. The article &#8220;A role of eye vergence in covert attention&#8221; is signed by led by Hans Sup\u00e8r, ICREA researcher at the Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour (IR3C) of the University of Barcelona; Maria Sol\u00e9 Puig, J. Antonio Aznar Casanova and Laura P\u00e9rez Zapato, all of them researchers at the IR3C, have also participated in the study.<\/p>\n<p>Even if the neural mechanism that produces visual attention is not clearly known, certain trends in perceptual and neural responses have been observed in the absence of eye movements. <strong>The study describes the relation between fixational eye movements which take part in fixation, so-named <em>eye vergence<\/em>, and covert attention<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Visual stimuli modulate vergence movements (the angle of eye vergence) to catch attention. This illustrates the relation between eye vergence and bottom-up attention. In visual and auditory cue\/no-cue paradigms, the angle of vergence is greater in the cue condition than in the no-cue condition. According to reseachers, this shows a top-down attention component.<\/p>\n<p>Therefore,<strong> the study proves that there is a close link between covert attention and modulation in eye vergence during eye fixation<\/strong>. It suggests a basis for the use of eye vergence as a tool for measuring attention and may provide new insights into attention and perceptual disorders.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Among the applications of the study, we can highlight the diagnosis of the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and adults<\/strong>. The ADHD is a chronic disorder which occurs in 3-6 % of children, and in more than 50 % of the cases it continues in adulthood. A correct diagnosis is necessary to receive an effective treatment in which parents and teachers help the child to develop his or her potential. Diagnosis is possible thanks to the clinical data got from the people who suffer ADHA who are characterized by not paying attention to the objects they look to.<\/p>\n<p>Braingaze is a technological company led by Hans Sup\u00e8r and Laszlo Bax, which taking as departure point the results of his research on the visual attention, has developed a model able to make an accurate detection of this ADHD biomarker, using some simple stimuli in a test which lasts less than 30 minutes.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The model can be also used to analyse the attention that a driver poses in the driving activity he or she is developing<\/strong>. This offers a possibility to improve the systems to detect tiredness which are already in the most modern cars. Finally, the model can be also applied to neuromarketing. The method developed by the company Braingaze uses eye tracking to detect all fixation points, in order words, all the points which received the subject&#8217;s attention.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From the University of Barcelona press release via AlphaGalileo: The journal PLOS ONE has recently published a study which provides new data around attention and visual perception. The article &#8220;A&#8230; <a class=\"read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/2013\/02\/study-suggests-eye-vergence-influences-visual-attention\/\">Read more &raquo;<\/a><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[104,179,216,42,18,41],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10752"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10752"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10752\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10815,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10752\/revisions\/10815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}