The eyes are said to be a window to the brain. The way we move our eyes reflects our cognitive processes and visual interests, and we use our eyes to coordinate social interactions (e.g., take turns in conversations). While there is a lot of research on attentive user interfaces that respond to user’s gaze, and directing user’s gaze towards targets, there is relatively less work on understanding and eliciting gaze aversion. This is unfortunate as the ability to not look is a classic psychological and neural measure of how much people are in voluntary control over their environment. In fact, people often avert their eyes to alleviate a negative social experience (such as avoiding a fight) and in some cultures, looking someone in the eyes directly can be seen as disrespectful.
Efficient gaze aversion is thus an essential adaptive response and its brain correlates have been mapped extensively. The main aim of this project is to investigate and enhance/train gaze aversion using virtual environments. Two potential examples will be considered in the 1st instance: Cultural gaze aversion training to accustom users to cultural norms, before encountering such a situation. Secondly, gaze elicitation and aversion will be integrated into augmented reality glasses to nudge the user to avert (or instead direct, as appropriate) their gaze while encountering for example an aggressive or socially desirable scenario. Another example could be the use of gaze aversion in mixed reality applications. In particular, guiding the user’s gaze and nudging them to look at targets and away from others, can help guide them in virtual environments, or ensure they see important elements of 360° videos.
Proposed Methods
This research is at the intersection of eye tracking, psychology and human-computer interaction. It will involve both empirical and technical work, exploring the opportunities and challenges of detecting and eliciting intentional and unintentional gaze aversion. Using an eye-tracker as well as a virtual reality headset we will a) investigate and evaluate methods for eliciting explicit and implicit gaze aversion guided by previous research on gaze direction [4,6]; b) study the impact of intentional and unintentional gaze aversion on the brain by measuring its impact on saccadic reaction times, error rates, and other metrics; and c) utilize the findings and developed methods in one or more application areas. Programming skills are required for this project and previous experience in conducting controlled empirical studies also a plus.
Likely Outputs and Impact
The results will inform knowledge and generate state of the art tools on how to best design virtual environments that optimize and measure eye-movement control. The topic spans Psychology, Neuro-and Computing Science and we thus envisage publications in journals and conferences that reach a wide academic audience, spanning a range of expertise (e.g., Psychological Science, PNAS, ACM CHI, PACM IMWUT, ACM TOCHI).
Alignment with Industrial Interests
Khamis is currently collaborating with Facebook on relevant topics, including social interactions in virtual reality. Facebook is one of the global leaders in mixed, augmented and virtual reality. This project has the potential to have direct impact on in their user interfaces. Khamis also has contacts in eye tracking and VR companies such as Blickshift GmbH, Emteq Ltd, Eyeware Tech SA and Pupil Labs GmbH. We will aim to connect with them during the project to collaborate where possible.
Supervision
You will work with Professor Monika Harvey and Dr Mohamed Khamis and be fully integrated into their research teams. See Dr Khamis' SIRIUS Lab here.
Eligibility
Applicants must have or expect to obtain the equivalent of a 1st or 2:1 degree in any subject relevant to the CDT including, but not limited to, computing science, psychology, linguistics, mathematics, sociology, engineering, physics, etc.
Applicants will be asked to provide two references as part of their application.
Funding
Funding is available to cover the annual tuition fees for UK home applicants, as well as an annual stipend at the standard UKRI rate (currently £17,668 for 2022/23). To be classed as a home applicant, candidates must meet the following criteria:
- Be a UK National (meeting residency requirements), or
- Have settled status, or
- Have pre-settled status (meeting residency requirements), or
- Have indefinite leave to remain or enter.
As per UKRI funding guidelines, up to 30% of studentships may be awarded to international applicants who do not meet the UK home status requirements. Funding for successful international students will match that of home students and no international top-up fees will be payable.
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