Implementation and testing of an automatic data processing algorithm for a digital oculograph

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Abstract

A digital infrared oculograph has been created to record eye movements. Miniature cameras with a frame rate of 500 Hz and a high spatial resolution of 1440 × 1080 px, located on spectacle frames, have been used. A technology for analyzing oculograms and algorithm for detecting the temporal characteristics of saccades and gaze fixations has been developed. The oculogram analysis algorithm has been matched with measurements of other physiological parameters. Discriminant analysis has been used for statistical processing and evaluation of the effectiveness of the developed algorithm. The technology has been tested based on a study of eye movements in 500 subjects. The duration and speed of eye movements have been measured in 16 experiments. Oculograms have been analyzed and sets corresponding to fixations and saccades have been obtained. An algorithm for automatic search for these parameters has been developed. The description of coordinates of the receiving matrices of video cameras and displays on which stimuli were presented has been matched for the spectacle-type oculograph. The algorithm for detecting the main temporal and spatial characteristics provides classification of saccades and gaze fixations (between saccades) when searching for a target by an operator in different conditions. Correction of coordinate systems is provided when the monitor and video camera reference points do not match, accounting for the offset and rotation of the video camera coordinate system relative to the monitor coordinate system is introduced. It is shown that the algorithm provides reliable results for subsequent analysis and interpretation of gaze movements with a recognition level of 0.97. The implemented algorithm is included in the Neurobureau hardware and software complex, which is in demand in management structures, in industry, transport, marketing and medicine, coordinated with other devices for physiological control of cognitive functions directly during the study, control and correction of operator actions when searching for a target.

About the authors

E. Yu. Shelepin

Pavlov Institute of Physiology, Russian Academy of Sciences

Email: shelepiney@infran.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-3124-5540
199034, Makarov emb., 6, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation

K. A. Skuratova

Pavlov Institute of Physiology, Russian Academy of Sciences

Email: kseskuratova@gmail.com
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-8371-4348
199034, Makarov emb., 6, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation

P. A. Lekhnitskaya

Kazan Federal University

Email: lekhnitskaya.polina@gmail.com
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-3689-3213
420008, Kremlevskaya St., 18-1, Kazan, Russian Federation

K. Yu. Shelepin

Pavlov Institute of Physiology, Russian Academy of Sciences; Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Neurotechnology of the Federal State Budgetary Institution Serbsky National Medical Research Centre for Psychiatry and Narcology of Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation

Email: shelepin.k@serbsky.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0003-2218-9716
199034, Makarov emb., 6, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation; 119002, Maly Mogiltsevskiy pereulok, 3, Moscow, Russian Federation

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