While considerable research has been conducted, the field of neurodesign and human-computer interaction (N-HCI) has yet to be methodically delineated in light of contemporary studies. In this context, this paper undertakes a systematic review with dual objectives: (a) to uncover emerging research themes within N-HCI, and (b) to provide future directions for research on N-HCI. Employing robust systematic review methodologies, this paper scrutinized 122 pertinent documents, revealing four principal emerging research themes and constructing a conceptual framework that synthesized key concepts in N-HCI. The results underscored the relative underdevelopment in research that leverages neural evidence to enhance general human-computer interface design, and the notable absence of research at the intersections of the “user” and “environment” aspects of neurodesign with HCI. Accordingly, this paper identifies underdeveloped areas in existing research that require more depth and blank areas in the conceptual framework that call for exploration as future directions.

Recent research proposed gaze-assisted gestures to enhance interaction within virtual reality (VR), providing opportunities for people with motor impairments to experience VR. Compared to people with other motor impairments, those with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) exhibit enhanced distal limb mobility, providing them with more design space. However, it remains unknown what gaze-assisted upper-body gestures people with SMA would want and be able to perform. We conducted an elicitation study in which 12 VR-experienced people with SMA designed upper-body gestures for 26 VR commands, and collected 312 user-defined gestures. Participants predominantly favored creating gestures with their hands. The type of tasks and participants’ abilities influence their choice of body parts for gesture design. Participants tended to enhance their body involvement and preferred gestures that required minimal physical effort, and were aesthetically pleasing. Our research will contribute to creating better gesture-based input methods for people with motor impairments to interact with VR.

Eye-controlled human-computer interaction (ECHCI) attracts attention for its human-centered, natural and direct operation characteristics. The most common ECHCI trigger motion is “gazing,” which causes Midas Touch problems, lowering usability and operation experience. This paper innovatively proposed using motion combinations based on blinking as the trigger of interactive objects (IOs). Trigger motions and IO design parameters were explored on the platform consisting of Tobii eye-tracker and computer vision kits. In the motion experiment, it was concluded 2-blinks could bring a low task load and high success rate of 95%. In the IO size experiment, the larger the IO diameter, the shorter the users’ response time and the higher users’ interaction success rate, and 55.5 mm was the optimal setting. Based on this, it was found a larger spacing could bring higher operation efficiency, and 33.3 mm was taken as the recommended value. Based on the conclusion above, an eye-controlled multimedia player prototype was built for usability evaluation, which showed an equally high efficiency compared to mouse-controlled HCI. The findings in this paper overcame Midas Touch issues and avoided the interference of unavoidable involuntary blinking, which brought a significant increase in system robustness and has a wide range of potential applications.

Currently, brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) have become an important part of advanced human-computer interactions. Its essence is to infer people’s ideas or purposes through brain signals to realize human-computer communication. BCI systems based on steady-state visual-evoked potentials (SSVEP) are widely used in the field of BCI because of their high information transfer rate (ITR), low training requirements, and simple system structure. To explore a reasonable design method of visual stimulation in an SSVEP-BCI interactive interface, this study completed two experiments based on the shape and presentation of visual stimulation. Experiment 1 explored the optimal shapes of different visual stimuli. The results indicated that there were significant differences in task completion times for different stimulus shapes. Combined with ergonomics experiment and subjective evaluation results, the circular was the optimal stimulus shape. Experiment 2 used different numbers of auxiliary stimuli under the condition of circular stimulus. The results showed significant differences in task completion time for various auxiliary stimuli, and the number of auxiliary stimuli negatively correlated with task completion time. Through subjective evaluation, it was found that all the median scores of the usability index increased when there were more auxiliary stimuli. The recommended number of auxiliary stimuli was eight. This research provides significant evidence for the design of visual stimulation for SSVEP-BCI systems. The experimental conclusions are of great value for improving the interaction efficiency of SSVEP-BCI systems, enhancing user experience, and expanding application fields. They will also provide new directions and ideas for the interface design of BCI systems, visual stimulation design, and application of advanced interaction technology.

This study examines the impact of audible alarm types and presentation rates on pilot performance in beyond visual range combat scenarios. Three types of alarms and presentation rates were investigated for their effectiveness in completing an absolute recognition task with accuracy. Additionally, the study explores the physiological and psychological load on participants using the NASA-TLX questionnaire. The results indicate that higher alarm presentation rates and voice alarms improve operational performance, and voice alarms outperformed other alarm types significantly. These findings have practical implications for designing more effective and efficient alarm systems in safety-critical domains, particularly for pilots.

Smooth pursuit is a physiological phenomenon of human eyes, which can be used as eye-control interaction to avoid the “Midas” problem. This article describes the smooth pursuit properties of continuous variable tasks under Euclid’s algorithm. Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of slider speed, initial position of “plus,” and variable value position on smooth pursuit interactions. The initial position and slider speed are combined in 12 combination forms, and the variable value positions are divided into 7 cases. Then, the optimal combination forms and variable value position case are derived. Experiment 1 divided the initial position into four levels of up, down, left and right and divided the slider speed into three levels of 1 deg/s, 2 deg/s, and 3 deg/s, concluding that the optimal combination of initial position and slider speed is that the speed is 2 deg/s and initial position is up. Experiment 2 was conducted on the basis of the conclusion obtained in experiment 1. The position of the variable value was divided into seven cases according to whether the left, center, and right of the smooth pursuit track the variable value appeared. The result showed that the position of the variable value in the center had the greatest influence on the pursuit efficiency. This research has an important value for the parameter set of smooth pursuit in the case of the Euclidean algorithm, it has great guiding significance for building smooth pursuit interaction in the context of the eye-control system.

For people with disabilities who are incapacitated, there are few ways to interact with the computer, and using blink to control can be one of the solutions. This paper first converts the contraction signal of the orbicularis oculi muscle into the electrical signal of graphene resistance change during blinking by a graphene flexible sensor, and then extracts the time and frequency domain features of the electrical signal of graphene resistance change during human blinking control, and compares them with the previously established personal blink data database to realize the control command.

In this study, we develop a judging method and device to distinguish between involuntary and voluntary blinks. This method mainly uses graphene sensor, which is attached to the orbicularis oculi muscle, to collect electrical signals of graphene resistance changes, and attains the detection range of the temporal features and peak features of different types of blinks to build a database. On this basis, the temporal, and peak features of the electrical signal of obtained single blink are extracted to complete the recognition of one single blink. The introduced solution allows for stable, reliable, and accurate blink recognition, excluding the influence of the environment.

Multi-model interaction research in the cockpit has yielded many interactive modes. Yet, the research on visual interaction is primarily focused on vehicle-to-human transmission. By utilizing eye-tracking technology, we propose a novel approach to introduce the driver’s dynamic attention to human-vehicle system interactions. In our proposed system, the angle of the rearview mirror can be dynamically adjusted according to the driver’s Area of Interest (AOI), which is obtained by identifying the driver’s gaze point. In the experimental verification results, our solution is faster than the manual adjustment scheme to adjust the target in the rearview mirror to the center of the area. In real-world applications, this method can solve the blind spots of rearview mirrors that may exist in dynamic driving tasks, especially in the variant task. Moreover, the method can be compatible with the Driver Monitor System (DMS) in the intelligent cockpit, which can be implemented easily and at a low cost.

Abstract In the present study, we focus on the priming effect of colour on mitigating the attentional reorientation cost, which is led by re-constructing the frame of reference for attention shift and visual search in sequential presentations of temporal data visualization. The study involves two experiments using complementary recordings of behavioural performance and eye-tracking events. Two aspects of colour primes are highlighted: the prime validity and the colour perceptual accessibility. A task paradigm integrating the feature search and keeping-track task was adopted in our experiments. In Experiment 1 (with a group of 16 participants), we confirmed the colour priming effect by comparing the priming condition to the neutral baseline. Furthermore, global colours that are with high perceptual accessibility generated more evident priming effects than local colours. However, more interferences in misguiding the attention to task-irrelevant regions were found when the global primes were invalid. In Experiment 2 (with another group of 15 participants), we verify the finding in Experiment 1 that global colours produced more pronounced priming effects in alleviating the attentional reorientation cost by comparing two groups of real-world visualizations with either global or local colours as the prime. Large saccades were initiated much earlier, and the search efficiency got improved when provided with global colours. We conjecture that the facilitatory effect from global colours may stem from its benefit on the pre-attentive processing of the search field. The research findings provide evidence for utilizing colours as the primes in mitigating the attentional reorientation cost and accelerating visual search in sequential presentations.

A new method based on eye-tracking data — visual momentum (VM) — was introduced to quantitatively evaluate a dynamic interactive visualization interface. We extracted the dimensionless factors from the raw eye-tracking data, including the fixation time factor [Formula: see text], the saccade amplitude factor D and the fixation number factor [Formula: see text]. A predictive regression model of VM was deduced by eye movement factors and the performance response time (RT). In Experiment 1, the experimental visualization materials were designed with six effectiveness levels according to design techniques proposed by Woods to improve VM (total replacement, fixed format data replacement, long shot, perceptual landmark and spatial representation) and were tested in six parallel subject groups. The coefficients of the regression model were calculated from the data of 42 valid subjects in Experiment 1. The mean VM of each group exhibited an increasing trend with an increase in design techniques. The data of the performance and eye tracking among the combined high VM group, middle VM group and low VM group indicated significant differences. The data analysis indicates that the results were consistent with the previous qualitative research of VM. We tested and verified this regression model in Experiment 2 with another dynamic interactive visualization. The results indicated that the VM calculated by the regression model was significantly correlated with the performance data. Therefore, the virtual parameter VM can be a quantitative indicator for evaluating dynamic visualization. It could be a useful evaluation method for the dynamic visualization in general working environments.