Lighting the Path Forward - 2024 Fall

F E A T U R E

Lighting the Path Forward

F E A T U R E

Lighting the Path Forward

By Denice Rackley

Assistant Professor Robert Alexander, Ph.D., is working with more than 20 undergraduate and graduate students on research projects that explore the connection between eye movement and perception, providing challenging experiences and empowering New York Tech students to light the path forward for themselves and others.

Moving constantly, even when we don’t realize it, our eyes gather visual information, helping us process the world around us. It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. But no two people view or describe even black-and-white images in the same way.

Can we objectively measure how individuals perceive their environment? What insights are waiting to be discovered? Research teams at New York Tech are examining eye movement, searching for clues.

Robert Alexander, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychology and a cognitive neuroscientist specializing in vision research, joined New York Tech in 2023. His interest in psychology blossomed during his undergraduate studies. During his senior year at Long Island University, Alexander discovered a passion for research and began pursuing a research career.

He later learned to use eye tracking to understand human psychology and behavior and has continued to use this approach. “I’ve been fascinated by the idea that through research we can precisely and accurately understand human psychology and behavior. With enough carefully measured outputs, we can plot and predict how a human will respond to an input,” he explains.

(Correct) Practice Makes Perfect

Alexander shares his passion for research and psychology, working with more than 20 New York Tech undergraduate and graduate students on a variety of projects that explore the connection between eye movement and perception.

Students pursuing varied degrees are assisting Alexander with four ongoing research projects. Josey Spiers, a psychology major, is Alexander’s lab manager and is involved in all four projects. She explains that one study focuses on meditation, another looks at how fans perceive images, and two explore how a person’s expertise influences where one focuses attention.

Spiers says that tracking and recording eye movements with an EyeLink 1000, a high-speed camera that records eye movement, gives precise data on how each participant moves his or her eyes. One study explores how experienced radiologists, medical students, and those without medical training direct and focus their attention when viewing X-rays and CT scans. Another project examines eye movement when looking for errors in computer code. Similar to the radiologist study, this research tracks the eye movement of expert computer programmers, those learning about programming, and individuals with no knowledge of computer programming.

Alexander and the students hope the data will shed light on several questions, including whether there are differences in the way experts view images versus novices. If so, do these differences in eye movement correlate with efficiency? Can we improve accuracy and speed up the training process by teaching students to move their eyes like experts?

Whether looking for cancerous nodules on chest X-rays or errors in code, both skills are learned by viewing thousands of images or pages of code. Practice makes perfect. But only if we are practicing correctly. Trial and error are not an efficient learning strategy, Alexander notes.

He says students rarely have an expert standing over their shoulder, ensuring they learn the needed information and practice the skills correctly. Will this research reveal a better way to learn?

“Experts use fewer eye movements,” Spiers says. “The goal is to discover if these eye movement patterns that promote efficiency can be used as a teaching tool to speed learning and accuracy.”

Robert Alexander and Talia Lilikakis setting up the equipment to conduct eye movement measurements. PHOTO: BOB HANDELMAN

Stevie Hill, a student researcher in the lab, preparing to do a task while her eye movements are recorded. PHOTO: BOB HANDELMAN

Spiers is planning to earn a Ph.D. in social psychology and notes, “This research is especially interesting to me because my grandma had dementia and macular degeneration, causing her to ‘see’ things the rest of us didn’t. The link between eye movement, our perception, behaviors, and beliefs is fascinating.”

Due to this fascination, Spiers particularly enjoys working with the other students and participants on Alexander’s third project. She is collaborating with Teaching Assistant Professor of Humanities Jessica Hautsch, Ph.D., who studies fan behavior, on a project where they track eye movement while participants view images from the show Supernatural. “I am particularly interested in implicit biases and exploring why some individuals interpret images differently,” says Spiers. “This research compares the eye movement of fans who ship characters (shippers perceive a relationship between characters although it’s not written in the story), fans who don’t ship characters, and participants who are not fans.”

“It could be that fans think about the characters differently. However, it’s possible that shippers are physically looking at the images differently,” Alexander explains. “We know that eye movement impacts perception. Using the eye tracker, we can measure the differences in the gaze patterns, drawing connections between what people think and the way they look at images.

“The fourth project is a bit different from the others in that it’s not comparing eye movements of experts and nonexperts,” Alexander says. This research explores the role of eye movement in those who report perceptual changes while meditating. Briana Alcindor, a psychology student who presented her work at New York Tech’s Symposium of University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE) in April, explains that participants focus their attention on an image of a clay pot for 15 minutes and then complete a questionnaire that asks about their experience.

“During meditation, individuals commonly report they experience a bright light, objects get brighter, change in shape, appear closer, fade, or become blurry,“ explains Alexander. “Our theory is that eye movements, or the lack of movement is causing at least some of these common perceptional changes,” adds Alcindor.

Alexander believes the research could be a step toward explaining people’s experiences during meditation. However, the looming question across all projects is whether we can understand something about individuals or their experiences by studying eye movement.

Assistant Professor Robert Alexander with students working in his lab. PHOTO: BOB HANDELMAN

Students Drive Research Forward

Elana Safanova talks about her experience in the research project.

Elana Safonova is a health sciences major who shares Alexander’s interest in the link between perception and eye movement. “I have always had a fascination for the biology of the eye. I want to understand how our vision works,” she says.

Safonova is gaining experience as a research assistant in Alexander’s lab. “I ensure the accuracy of our data by explaining the projects to participants, placing them correctly, and calibrating the EyeLink 1000.” Safonova was part of a research team that attended the February 2024 European Congress of Radiology in Vienna, Austria, to gather data for the radiology project.

“We collected data from 105 conference participants, including medical students and experienced radiologists. Dr. Alexander puts students at ease and gives us so many options to be involved,” she notes. Students working with Alexander design experiments, set up data acquisition systems, create stimuli, collect and analyze data, prepare and author manuscripts, and gain presentation experience. Wanting to pursue a career in optometry, Safonova is thrilled to learn about vision, the science connected to each project, and explore the connection between perception and behavior.

Talia Lilikakis was taking an Introduction to Psychology class with Alexander when he reached out, asking if she would like to be involved in his research. Lilikakis joined the research projects as a way to help her connect with medical professionals and others interested in medical careers. She is helping set up equipment, explain experiments, and ready participants. As a first-year life sciences/osteopathic medicine (B.S./D.O.) student, she is eager to explore varied medical disciplines. “Through assisting in the lab, I am beginning to realize how sensitive and dynamic the eyes are, how quickly they tire, and how many micromovements they make.”

It isn’t only students pursuing medical careers who are assisting Alexander. Helping program the current set of experiments is computer science graduate student Lekhana Ramachandra. Using MATLAB, a programming language that is commonly used in engineering and in science, Ramachandra has assisted with programming the meditation, fandom, and coding studies. “It has been a pleasant experience,” she comments. “Dr. Alexander and I discuss each experiment. He clearly details what he is looking for and wants, so it’s easy for me to program everything based on his requirements.”

Ramachandra feels learning more about eye movements and the psychological link is a bonus to gaining programming experience. She hopes to apply her programming skills to explore her interest in machine learning and continue working with more New York Tech researchers and students.

Pictured left and right: Elana Safonova at the European Congress of Radiology in Vienna, Austria.

Pictured top and bottom: Elana Safonova at the European Congress of Radiology in Vienna, Austria.

Student Involvement Lights the Path to Enrichment

Josey Spiers talks about her experience as lab manager.

Student interest is critical for Alexander. “My research gives me ways to support and advance the students who work with me, and I love that I am in a position to give students these opportunities. I’m proud of the work that they are all doing, and I’m excited to see how far they can go,” he notes.

Working on research projects provides challenging experiences and empowers New York Tech students to light the path forward for themselves and others.

Assisting with the research process always brings students unexpected revelations. Spiers presented her work on the fan study at SOURCE and the Vision Society Conference in Florida, learning lessons that will serve her well. “I learned a lot during the presentation process,” Spiers recalls. “One, I unnecessarily stressed myself out about knowing the material. Once I began speaking, I realized I knew the information. Two, I learned time management strategies that will help me in the future.”

The students working with Alexander value the vast opportunities afforded to them. “I learned so much by being involved in different aspects of the research, gained presentation experience, and appreciated feeling encouraged throughout the experience,” Alcindor says.

Ramachandra says she takes advantage of the time with Alexander to talk about and consider future opportunities, projects, researchers, and conferences.

Alexander’s research often focuses on developing innovative educational technologies, and Lilikakis appreciates working on these projects because they can positively impact medical education and training. “Eye movement is something we can learn. In very competitive fields, like medicine, it’s possible we can utilize eye movement information to become more efficient and gain a competitive advantage.”

Safonova notes that assisting with the research is interesting and promotes learning. “Being involved in research allows us to have conversations, explore questions and ideas beyond the current projects with individuals outside our circle,” she explains.

She believes the collaborative environment of New York Tech makes experiences “10 times better” due to the opportunity to interact with people of different backgrounds with different interests and expertise. “New York Tech has an incredibly diverse staff and student body with a wide array of interests. This enables expansive opportunities to explore different individual interests and learn from working alongside others,” says Safonova.

“I’m passionate about making a difference in students’ lives, and at New York Tech, I can provide the impactful research and learning experiences that students deserve,” Alexander says. “New York Tech is a leader in teaching and learning with technology and therefore the perfect place for my research.”