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- Blueeyes : easing the navigation and orientation of blind peoplePublication . Silva, Marta; Gomes, Anabela; Teixeira, Ana; Orvalho, JoaoAs reported by the World Health Organization (WHO), of the 7 billion people alive today, an estimated 253 million live with visual impairment that cannot be corrected with glasses or contact lenses. From these, 30 million blind or partially sighted persons live in Europe. Over the past years, blindness that is caused by diseases has decreased due to the success of public health actions. However, the number of blind people that are over 60 years old is increasing by 2 million per decade. Unfortunately, all these numbers are estimated to be doubled by 2020. With these facts, is necessary to bring awareness and understanding of the challenges blind people face and help to motivate research into new technology to answer those questions. This document starts to identify the challenges people with visual disabilities face in their life. The problem of navigation and orientation as well the different possibilities to deal with the locomotion situation is also addressed in this paper. It describes the traditional navigational solutions as well other which involves more sophisticated technological devices and their multimodal interfaces. The paper ends with the description of the BlueEyes project (Orvalho, 2016), consisting in a solution to help blind people moving in a city. The first phases of the project are described, and the actual research situations is also slightly explained.
- Atelier : assistive thechnologies for learning, integration and reabilitationPublication . Gomes, Anabela; Páris, César; Barbosa, Jorge; Santos, Álvaro; Martins, Nuno; Teixeira, AnaA special needs individual is a broad term used to describe a person with a behavioural or emotional disorder, physical disability or learning disability. Many individuals with special needs are limited in verbal communication, or in many cases non-verbal, making communication and learning a challenging task. Additionally, new forms of communication based on technology aren´t designed for them, making them increasingly isolated in social and educational terms. In spite of this, and fortunately, new forms of interaction do exist and they enable these particular users to access knowledge and provide them with the ability to interact with others, undertaking otherwise impossible. In this project the technology used will not be an end in itself but only a way to “drop” the mouse/keyboard paradigm making use of affordable devices available in the market that could be adopted by people with special needs that are unable to apply the traditional forms of interaction, thus assisting people in their education, integration and rehabilitation activities.
- Understand and characterize mental effort in a programming-oriented taskPublication . Eloy, Joana; Teixeira, Ana; Gomes, Anabela; Mendes, Antonio JoseThe human brain is a very complex physiological system, involving billions of interacting physiological and chemical processes giving rise to the experimentally observed neuroelectrical activity measured through electroencephalographic signals (EEG). An EEG can reflect the state of mind and the human brain activity. The aim of this research was to analyze several important cognitive parameters (Attention, Meditation) using the Neurosky Mindwave Mobile Headset and EEG analyzer application, while students performed a programming problem-solving oriented task. The variability of Theta and Beta bands energy during the tasks was studied to understand its relation to the cognitive parameters. Our results suggest that beta frequency energy increased when the tasks demanded a higher level of reasoning, when a change in the task paradigm happened, when participants showed more difficulties or when they needed more time to complete tasks (Attention). On the other hand, a high level of energy in theta band was found in states of drowsiness and deep relaxation (Meditation).
- E-learning multimodal system for teaching and learning programmingPublication . Teixeira, Ana; Gomes, Anabela; Orvalho, JoaoThe high failure rates and abandonment are common in introductory programming courses in many higher education institutions worldwide. Different solutions have been proposed in literature trying to solve the problem but the situation remains virtually unchanged. Some members of this group also contributed with computer-based tools and different studies to understand and reduce this problem. Among the works carried out, the importance of investing in motivational aspects and the ability to solve problems is highlighted. This paper describes a new approach in order to contribute in solving this problem. The idea is to investigate the psychophysiological response of individuals during testing. The goal is to measure aspects of interest like the ability of abstraction, emotions, concentration, frustration, immersion, load/stress and cognitive level, in complex scenarios such as the resolution of programming problems. Thus, we intend to use new forms of interaction as Brain Computer Interfaces (BCI), eyetracking and other low-cost instruments (e.g.: BITalino) using body signals to extract information of interest. This information will be included in an e-learning system adapting its interface according to the users actions.
- Using Brain Computer Interaction in Programming Problem SolvingPublication . Eloy, Joana; Gomes, Anabela; Mendes, Antonio Jose; Teixeira, Anathe use of Brain-Computer Interaction (BCI) technology to better understand and promote learning processes. In this context, the idea is to obtain information about the user and deduce his/her mental states (e.g. workload, attention, concentration) through user’s electroencephalogram signals (EEG). In future researches, we are interested in understanding the performance of users in tasks involving high cognitive processes such as programming problem solving. The goal would be to find metrics and strategies that are adaptable to each user, looking to increase the success in programming learning. However, this work represents a set of initial works that provides an overview of how brain computer interaction can intersect with issues in the field of education, namely in design and in cognitive attention and concentration processes. The main goal of this study is to analyse several cognitive parameters (Attention, Concentration) of crucial importance for learning, while students do a programming problem solving oriented task activity. For a better characterization of the data, an analysis of the ERD/ERS complex was performed, thus analysing the event synchronization or desynchronization, in order to reflect the activation or inhibition of the cerebral activity during the game and consequently the absorption of information and the capacity of learning. Additionally, five EEG features were extracted, namely the powers of Delta, Theta, Alpha, Beta and Gamma bands, as well as, the variability of these bands’ energy.
- Attention and concentration in normal and deaf gamersPublication . Teixeira, Ana; Tomé, Ana; Roseiro, Luís; Gomes, AnabelaIn this research the performance of individuals with normal hearing and impaired hearing while playing a computer game was evaluated. The aim was to study and understand if impaired hearing gamers are at disadvantage when playing games without being able to hear the music. Three levels (attention, concentration and blinking) were measured to compare and understand how sound can influence players’ attention and concentration performance. The data was recorded using Mindwave equipment during the game Outlast considering two scenarios: game with sound and game without sound. The results show that hearing impaired individuals have the same standard of attention and level of concentration as individuals with normal hearing when there is sound in the game. In the case of the blinking level, this is quite different between the scenarios and the analyzed groups. For this particular study the results suggest that sound is not an important level in the attention and concentration performance of impaired hearing players. Although much work still needs to be done, there is evidence of a relation between the attention and the concentration levels between normal hearing and impaired hearing individuals in the presence and absence of sound.
- An exploratory study of brain computer interfacesin computer science educationPublication . Gomes, Anabela; Teixeira, Ana; Eloy, Joana; Mendes, Antonio JoseThis work offers an outline of how brain computer interactions can interconnect with education, specifically with regard to the cognitive and emotional processes occurring during difficult learning. We believe that understanding how to optimize the learner’s attention and workload in learning tasks can improve the efficacy of educational processes, especially in tasks involving highly cognitive activities, such as programming problem solving. The main objective of this study was to examine several brain parameters (attention, concentration and the energy of several brain waves) in a programming orientated task, as well as their variability during tasks of varying complexity. We consider that this work presents very promising future developments, including the possibility of incorporating this technology into a customised automatic system adapted to the student’s cognitive and emotional state.