Brendan David-John

University of Florida | UF · Department of Computer and Information Science and Engineering

Shoulder surfing attacks (SSAs) are a type of observation attack designed to illicitly gather sensitive data from "over the shoulder" of victims. This attack can be directed at mobile devices, desktop screens, Personal Identification Number (PIN) pads at an Automated Teller Machine (ATM), or written text. Existing solutions are generally focused on...

The use of ML models to predict a user's cognitive state from behavioral data has been studied for various applications which includes predicting the intent to perform selections in VR. We developed a novel technique that uses gaze-based intent models to adapt dwell-time thresholds to aid gaze-only selection. A dataset of users performing selection...

The modern Mixed Reality devices that make the Metaverse viable can also require vast information about the physical world. These devices can also violate the privacy of unsuspecting or unwilling bystanders in their vicinity. In this article, we explore the problem, existing solutions, and avenues for future research.

Latest developments in computer hardware, sensor technologies, and artificial intelligence can make virtual reality (VR) and virtual spaces an important part of human everyday life. Eye tracking offers not only a hands-free way of interaction but also the possibility of a deeper understanding of human visual attention and cognitive processes in VR....

Virtual and mixed-reality (XR) technology has advanced significantly in the last few years and will enable the future of work, education, socialization, and entertainment. Eye-tracking data is required for supporting novel modes of interaction, animating virtual avatars, and implementing rendering or streaming optimizations. While eye tracking enab...

The modern mixed-reality devices that make the Metaverse viable require vast information about the physical world and can also violate the privacy of unsuspecting or unwilling bystanders. We provide an introduction to the problem, existing solutions, and avenues for future research.

Numerous studies have demonstrated that visuospatial attention is a requirement for successful working memory encoding. It is unknown, however, whether this established relationship manifests in consistent gaze dynamics as people orient their visuospatial attention toward an encoding target when searching for information in naturalistic environment...

As eye tracking becomes increasingly common in consumer products, these systems have the opportunity to leverage users' gaze behaviors to infer interaction goals and assist users. For example, by inferring that a user is encoding information into working memory (WM), a system could provide supportive tools (e.g., a notepad) to users when they are m...

Eye-tracking technology is being increasingly integrated into mixed reality devices. Although critical applications are being enabled, there are significant possibilities for violating user privacy expectations. We show that there is an appreciable risk of unique user identification even under natural viewing conditions in virtual reality. This ide...

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2102.01770 Eye-tracking technology is being increasingly integrated into mixed reality devices. Although critical applications are being enabled, there are significant possibilities for violating user privacy expectations. We show that there is an appreciable risk of unique user identification even under natural viewin...

This research conducted a case study to understand the use of omnidirectional cinemagraphs for training purposes, enhancing the hazard-recognition of construction struck-by hazards. Traditional lecture-based training using classroom teaching was compared to virtual reality omnidirectional cinemagraph-based training employing a head-mounted display....

The gaze behavior of virtual avatars is critical to social presence and perceived eye contact during social interactions in Virtual Reality. Virtual Reality headsets are being designed with integrated eye tracking to enable compelling virtual social interactions. This paper shows that the near infra-red cameras used in eye tracking capture eye imag...

Omnidirectional images have seen increasing usage in virtual tours to display remote destinations. These applications use markers or landmarks within the images to drive user interaction. Viewers must be able to efficiently locate and interact with markers for a positive user experience that retains immersion. However, the effect of marker position...

The gaze behavior of virtual avatars is critical to social presence and perceived eye contact during social interactions in Virtual Reality. Virtual Reality headsets are being designed with integrated eye tracking to enable compelling virtual social interactions. This paper shows that the near infra-red cameras used in eye tracking capture eye imag...

Modeling and visualization of user attention in Virtual Reality (VR) is important for many applications, such as gaze prediction, robotics, retargeting, video compression, and rendering. Several methods have been proposed to model eye tracking data as saliency maps. We benchmark the performance of four such methods for 360 ∘ images. We provide a co...

Eye tracking is rapidly becoming popular in consumer technology, including virtual and augmented reality. Eye trackers commonly provide an estimate of gaze location, and pupil diameter. Pupil diameter is useful for interactive systems, as it provides means to estimate cognitive load, stress, and emotional state. However, there are several roadblock...

Mixed reality headsets are being designed with integrated eye trackers: cameras that image the user's eye to infer gaze location and pupil diameter. While the intent is to improve the quality of experience, built-in eye trackers create a security vulnerability for hackers - high resolution images of the user's iris. Anyone stealing an iris image ha...

Pupil diameter changes have been shown to be indicative of user engagement and cognitive load for various tasks and environments. However, it is still not the preferred physiological measure for applied settings. This reluctance to leverage the pupil as an index of user engagement stems from the problem that in scenarios where scene brightness cann...

The output of 3D volume segmentation is crucial to a wide range of endeavors. Producing accurate segmentations often proves to be both inefficient and challenging, in part due to lack of imaging data quality (contrast and resolution), and because of ambiguity in the data that can only be resolved with higher-level knowledge of the structure and the...

Perception and gaze are an integral part of determining where and how to grasp an object. In this study we analyze how gaze patterns differ when participants are asked to manipulate a robotic hand to perform a grasping task when compared with using their own. We have three findings. First, while gaze patterns for the object are similar in both cond...

Eye-tracking provides a mechanism for researchers to monitor where subjects deploy their visual attention. Eye-tracking has been used to gain insights into how humans scrutinize faces, however the majority of these studies were conducted using desktop-mounted eye-trackers where the subject sits and views a screen during the experiment. The stimuli...

Most computer systems require user authentication, which has led to an increase in the number of passwords one has to remember. In this paper we explore if spatial visual cues can be used to improve password recollection. Specifically, we consider if associating each character in a password to user-defined spatial regions in an image facilitates be...

We present a framework for collaborative image analysis where gaze information is shared across all users. A server gathers and broadcasts fixation data from/to all clients and the clients visualize this information. Several visualization options are provided. The system can run in real-time or gaze information can be recorded and shared the next t...