Kenneth C. Scott-Brown

• MA, PhD
• Senior Lecturer at Abertay University

The air traffic control industry is highly regulated, with stringent processes and procedures to ensure that IP (Intellectual Property) and workplaces are kept secure. The training of air traffic controllers (ATCs) and other roles relating to air traffic services is a lengthy and expensive process. The rate in which trainees can be trained is proje...

This paper focuses on the virtual reality (VR) project Their Memory and details the development and evaluation of virtual reality environments and experiences with respect to its impact on young people (14-35 demographic) with the narratives of veterans in Scotland. As part of the AHRC Immersive Experiences program, Their Memory was created to expl...

Bilinguals rely on cognitive control mechanisms like selective activation and inhibition of lexical entries to prevent intrusions from the non-target language. We present cross-linguistic evidence that these mechanisms also operate in bidialectals. Thirty-two native German speakers who sometimes use the Öcher Platt dialect, and thirty-two native En...

This work revisits established user classifications and aims to characterise a historically unspecified user category, the Occasional User (OU). Three user categories, novice, intermediate and expert, have dominated the work of user interface (UI) designers, researchers and educators for decades. These categories were created to conceptualise user'...

Multiplex viewing of static or dynamic scenes is an increasing feature of screen media. Most existing multiplex experiments have examined detection across increasing scene numbers, but currently no systematic evaluation of the factors that might produce difficulty in processing multiplexes exists. Across five experiments we provide such an evaluati...

Disruptive colouration is a visual camouflage composed of false edges and boundaries. Many disruptively camouflaged animals feature enhanced edges; light patches are surrounded by a lighter outline and/or a dark patches are surrounded by a darker outline. This camouflage is particularly common in amphibians, reptiles and lepidopterans. We explored...

This summary guidance aims to highlight how natural capital based ES can be seen as an ‘asset’ which can improve the well-being of communities, and the women and men, girls and boys that live within them. The guide also provides insights into: - Differences in women and men’s understandings of the environment and its potential for improving well be...

Designing for users rather than with users is still a common practice in technology design and innovation as opposed to taking them on board in the process. Design for inclusion aims to define and understand end-users, their needs, context of use, and, by doing so, ensure that end-users are catered for and included, while the results are geared tow...

A methodological framework is introduced to assess and compare a conventional fluoroscopy protocol for peripheral angioplasty with a new magnetic resonant imaging (MRI)-guided protocol. Different scenarios were considered during interventions on a perfused arterial phantom with regard to time-based and cognitive task analysis, user experience and e...

The main aim of this project is to design and prototype a simplified example of a mobile operating system that makes use of both edge swipe control and 'smart' graphical instructions. The research will consider how these methods can be used to design a truly inclusive and accessible interface. The effectiveness of these features will be validated t...

The increasing availability of 3D interfaces brings promise of improved user experience in diverse areas. Our study focuses on visual analytics, testing whether 3D interactivity improves performance in a visual data exploration task. Specifically, we compared scene rotation around vertical axis to a full 3D rotation using a InterSense IS-900 3D con...

We explored whether a bilingual advantage in executive control is associated with differences in cultural and ethnic background associated with the bilinguals' immigrant status, and whether dialect use in monolinguals can also incur such an advantage. Performance on the Simon task in older non-immigrant (Gaelic-English) and immigrant (Bengali, Guja...

Shape-from-shading is a ubiquitous cue informing object identification and depth judgements. Cast-shadows contribute towards these judgements (see Mammassian, Knill and Kersten, 1998). A number of studies have reported that search-times for inconsistent shadows vary according to whether the scene is presented as-if illuminated from above or below....

We have developed a tablet computer game app for low vision users that can be used to introduce a platform for gaming, internet and visual rehabilitation to older users who have not had prior experience with information communication technology (ICT). Our target user group is people diagnosed with Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD). The primary...

One of the greatest challenges in visual neuroscience is that of linking neural activity with perceptual experience. In the case of binocular depth perception, important insights have been achieved through comparing neural responses and the perception of depth, for carefully selected stimuli. One of the most important types of stimulus that has bee...

Does switching between linguistic variants (i.e. standard language and a dialect) tax cognitive control mechanisms in similar ways as switching between different languages? Using picture-naming, previous research demonstrated that for bilinguals, switching between languages following unexpected prompts incurs a cost associated with inhibiting one l...

Recent research has begun to address how CCTV operators in the modern control room attempt to search for crime (e.g., Howard et al., 2011). However, an often-neglected element of the CCTV task is that the operators have at their disposal a multiplexed wall of scenes, and a single spot-monitor on which they can select any of these feeds for inspecti...

Where people look when viewing a scene has been a much explored avenue of vision research (e.g., see Tatler, 2009). Current understanding of eye guidance suggests that a combination of high and low-level factors influence fixation selection (e.g., Torralba et al., 2006), but that there are also strong biases toward the center of an image (Tatler, 2...

PURPOSE: We present preliminary results of an operational comparison between Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and X-Ray-guided protocol of an uncomplicated image-guided iliac angioplasty (IA). The project aims to study the workflow and clinical experience during interventions, initially focussing on detailed task and ‘first-person-perspective’ anal...

Interactive Virtual Environments (VEs) have the potential to increase student interest in soil science. Accordingly a bespoke ‘soil atlas’ was created using Java3D as an interactive 3D VE, to show soil information in the context of (and as affected by) the over-lying landscape. To display the below-ground soil characteristics, four sets of artistic...

This paper will describe work funded by the European Union (Intereg NSR) iAge project which attempts to address the issues surrounding accessibility to mobile devices and services. The project takes the approach of combining three approaches directed at allowing greater inclusion in mobile technologies for our increasingly aging population. Focus g...

The wide variety of technological devices is a barrier to satisfactory usage and learning over all. Different types of interface element distribution and dissimilarities of their functionalities, even in the same category of products under the same brand, can steepen the learning curve to effective device operation. Interface design can be understo...

The wide variety of technological devices is a barrier to satisfactory usage and learning over all. Different types of interface element distribution and dissimilarities of their functionalities, even in the same category of products under the same brand, can steepen the learning curve to effective device operation. Interface design can be understo...

La diversidad actual de tipos de dispositivos actúa como barrera para el aprendizaje de los mismos. La variedad de los elementos de la interfaz así como sus diferentes funcionalidades, incluso en la misma categoría de productos y bajo la misma marca o compañía, incrementan la curva de aprendizaje para alcanzar un uso efectivo. En consecuencia, es d...

Research on emotional expression tends to use static faces and classic emotions. We report a series of experiments using digital animation techniques to assess the extent of emotional expression recognition for a range of artistically defined emotional expression choreographies varying the sequence of animation from the eyes and the mouth. Artistic...

We demonstrate how to produce complex image transformations of bitmap files for vision experiments using the Cogimatic Vision Starter Kit (VSK) library of mathematical routines along with Visual Basic, C++, or the Delphi Pascal compiler. Implementing this system on an IBM-compatible PC running Windows 95, 98, or NT4 enables researchers to quickly a...

While everyone knows that we should eat healthily, translating such information into practice is a major challenge for many of us when it comes to eating well. So despite a huge increase in awareness of the implications of food-choices, obesity levels in the UK continue to increase. In this paper, we present a novel application designed to deliver...

Gender differences have been observed in driving styles and in the types of reported collisions that males and females are involved in. This study was conducted to examine gender differences in a hazard perception task independently of motion judgements. Participants were asked to rate a series of traffic still photos as to how hazardous they perce...

Static views of head and eye gaze allocate observer attention in the direction of agent gaze [Langton, et al., 2000, Attention and Performance, 4(2), pp. 50-59], but can a computer generated agent create effective, procedural sequences of deictic gaze and head cueing? Previous research has focussed on static images using manual response paradigms....

This paper covers the findings of a qualitative study of facial animation, in which a cohort of student animators were tasked with producing spatiotemporally configured emotional expression animations. The timing of the upper and lower face regions within and between expressions such as happiness, sadness, and anger was explored by the animators, w...

This paper describes an experiment developed to study the performance of virtual agent animated cues within digital interfaces. Increasingly, agents are used in virtual environments as part of the branding process and to guide user interaction. However, the level of agent detail required to establish and enhance efficient allocation of attention re...

In a world of ever-increasing and newly discovered complexities, and rapidly expanding data sets describing man-made and natural phenomena, information visualization offers a means of structuring and enabling interpretation of these data in the context of that complexity. Advances in graphics hardware, art asset pipelines and parallelized computati...

In facial expression research, it is well established that certain emotional expressions are universally recognized. Studies into the observer perception of dynamic expressions have built upon this research by highlighting the importance of particular facial regions, timings, and temporal configurations to perception and interpretation. In many stu...

Financial planning and decision making for the general public continues to vex and perplex in equal measure. Whilst the tools presented by a typical desktop computer should make the task easier, the recent financial crisis confirms the increasing difficulty that people have in calculating the benefits of deferring consumption for future gains (i.e....

While much is known about the appearance and human perception of emotional facial expressions, researchers and professionals experience difficulties when attempting to create believable animated characters. Methods for automating or capturing dynamic facial expressions have come on in leaps and bounds in recent years, resulting in increasingly real...

While we know quite a lot about emotional facial expressions, we know relatively little about the temporal development of dynamic expressions. In order to study expressions, most researchers have made use of acted, posed, or naturalistic expressions of emotion. However, objective manipulation of dynamic expressions for experimental study can prove...

While we know quite a lot about emotional facial expressions, we know relatively little about the temporal development of dynamic expressions. In order to study expressions, most researchers have made use of acted, posed, or naturalistic expressions of emotion. However, objective manipulation of dynamic expressions for experimental study can prove...

This paper describes an experiment developed to study the performance of virtual agent motion cues within digital interfaces. Increasingly, agents are used in virtual environments as part of the branding process and to guide user interaction. However, the level of agent detail required to establish and enhance efficient allocation of attention rema...

The core problem of the evaluation of information visualisation is that the end product of visualisation - the comprehension of the information from the data - is difficult to measure objectively. This paper outlines a description of visualisation comprehension based on two existing theories of perception: principles of perceptual organisation and...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to outline a strategy for research development focused on addressing the neglected role of visual perception in real life tasks such as policing surveillance and command and control settings. Design/methodology/approach The scale of surveillance task in modern control room is expanding as technology increases i...

The aim of this article is to inform and stimulate a proactive, multidisciplinary approach to research and development in surveillance-based detective work. In this article we review some of the key psychological issues and phenomena that practitioners should be aware of. We look at how human performance can be explained with reference to our biolo...

The role of colour and motion information in 'active vision' tasks is of both practical and theoretical interest. In real world interactions, Levin et al. (2002) have shown that detection performance for unexpected 'person-changes' can be remarkably poor (even as low as 12%). In the recognition of unfamiliar faces from CCTV footage, somewhat surpri...

Exterior letter pairs (e.g., d--k in dark) play a major role in single-word recognition, but other research (D. Briihl & A. W. Inhoff, 1995) indicates no such role in reading text. This issue was examined by visually degrading letter pairs in three positions in words (initial, exterior, and interior) in text. Each degradation slowed reading rate co...

The orientation threshold for two-dimensional filtered noise stimuli was estimated using forced-choice procedures with both dioptic and dichoptic viewing. In the dioptic case the two patterns were co-rotated. In the dichoptic case the stimuli were counter-rotated to produce an orientation disparity, which yields a percept of slant about the horizon...

Drifting lines that are not orthogonal to their direction of motion appear to travel more slowly than those that are, resulting in a "speed reduction" illusion. It has been shown that several factors affect the strength of this illusion such as the angle of tilt, the stimulus contrast and the line length [Castet, Lorenceau, Shiffrar, & Bonnet, Visi...

We demonstrate how to produce complex image transformations of bitmap files for vision experiments using the Cogimatic Vision Starter Kit (VSK) library of mathematical routines along with Visual Basic, C++, or the Delphi Pascal compiler. Implementing this system on an IBM-compatible PC running Windows 95, 98, or NT4 enables researchers to quickly a...

Change blindness has been linked to comparisons over time when visual input is disturbed by a transient. This is most directly seen in “flicker” paradigms where change is invisible when introduced during a blank period between successive presentations of stimuli, and is implicit in paradigms where a stimulus is changed during a saccade. Difficultie...

We present a demonstration of word perception in which stimuli containing very few letters (just 50% of their original number) are presented for unlimited durations and yet are seen unequivocally as complete words. The phenomenon suggests that recognition of words can be achieved even when perception of their component letters is prevented.

Change blindness--our inability to detect large changes in natural scenes when saccades, blinks and other transients interrupt visual input--seems to contradict psychophysical evidence for our exquisite sensitivity to contrast changes. Can the type of effects described as 'change blindness' be observed with simple, multi-element stimuli, amenable t...

Purpose. Detection of change in complex visual scenes is surprisingly poor, both in terms of naive introspection and a large body of psvchophysieal investigation (J.Grimes '96, R.A.Rensink '96). Could similar phenomena be observed for relatively simple stimuli? Methods. Stimuli, on a mean luminance background, were composed of D6 patterns (Swanson,...

We investigated factors producing bias in the perceived speed of tilted lines in horizontal translation. The effects of grouping, collinearity, eccentricity, terminator proximity, and stimulus uncertainty on perceived speed were studied. The matched speed of vertical line compared to an inclined line was estimated with the use of a double random in...

Purpose. To investigate the effect of random perturbation of line terminators, experiments estimated the perceived speed of lines inclined with respect to their direction of travel. Methods. A double random interleaved staircase for speed discrimination with a two-alternative forced-choice was used to estimate the matched velocity of a vertical lin...

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a range of animation principles that the authors believe may be used to predict audience eye movements and responses, and to propose how a combination of practice-based and empirical research could lead to an enhanced understanding of how to create animated cues to allocate viewer attention. These insights...

How do we best promote interest in soil science and related sustainability issues, using interactive visualisation software? Soil virtual environments could be used to help address the drop in the number of students studying soil science, as the interest has shifted more to other environmental sciences, which often lack a soil science com-ponent, d...