Nicholas P Murray

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Professor at East Carolina University

We compared shoot/don't shoot task (SDST) performance in law enforcement officers (LEOs) and non-officers under normal cognitive load, and under higher load induced by processing a complex dispatch message. We also examined the effects of participants' behavioural activation (BAS) and inhibition (BIS) systems, impulsivity, and working memory on SDS...

Officers have visual scan strategies and rely on neck and head actions when scanning for threats that provide a wider field of view than a body-worn camera (BWC). The study in the source article determined how an officer’s visual scanning of a simulated use of force encounter differed from digital information captured by BWCs. Officers detected beh...

This study aimed to identify when and how eye movements change across the human lifespan to benchmark developmental biomarkers. The sample size comprised 45,696 participants, ranging in age from 6 to 80 years old (M = 30.39; SD = 17.46). Participants completed six eye movement tests: Circular Smooth Pursuit, Horizontal Smooth Pursuit, Vertical Smoo...

Slow‐releasing carbohydrates may delay the effects of fatigue after exhaustive exercise. The purpose of this study was to observe the influence that hydrothermally modified starches (HMS) and traditional maltodextrin (MAL) supplements had on physical endurance and mental performance following exhaustive exercise. Male participants completed a VO 2...

We aimed to infer the effectiveness of officers' training and experience by assessing consistency of behavioural responses between them. If officers facing the same scenario respond in similar ways, this implies their use of shared cognition, through acquired in-common tactical knowledge. Officers (n = 42) responded to a live-acted scenario in whic...

Police officers during dynamic and stressful encounters are required to make rapid decisions that rely on effective decision-making, experience, and intuition. Tactical decision-making is influenced by the officer's capability to recognize critical visual information and estimation of threat. The purpose of the current study is to investigate how v...

Traumatic brain injuries can result in short-lived and long-lasting neurological impairment. Identifying the correct recovery timeframe is challenging, as balance-based metrics may be negatively impacted if testing is performed soon after exercise. Thirty-two healthy controls and seventeen concussed individuals performed a series of balance challen...

Background: Smooth pursuit eye movements (SPEM) are critical to humans' ability to see and interact with the world. However, limitations exist in the assessment of oculomotor training designed to improve SPEM. The purpose of this study was to determine whether participants with poor SPEM improved via a standardized oculomotor training program. The...

Chronic low-level blast exposure has been linked with neurological alterations and traumatic brain injury (TBI) biomarkers. Impaired smooth-pursuit eye movements (SPEM) are often associated with TBI. The purpose of this study was to determine whether long-term operators of low-level blast exposure or high-caliber weapons use displayed oculomotor be...

The perinatal temporal window is a highly vulnerable time in which environmental factors, such as nutrients, drugs, infections, chemicals, and stress, experienced by the mother can be communicated to the offspring and produce lasting consequences on the new-born brain, thus contributing the evolutionary origin of non-communicable neuropsychiatric d...

This volume explores the latest eye-tracking methodologies that help researchers understand the background, methods, and applications involved in these studies. The chapters in this book cover topics such as methods and models of eye-tracking in natural environments; natural gaze informatics (i.e., assisted wheelchair mobility); eye-tracking applic...

Examining eye movement through the use of eye tracking technology provides us with copious information across a variety of human processes. The advent of static, mobile, and virtual reality (VR) based eye trackers provides flexibility in studying eye movement under an array of conditions. This chapter explores the use and application of these eye t...

Importance: A new, shorter version of cricket was introduced recently (Twenty20; T20). Since its inception, T20 cricket has rapidly become a popular and exciting format of cricket. However, there is little understanding of factors such as visual-motor control that influence expert performance. Objective: The purpose of this project is to determine...

Aim Deficits in smooth-pursuit eye movements (SPEM) are often associated with mild traumatic brain injury(TBI). Eye tracking tests serve as a quick objective clinical tool to assess such predictive visual tracking. In this study, SPEM was assessed along circular, horizontal and vertical trajectories in adolescents with concussion and age-matched co...

The results indicate the combination of circular smooth pursuit assessment and neuronal activity in the alpha frequency have the potential to be a successful diagnostic tool for TBIs.

The majority of the population identifies as right-hand dominant, with a minority 10.6% identifying as left-hand dominant. Social factors may partially skew the distribution, but it remains that left-hand dominant individuals make up approximately 40 million people in the United States alone and yet, remain underrepresented in the motor control lit...

The majority of the population identifies as right-hand dominant, with a minority 10.6% identifying as left-hand dominant 13 [1]. Social factors may partially skew the distribution, but it remains that left-hand dominant individuals make up approximately 40 14 million people in the United States alone and yet, remain underrepresented in the motor c...

Objectives: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is an increasingly significant health concern worldwide, compounded by the difficultly in detection and diagnosis. Fortunately, a growing body of research has identified oculomotor behavior, specifically fixations, saccades and smooth pursuit eye movements as a promising endophenotype for neurotrauma. To dat...

ImportanceChildren have the highest incidence of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) in the United States. However, mTBI, specifically pediatric patients with mTBI, are notoriously difficult to detect, and with a reliance on traditional, subjective measurements of eye movements, the subtle but key oculomotor deficits are often missed.Objective The p...

Virtual reality (VR) paradigms have proved to be a valid method to challenge and perturb balance. There is little consensus in the literature on the best protocol design to perturb balance and induce postural sway. Current VR interventions still lack a well-defined standardized metric to generate a virtual environment that can perturb balance in an...

This qualitative study elucidates motives and psychological outcomes of engaging in mountaineering, defined as climbing mountains, trekking, and hiking. Specific activities for completing all 54 Colorado Fourteeners (peaks above 14,000 feet [4,267 meters]) entail long-term nature exposure, incorporating goal orientation. The well-being potential of...

Aim: Neural deficits were measured via the eye tracking of vertical smooth pursuit (VSP) as markers of traumatic brain injury (TBI). The present study evaluated the ability of the eye tracking tests to differentiate between different levels of TBI severity and healthy controls. Methodology: Ninety-two individuals divided into four groups (those...

Fixation Stability as an mTBI Biomarker Fixation Stability as a Biomarker for Differentiating Mild Traumatic Brain Injury from Age Matched Controls in Pediatrics Fixation Stability as an mTBI Biomarker Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is an increasingly significant health concern worldwide, compounded by the difficultly in detection and diagnosis. Fort...

Objective The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability of oculomotor metrics in healthy individuals, to determine the normative values through cluster analysis, and to compare oculomotor metrics by age groups in a suite of digitized eye tracking tests. Design Experimental cross sectional Participants A large sample of 2993 participants...

Saccadic eye movements are fast, conjugate eye movements that bring the object of focus onto the fovea of the eye. Limitations exist in the oculomotor training designed to measure and improve saccades. The purpose of this study is to determine if participants with pre-determined poor saccades improved via a standardized oculomotor training program....

Purpose: Sensorimotor variables (including visual acuity, depth perception, contrast sensitivity, and near-far quickness) have been shown to predict performance in professional baseball players. However, cardinal gaze speed in baseball players has received only limited attention. This study tested the hypothesis that the cardinal gaze speed in Majo...

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the single biggest cause of mortality in the United States. However, TBI is notoriously difficult to detect, and with a reliance on traditional, subjective measurements of eye movements, the subtle but key oculomotor deficits are often missed. Recent research has illustrated the efficacy of eye tracking measures as p...

Objectives: To determine if participants with saccadic dysfunction improved after participating in a standardized oculomotor training program. A secondary objective was to accurately quantify change in saccades after training using eye tracking technology. A third objective was to examine patients’ neurobehavioral symptoms before and after oculomot...

Background: Eye tracking tests to measure vertical smooth pursuit as a proxy for neural deficitsassociated with traumatic brain injury (TBI) were evaluated in the present study. Methodology: 92 participants reporting either no TBI, mild, moderate or severe TBI participated in an automated test of vertical smooth pursuit performance using a remote e...

Hyperbaric oxygen effects on acute concussion using oculomotor outcome measures.

Background: Eye tracking tests to measure horizontal and vertical saccades as a proxy for neural deficits associated with TBI were evaluated in the present study. Methodology: 287 participants reporting either no TBI, mild, moderate or severe TBI participated in a suite of eye tracking tests to measure horizontal and vertical saccadic performance....

High impact forces during running have been associated with tibial stress injuries. Previous research has demonstrated increasing step rate will decrease impact forces during running. However, no research has determined the cognitive demand of gait retraining. The primary purpose was to determine the cognitive demand and effectiveness of field-base...

INTRODUCTION: Eye tracking has recently been used to examine oculomotor behavior (OMB) for visual and neurological health and wellness with promise in determining characteristics of healthy eyes and in turn a healthy brain. Recent research has demonstrated that human eye movements reflect individual and group differences, however, clinical evaluati...

INTRODUCTION Sensorimotor variables (including visual acuity, depth perception, contrast sensitivity, and near-far quickness) have been shown to predict performance in professional baseball players. However, speed of eye movements in the cardinal gaze positions (CGP) in baseball players has received only limited attention. This study tested the hyp...

The purpose of this study was to examine if prior biped tennis playing experience results in different visual search strategies compared to no prior biped playing experience. Thirty-two wheelchair tennis players, 17 males, 15 females, ranked between 1-16 on the International Tennis Federation rankings participated in this study. Half the players ha...

Purpose. To examine if differences occur in Interpupillary Distance (IPD) and Pupil Diameter (PD) between professional baseball players compared to non-athletes (males and females). Methods. 149 major League Baseball (MLB) athletes and 416 non-athletes (NA) were examined on the RightEye IPD/PD test. One-way analysis of variance with Levene tests fo...

Eye Tracking and Neurological Function examines the output of eye tracking data linking it to oculomotor function and brain regions associated with each major eye movement category. It also examines, major patterns of deviation in vertical gaze positioning and the lifestyle implications of all non-optimal functioning.

Background: Eye tracking technologies and methodologies have advanced significantly in recent years. Specifically, the use of eye tracking to quantitatively measure oculomotor and psychophysiological constructs is gaining momentum. Reaction time has been measured in a number of different ways from a simple response to a stimulus to more challenging...

Eye tracking technologies and methodologies have advanced significantly in recent years. Specifically, the use of eye tracking to quantitatively measure oculomotor and psychophysiological constructs is gaining momentum. Reaction time has been measured in a number of different ways from a simple response to a stimulus to more challenging choice or d...

Background: Eye tracking technologies and methodologies have advanced significantly in recent years. Specifically, the use of eye tracking to quantitatively measure oculomotor and psychophysiological constructs is gaining momentum. Reaction time has been measured in a number of different ways from a simple response to a stimulus to more challenging...

What is Brain Health EyeQ? The data driven approach: Begin with what we know, the science The importance of reliability What is “normal”? What does TBI look like?

The comparison of chin rest vs no chin rest was evaluated using repeated measures ANOVA on the four bandwidth measures and Bivariate Contour Ellipse Area. In addition, Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated comparing chin rest vs no chin rest. Alpha level was set at p<.05 for all statistical test. The correlation coefficients indicate the...

The purpose of this study was to examine if prior biped tennis playing experience results in different visual search strategies compared to no prior biped playing experience. Thirty-two wheelchair tennis players, 17 males, 15 females, ranked between 1-22 on the International Tennis Federation rankings participated in this study. Half the players ha...

The visual performance of athletes should be considered high on the list of variables fundamental to elite sport performance. One particular aspect of visual performance that has gained dominance over the last 25 years is the quiet eye. Quiet eye is the final visual fixation of long, steady duration prior to the execution of a motor skill. However,...

Normative and reliability data associated with the RightEye essential vision tests.

The instructional environment of a self-defense program can influence skill acquisition, confidence, mood, and well-being. Two forms of learning responsible for the acquisition of a new motor skill is implicit and explicit learning. The purpose of the study was to evaluate a six-week implicit versus explicit self-defense training program on skill i...

Purpose The purpose of this study was to determine the reliability of interpupillary distance (IPD) and pupil diameter (PD) measures using an infrared eye tracker and central point stimuli. Validity of the test compared to known clinical tools was determined, and normative data was established against which individuals can measure themselves. Meth...

Purpose: To investigate stereo acuity of professional athletes in an open (baseball) and closed (golf) skilled sport compared to nonathletes using a new digitized version of the Titmus Stereo Test/Wirt Circles. Additionally, to examine the new test for reliability and validity. Methods: Participants included professional baseball players (PBP; n =...

Purpose: First, to create a standard for testing DVA using all three testing protocols (head still, object moving; head moving, object still; head and object moving). Second, to examine reliability of the tests. Third, provide normative data. Methods: Participants (n = 138) were males (n = 83) and females (n = 55) between the ages of 18-44 years ol...

Considerable research has documented that successful performance in interceptive tasks (such as return of serve in tennis) is based on the performers’ capability to capture appropriate anticipatory information prior to the flight path of the approaching object. Athletes of higher skill tend to fixate on different locations in the playing environmen...

Considerable research has well documented that successful performance in interceptive tasks (such as return of serve in tennis) is based on the performers' capability to capture appropriate anticipatory information prior to the flight path of the approaching object. Furthermore, research has indicated that much of visual information is available du...

Purpose: To measure the effect of stuttering on eye-gaze in fluent speakers while viewing video presentations of typical speakers and people who stutter (PWS) speaking because eye-gaze behaviors provide indicators of emotion and communicative integrity. Method: Sixteen fluent college-age adults, naïve to stuttering, observed six 30-second audiovisu...

Purpose/Objectives: To explore relationships among quality of life (QOL), stress reactivity, health behaviors, and compliance to medical care in breast cancer survivors. Design: One-time descriptive laboratory study. Setting: A visual motor laboratory at a rural university in the southeastern United States. Sample: 25 breast cancer survivors. Metho...

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of physical activity and cognitive function (as determined by reaction time and the trail-making test) in active versus non-active participants. Participants were divided into one of four groups: active experimental, active control, non-active experimental and non-active control. All groups...

E-commerce has become a key element of most sport websites, yet sport websites are expected to do more than sell merchandise. Consequently, sport marketers are faced with a delicate balancing act between ease of use and provision of exciting, multimedia content to meet the needs of their consumers. Eye-tracking technology is used in this study to i...

The purpose of this study was to test whether rapid natural scene perception is influence by expert knowledge. Using a forced choice visual categorization task, 20 American football players and 20 non-football fans were randomly presented 150 images (75 American football images and 75 natural outdoor images) under four time conditions (35 ms, 50 ms...

In the current study, 27 male club-soccer players were trained with paradoxical-success imagery (de la Peña, 2009) in the field. Based on the tenets of Wegner's (1994) theory of ironic processes of mental control and previous research (e.g., de la Peña, 2009; Mellalieu et al., 2009), it was predicted that participants who imaged experiencing anxiet...

Web-based training programs commonly capture data reflecting e-learners' activities, yet little is known about the effects of this practice. Social facilitation theory suggests that it may adversely affect people by heightening distraction and arousal. This experiment examined the issue by asking volunteers to complete a Web-based training program...

According to Wegner's (199420. Wegner , D. M. 1994. Ironic processes of mental control. Psychological Review, 101: 34–52. [CrossRef], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®], [CSA]View all references) theory of ironic processes of mental control, self-instructions not to perform in a certain way, together with mental loads, can induce thoughts, emotions, and...

The aim of this paper was to examine heart rate variability as a viable indicator of pre-competitive arousal. Participants engaged in a golf putting task alone in the control condition and in front of an audience in the experimental condition designed to induce arousal and anxiety. Heart rate variability, cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety, and sel...

The purpose of this study was to examine the central tenets of the processing efficiency theory using psychophysiological measures of attention and effort. Twenty-eight participants were divided equally into either a high or low trait anxiety group. They were then required to perform a simulated driving task while responding to one of four target l...

The present study examined the directional relationship of coaching behavior, team cohesion and performance in high school sports. Nine high school soccer and Nine high school baseball teams (N= 320) completed the Group Environment Questionnaire (GEQ) and the perception version of the Leadership Scale for Sport. The GEQ was administered at the begi...

To specify the optimal point for introducing a learning strategy, 50 participants were randomly assigned into five groups based on the timing of strategy introduction while learning a badminton serve. Groups were instructed in the use of Singer's Five-step Strategy either prior to starting their acquisition trials (100% group) or following acquisit...

To specify the optimal point for introducing a learning strategy, 50 participants were randomly assigned into five groups based on the timing of strategy introduction while learning a badminton serve. Groups were instructed in the use of Singer's Five-step Strategy either prior to starting their acquisition trials (100% group) or following acquisit...

The purpose of this study was to examine the central tenets of the Processing Efficiency Theory (PET) in the context of a dual-task auto racing simulation. Participants were placed into either high or low trait-anxiety groups and required to concurrently undertake a driving task while responding to one of four target LEDs upon presentation of eithe...

The purpose of this study was to examine whether variability in gaze behavior and cortical activation would differentiate expert ( n = 12) and nonexpert ( n = 13) small-bore rifle shooters. Spectral-activity and eye-movement data were collected concurrently during the course of a regulation indoor sequence of 40 shots from the standing position. Ex...

Thesis (M.S. Ed.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1995. Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 36-38).