Subtle gaze manipulation for improved mammography training

Abstract

The ability to direct viewer gaze about an image has important application in medical image training and analysis. We use a novel gaze manipulation technique called Subtle Gaze Direction [Bailey et al. 2009] to guide novice users as they try to identify abnormalities in digital mammogram images. Subtle Gaze Direction is achieved by performing brief image-space modulations on specific regions of the viewer's peripheral vision in order to attract their attention. The viewer's gaze is monitored in real-time and the modulations are terminated before the viewer is allowed to scrutinize them with their high-acuity foveal vision. This approach is preferred to more overt techniques which require permanent alterations to the original images in order to highlight specific areas of interest. In our experiment we use Subtle Gaze Direction to guide novices along the scanpath of an expert radiologist. We hypothesized that this approach would increase the likelihood of novices correctly identifying irregularities in the mammograms.