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Influencing Code Reading Through Beacons: an Eye-Tracking Study

McCabe, Alan LU ; Niehorster, Diederick C LU orcid and Söderberg, Emma LU orcid (2023) PPIG: 34th Annual Meeting of the Psychology of Programming Interest Group
Abstract
When interacting with other humans, we attempt to develop a shared understanding using various means. One such method is through our eyes: when someone is looking at something, we understand that their attention is focused on that object. In this work, we present the results of an eye-tracking study built upon the Progger tool, in which we used additional code highlighting in an attempt to influence the gaze behaviour of a human programmer, thereby focusing their attention. We found that though it is possible to draw attention towards areas of particular interest to the compiler, this has no apparent effect upon performance when confronted with a bug-finding code comprehension task. We conclude that although this strategy may be of use in... (More)
When interacting with other humans, we attempt to develop a shared understanding using various means. One such method is through our eyes: when someone is looking at something, we understand that their attention is focused on that object. In this work, we present the results of an eye-tracking study built upon the Progger tool, in which we used additional code highlighting in an attempt to influence the gaze behaviour of a human programmer, thereby focusing their attention. We found that though it is possible to draw attention towards areas of particular interest to the compiler, this has no apparent effect upon performance when confronted with a bug-finding code comprehension task. We conclude that although this strategy may be of use in the future when attempting to humanise the process of programming, further research is required to establish the efficacy of such interventions. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
host publication
Proceedings of the 34th Annual Workshop of the Psychology of Programming Interest Group
publisher
Psychology of Programming Interest Group
conference name
PPIG: 34th Annual Meeting of the Psychology of Programming Interest Group
conference location
Lund, Sweden
conference dates
2023-08-21 - 2023-08-25
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
6f0c6d15-0f69-422a-bef8-c32e3c1fed4c
alternative location
https://www.ppig.org/files/2023-PPIG-34th-mccabe.pdf
date added to LUP
2024-01-22 10:40:01
date last changed
2024-01-23 09:28:08
@inproceedings{6f0c6d15-0f69-422a-bef8-c32e3c1fed4c,
  abstract     = {{When interacting with other humans, we attempt to develop a shared understanding using various means. One such method is through our eyes: when someone is looking at something, we understand that their attention is focused on that object. In this work, we present the results of an eye-tracking study built upon the Progger tool, in which we used additional code highlighting in an attempt to influence the gaze behaviour of a human programmer, thereby focusing their attention. We found that though it is possible to draw attention towards areas of particular interest to the compiler, this has no apparent effect upon performance when confronted with a bug-finding code comprehension task. We conclude that although this strategy may be of use in the future when attempting to humanise the process of programming, further research is required to establish the efficacy of such interventions.}},
  author       = {{McCabe, Alan and Niehorster, Diederick C and Söderberg, Emma}},
  booktitle    = {{Proceedings of the 34th Annual Workshop of the Psychology of Programming Interest Group}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Psychology of Programming Interest Group}},
  title        = {{Influencing Code Reading Through Beacons: an Eye-Tracking Study}},
  url          = {{https://www.ppig.org/files/2023-PPIG-34th-mccabe.pdf}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}