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285Tracking Early Differences in Tetris Perfomance Using Eye Aspect Ratio Extracted BlinksIEEE Transactions on Games 1 1-8. 2023.This study aimed to evaluate if eye blinks can be used to discriminate players with different performance in a session of Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) Tetris. To that end, we developed a state-of-the-art method for blink extraction from EAR measures, which is robust enough to be used with data collected by a low-grade webcam such as the ones widely available on laptop computers. Our results show a significant decrease in blink rate per minute (blinks/m) during the first minute of playing …Read more
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147Predicting Tetris Performance Using Early KeystrokesFdg '23: Proceedings of the 18Th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games 46 1-4. 2023.In this study, we predict the different levels of performance in a Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) Tetris session based on the score and the number of matches played by the players. Using the first 45 seconds of gameplay, a Random Forest Classifier was trained on the five keys used in the game obtaining a ROC_AUC score of 0.80. Further analysis revealed that the number of down keys (forced drop) and the number of left keys (left translation) are the most relevant keys in this task, showing t…Read more
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9Out of the Maze: Investigating Fluid Intelligence and Numeracy as Predictive Factors of Planning Skills Using Video GamesIn Kristian Kiili, Koskinen Antti, Francesca de Rosa, Muhterem Dindar, Michael Kickmeier-Rust & Francesco Bellotti (eds.), Games and Learning Alliance. GALA 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13647., Springer International Publishing. pp. 202--211. 2022.The aim of this study was to test whether an online video game can be used to investigate planning ability and whether fluid intelligence, objective numeracy, and subjective numeracy are predictive of game performance. Our results demonstrate that fluid intelligence is particularly important, which is in line with previous non-game-based studies that show a relationship between classical planning tests and fluid intelligence. Video games have been previously used for research into cognitive proc…Read more
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220Blink To Win: Blink Patterns of Video Game Players Are Connected to ExpertiseACM 17th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (FDG) 12. 2022.In this study, we analyzed the blinking behavior of players in a video game tournament. Our aim was to test whether spontaneous blink patterns differ across levels of expertise. We used blink rate, blink duration, blink frequency, and eyelid movements represented by the Eye Aspect Ratio (EAR) to train a machine learning classifier to discriminate between different levels of expertise. Classifier performance was highly influenced by features such as the mean, standard deviation and median EAR. Mo…Read more
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302Face in the Game: Using Facial Action Units to Track Expertise in Competitive Video Game PlayIn IEEE Transactions on Games (Conference on Games 2022, Beijing, China), Acm. 2022.In this study, we extracted facial action units (AUs) data during a Hearthstone tournament to investigate behavioural differences between expert, intermediate, and novice players. Our aim was to obtain insights into the nature of expertise and how it may be tracked using non-invasive methods such as AUs. These insights may shed light on the endogenous responses in the player and at the same time may provide information to the opponents during a competition. Our results show that player expertise…Read more
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127Using Deep Learning to Detect Facial Markers of Complex Decision MakingIn C. Browne, A. Kishimoto & J. Schaeffer (eds.), Advances in Computer Games. ACG 2021. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Springer. pp. 187-196. 2022.In this paper, we report on an experiment with The Walking Dead (TWD), which is a narrative-driven adventure game where players have to survive in a post-apocalyptic world filled with zombies. We used OpenFace software to extract action unit (AU) intensities of facial expressions characteristic of decision-making processes and then we implemented a simple convolution neural network (CNN) to see which AUs are predictive of decision-making. Our results provide evidence that the pre-decision variat…Read more
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342The Temperature of Morality: A Behavioral Study Concerning the Effect of Moral Decisions on Facial Thermal Variations in Video Games16th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (FDG2021) 45. 2021.In this paper, we report on an experiment with The Walking Dead (TWD), which is a narrative-driven adventure game with morally charged decisions set in a post-apocalyptic world filled with zombies. This study aimed to identify physiological markers of moral decisions and non-moral decisions using infrared thermal imaging (ITI). ITI is a non-invasive tool used to capture thermal variations due to blood flow in specific body regions that might be caused by sympathetic activity. Results show that m…Read more