2025
Jesse W. Grootjen; Yannick Weiss; Tobias Daniel; Fabian Kahman; Sven Mayer
Proceedings Article Proceedings of the 24th International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Multimedia, Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 2025, ISBN: 979-8-4007-2015-4/25/12.
@inproceedings{grootjen2025effectscataracts,
title = {Effects of Cataracts Severities on Eye Movements and Task Performance During a Visual Search Task Through Virtual Reality Simulations},
author = {Jesse W. Grootjen and Yannick Weiss and Tobias Daniel and Fabian Kahman and Sven Mayer},
url = {https://www.jwgrootjen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/grootjen2025effectscataracts.pdf, PDF},
doi = {10.1145/3771882.3771884},
isbn = {979-8-4007-2015-4/25/12},
year = {2025},
date = {2025-12-01},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 24th International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Multimedia},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
series = {MUM '25},
abstract = {Visual impairments, such as cataracts, pose a global challenge with preventable cases and unaddressed issues due to limited eye care understanding. In this work, we investigate cataracts using a virtual reality simulation, exploring its impact on a visual search task and investigating the correlations between eye movement features and the severity of the simulation. We simulated cataract progression in one or both eyes through two studies utilizing virtual reality and eye tracking. We analyzed the impact on task performance and eye movements and found that mild cataract progression may be hard to detect. However, more severe cataract simulation revealed significant differences in eye movement characteristics and task performance. These results indicate that eye movements could serve as early diagnostic tools.},
keywords = {},
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tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Visual impairments, such as cataracts, pose a global challenge with preventable cases and unaddressed issues due to limited eye care understanding. In this work, we investigate cataracts using a virtual reality simulation, exploring its impact on a visual search task and investigating the correlations between eye movement features and the severity of the simulation. We simulated cataract progression in one or both eyes through two studies utilizing virtual reality and eye tracking. We analyzed the impact on task performance and eye movements and found that mild cataract progression may be hard to detect. However, more severe cataract simulation revealed significant differences in eye movement characteristics and task performance. These results indicate that eye movements could serve as early diagnostic tools.
Understanding the Impact of Glaucoma Severities Through Virtual Reality Simulations
Jesse W. Grootjen; Sairam Narsimha Reddy Yadla; Sven Mayer
Proceedings Article Proceedings of Mensch und Computer 2025, Association for Computing Machinery, Chemnitz, Germany, 2025.
@inproceedings{grootjen2025understanding,
title = {Understanding the Impact of Glaucoma Severities Through Virtual Reality Simulations},
author = {Jesse W. Grootjen and Sairam Narsimha Reddy Yadla and Sven Mayer},
url = {https://www.jwgrootjen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/grootjen2025understanding.pdf, PDF
https://osf.io/b6xpu/, OSF},
doi = {10.1145/3743049.3743084},
year = {2025},
date = {2025-08-31},
booktitle = {Proceedings of Mensch und Computer 2025},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
address = {Chemnitz, Germany},
series = {MuC'25},
abstract = {Glaucoma is a visual impairment that presents a significant global challenge due to limited access to routine screenings. In this study, we explore glaucoma by creating a virtual reality (VR) simulation of peripheral vision loss. Initial interviews (N=3) indicated that traditional darker peripheral visualizations do not accurately represent the experiences of individuals with glaucoma. To address this, we developed an innovative visualization that simulates varying severities of glaucoma, aligning more closely with the descriptions provided by interviewees. In a subsequent user study (N=24), we examined the impact of different glaucoma severities using our visualization in high-fidelity VR environments, which helped maintain contextual cues. Specifically, we analyzed how glaucoma affects visual search tasks and investigated correlations between eye movement patterns and the severity of the simulated condition. Our results revealed significant differences in both eye movement metrics and task performance. These findings provide a foundation for future simulation studies on glaucoma.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Glaucoma is a visual impairment that presents a significant global challenge due to limited access to routine screenings. In this study, we explore glaucoma by creating a virtual reality (VR) simulation of peripheral vision loss. Initial interviews (N=3) indicated that traditional darker peripheral visualizations do not accurately represent the experiences of individuals with glaucoma. To address this, we developed an innovative visualization that simulates varying severities of glaucoma, aligning more closely with the descriptions provided by interviewees. In a subsequent user study (N=24), we examined the impact of different glaucoma severities using our visualization in high-fidelity VR environments, which helped maintain contextual cues. Specifically, we analyzed how glaucoma affects visual search tasks and investigated correlations between eye movement patterns and the severity of the simulated condition. Our results revealed significant differences in both eye movement metrics and task performance. These findings provide a foundation for future simulation studies on glaucoma.
The Effects of AMD Severities on Eye Movements in Virtual Environments
Jesse W. Grootjen; Sairam Narsimha Reddy Yadla; Sven Mayer
Proceedings Article Proceedings of the Mensch Und Computer 2025, Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 2025, ISBN: 979-8-4007-1582-2/25/08.
@inproceedings{grootjen2025effects,
title = {The Effects of AMD Severities on Eye Movements in Virtual Environments},
author = {Jesse W. Grootjen and Sairam Narsimha Reddy Yadla and Sven Mayer},
url = {https://www.jwgrootjen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/grootjen2025effects.pdf, PDF},
doi = {10.1145/3743049.3748561},
isbn = {979-8-4007-1582-2/25/08},
year = {2025},
date = {2025-08-01},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the Mensch Und Computer 2025},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
abstract = {Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a visual impairment that poses a global challenge due to limited access to regular checks. In this work, we investigate AMD by creating a virtual reality simulation of central-field loss. In the first step, interviews (N=6) revealed that dark circles are not accurate in terms of the perception of those affected by AMD. Thus, we developed a novel visualization that simulates different AMD severities, which better matches the interviewerś explanations. In an evaluation user study (N=13), we focus on understanding AMD severities using our visualization in high-fidelity virtual reality scenes to preserve contextual cueing. In detail, we explore the impact of AMD on a visual search task and investigate the correlations between eye movement features and the severity of the simulation. We found significant differences in several eye movement characteristics as well as task performance. Our findings lay the groundwork for future simulation studies.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a visual impairment that poses a global challenge due to limited access to regular checks. In this work, we investigate AMD by creating a virtual reality simulation of central-field loss. In the first step, interviews (N=6) revealed that dark circles are not accurate in terms of the perception of those affected by AMD. Thus, we developed a novel visualization that simulates different AMD severities, which better matches the interviewerś explanations. In an evaluation user study (N=13), we focus on understanding AMD severities using our visualization in high-fidelity virtual reality scenes to preserve contextual cueing. In detail, we explore the impact of AMD on a visual search task and investigate the correlations between eye movement features and the severity of the simulation. We found significant differences in several eye movement characteristics as well as task performance. Our findings lay the groundwork for future simulation studies.
2024
Jesse Grootjen; Philipp Thalhammer; Thomas Kosch
Proceedings Article Proceedings of the 26th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services, ACM, New York, NY, USA, 2024.
@inproceedings{grootjen2024your,
title = {Your Eyes on Speed: Using Pupil Dilation to Adaptively Select Speed-Reading Parameters in Virtual Reality},
author = {Jesse Grootjen and Philipp Thalhammer and Thomas Kosch},
url = {https://www.jwgrootjen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/grootjen2024your.pdf, PDF},
doi = {10.1145/3676531},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-09-30},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 26th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services},
publisher = {ACM},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
series = {MobileHCI '24},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Yannick Weiss; Steeven Villa; Jesse W. Grootjen; Matthias Hoppe; Yasin Kale; Florian Müller
Proceedings Article Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction (MobileHCI), Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 2024.
@inproceedings{weiss2024exploring,
title = {Exploring Redirection and Shifting Techniques to Mask Hand Movements from Shoulder-Surfing Attacks during PIN Authentication in Virtual Reality},
author = {Yannick Weiss and Steeven Villa and Jesse W. Grootjen and Matthias Hoppe and Yasin Kale and Florian Müller},
url = {https://www.jwgrootjen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/weiss2024exploring.pdf, PDF},
doi = {10.1145/3676502},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-09-24},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction (MobileHCI)},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Uncovering and Addressing Blink-Related Challenges in Using Eye Tracking for Interactive Systems
Jesse W. Grootjen; Henrike Weingärtner; Sven Mayer
Proceedings Article Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 2024.
@inproceedings{grootjen2024uncovering,
title = {Uncovering and Addressing Blink-Related Challenges in Using Eye Tracking for Interactive Systems},
author = {Jesse W. Grootjen and Henrike Weingärtner and Sven Mayer},
url = {https://www.jwgrootjen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/grootjen2024uncovering.pdf, PDF
https://eyetrackingguidelines.github.io, Project page},
doi = {10.1145/3613904.3642086},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-05-11},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
series = {CHI '24},
abstract = {Currently, interactive systems use physiological sensing to enable advanced functionalities. While eye tracking is a promising means to understand the user, eye tracking data inherently suffers from missing data due to blinks, which may result in reduced system performance. We conducted a literature review to understand how researchers deal with this issue. We uncovered that researchers often implemented their use-case-specific pipeline to overcome the issue, ranging from ignoring missing data to artificial interpolation. With these first insights, we run a large-scale analysis on 11 publicly available datasets to understand the impact of the various approaches on data quality and accuracy. By this, we highlight the pitfalls in data processing and which methods work best. Based on our results, we provide guidelines for handling eye tracking data for interactive systems. Further, we propose a standard data processing pipeline that allows researchers and practitioners to pre-process and standardize their data efficiently.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Currently, interactive systems use physiological sensing to enable advanced functionalities. While eye tracking is a promising means to understand the user, eye tracking data inherently suffers from missing data due to blinks, which may result in reduced system performance. We conducted a literature review to understand how researchers deal with this issue. We uncovered that researchers often implemented their use-case-specific pipeline to overcome the issue, ranging from ignoring missing data to artificial interpolation. With these first insights, we run a large-scale analysis on 11 publicly available datasets to understand the impact of the various approaches on data quality and accuracy. By this, we highlight the pitfalls in data processing and which methods work best. Based on our results, we provide guidelines for handling eye tracking data for interactive systems. Further, we propose a standard data processing pipeline that allows researchers and practitioners to pre-process and standardize their data efficiently.
Investigating the Effects of Eye-Tracking Interpolation Methods on Model Performance of LSTM
Jesse W. Grootjen; Henrike Weingärtner; Sven Mayer
Proceedings Article Proceedings of the 2024 Symposium on Eye Tracking Research and Applications, Association for Computing Machinery, Glasgow, United Kingdom, 2024, ISBN: 9798400706073.
@inproceedings{grootjen2024investigating,
title = {Investigating the Effects of Eye-Tracking Interpolation Methods on Model Performance of LSTM},
author = {Jesse W. Grootjen and Henrike Weingärtner and Sven Mayer},
url = {https://www.jwgrootjen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/grootjen2024investigating.pdf, PDF},
doi = {10.1145/3649902.3656353},
isbn = {9798400706073},
year = {2024},
date = {2024-01-01},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2024 Symposium on Eye Tracking Research and Applications},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
address = {Glasgow, United Kingdom},
series = {ETRA '24},
abstract = {Physiological sensing enables us to use advanced adaptive functionalities through physiological data (e.g., eye tracking) to change conditions. In this work, we investigate the impact of infilling methods on LSTM models' performance in handling missing eye tracking data, specifically during blinks and gaps in recording. We conducted experiments using recommended infilling techniques from previous work on an openly available eye tracking dataset and LSTM model structure. Our findings indicate that the infilling method significantly influences LSTM prediction accuracy. These results underscore the importance of standardized infilling approaches for enhancing the reliability and reproducibility of LSTM-based eye tracking applications on a larger scale. Future work should investigate the impact of these infilling methods in larger datasets to investigate generalizability.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Physiological sensing enables us to use advanced adaptive functionalities through physiological data (e.g., eye tracking) to change conditions. In this work, we investigate the impact of infilling methods on LSTM models' performance in handling missing eye tracking data, specifically during blinks and gaps in recording. We conducted experiments using recommended infilling techniques from previous work on an openly available eye tracking dataset and LSTM model structure. Our findings indicate that the infilling method significantly influences LSTM prediction accuracy. These results underscore the importance of standardized infilling approaches for enhancing the reliability and reproducibility of LSTM-based eye tracking applications on a larger scale. Future work should investigate the impact of these infilling methods in larger datasets to investigate generalizability.
2023
Assessing Eye Tracking for Continuous Central Field Loss Monitoring
Jesse Grootjen; Alexandra Sipatchin; Siegfried Wahl; Tonja-Katrin Machulla; Lewis Chuang; Thomas Kosch
Proceedings Article Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Multimedia, Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 2023.
@inproceedings{grootjen2023assessing,
title = {Assessing Eye Tracking for Continuous Central Field Loss Monitoring},
author = {Jesse Grootjen and Alexandra Sipatchin and Siegfried Wahl and Tonja-Katrin Machulla and Lewis Chuang and Thomas Kosch},
url = {https://www.jwgrootjen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/grootjen2023assessing.pdf, PDF},
doi = {10.1145/3626705.3627776},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-12-03},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Multimedia},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Highlighting the Challenges of Blinks in Eye Tracking for Interactive Systems
Jesse W. Grootjen; Henrike Weingärtner; Sven Mayer
Proceedings Article Proceedings of the 2023 Symposium on Eye Tracking Research and Applications, Association for Computing Machinery, Tubingen, Germany, 2023, ISBN: 9798400701504.
@inproceedings{grootjen2023highlighting,
title = {Highlighting the Challenges of Blinks in Eye Tracking for Interactive Systems},
author = {Jesse W. Grootjen and Henrike Weingärtner and Sven Mayer},
url = {https://www.jwgrootjen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/grootjen2023highlighting.pdf, PDF},
doi = {10.1145/3588015.3589202},
isbn = {9798400701504},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-01-01},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2023 Symposium on Eye Tracking Research and Applications},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
address = {Tubingen, Germany},
series = {ETRA '23},
abstract = {Eye tracking is the basis for many intelligent systems to predict user actions. A core challenge with eye-tracking data is that it inherently suffers from missing data due to blinks. Approaches such as intent prediction and user state recognition process gaze data using neural networks; however, they often have difficulty handling missing information. In an effort to understand how prior work dealt with missing data, we found that researchers often simply ignore missing data or adopt use-case-specific approaches, such as artificially filling in missing data. This inconsistency in handling missing data in eye tracking hinders the development of effective intelligent systems for predicting user actions and limits reproducibility. Furthermore, this can even lead to incorrect results. Thus, this lack of standardization calls for investigating possible solutions to improve the consistency and effectiveness of processing eye-tracking data for user action prediction.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Eye tracking is the basis for many intelligent systems to predict user actions. A core challenge with eye-tracking data is that it inherently suffers from missing data due to blinks. Approaches such as intent prediction and user state recognition process gaze data using neural networks; however, they often have difficulty handling missing information. In an effort to understand how prior work dealt with missing data, we found that researchers often simply ignore missing data or adopt use-case-specific approaches, such as artificially filling in missing data. This inconsistency in handling missing data in eye tracking hinders the development of effective intelligent systems for predicting user actions and limits reproducibility. Furthermore, this can even lead to incorrect results. Thus, this lack of standardization calls for investigating possible solutions to improve the consistency and effectiveness of processing eye-tracking data for user action prediction.
2022
IDeA: A Demonstration of a Mixed Reality System to Support Living with Central Field Loss
Florian Lang; Jesse W. Grootjen; Lewis L. Chuang; Tonja Machulla
Proceedings Article Proceedings of Mensch und Computer 2022, Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 2022.
@inproceedings{lang2022idea,
title = {IDeA: A Demonstration of a Mixed Reality System to Support Living with Central Field Loss},
author = {Florian Lang and Jesse W. Grootjen and Lewis L. Chuang and Tonja Machulla},
url = {https://www.jwgrootjen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/lang2022idea.pdf, PDF},
doi = {10.1145/3543758.3547521},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-09-04},
booktitle = {Proceedings of Mensch und Computer 2022},
publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
2019
Predictive Markers in EEG Data for Susceptibility: A Data Driven Approach
Jesse W. Grootjen
Masters Thesis Utrecht University, 2019.
@mastersthesis{grootjen2019predictive,
title = {Predictive Markers in EEG Data for Susceptibility: A Data Driven Approach},
author = {Jesse W. Grootjen},
url = {https://www.jwgrootjen.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/grootjen2019predictive.pdf, PDF},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-08-01},
school = {Utrecht University},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {mastersthesis}
}