{"id":799,"date":"2026-08-04T21:29:06","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T20:29:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microsites.cardiffmet.ac.uk\/HCAI\/?p=799"},"modified":"2026-08-06T12:42:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T11:42:43","slug":"what-your-eyes-tell-ai-dr-fatima-isiaka-on-reading-the-mind-through-the-screen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microsites.cardiffmet.ac.uk\/HCAI\/2026\/08\/04\/what-your-eyes-tell-ai-dr-fatima-isiaka-on-reading-the-mind-through-the-screen\/","title":{"rendered":"What Your Eyes Tell AI: Dr Fatima Isiaka on Reading the Mind Through the Screen"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>HerHCAI Seminar Series<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Have you ever felt inexplicably tired or irritated after using a cluttered website? It turns out your eyes knew before you did and artificial intelligence is learning to listen to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That was the theme of our latest HerHCAI seminar, where we were delighted to host <strong>Dr Fatima Isiaka<\/strong> for a session on the synchronisation of user events with psychological dynamics or, in everyday terms, how AI interprets our behaviour, from the way our eyes move to the way we type, and uses it to personalise our digital experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Synchronisation of User Events with Psychological Dynamics\" width=\"1778\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5i0o6y4SpaY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a><\/a>You don&#8217;t have to be known to be understood<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr Isiaka opened with an idea that reframes how we think about personalisation. When you shop online, the website owner wants to know what you are looking for but they don&#8217;t actually need to know <em>you<\/em> to work it out. Your behaviour tells the story. Where your eyes land, where they travel, where they linger: these signals reveal intent without a single personal detail being exchanged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The science behind this starts with the <strong>visual field<\/strong> how we look at a screen. When a page loads, our gaze lands first on a central point before travelling outward to explore. Researchers capture this journey using an <strong>eye tracker<\/strong>, a device calibrated to follow the eye as it moves. Two concepts do most of the work: <strong>fixations<\/strong>, the points where the eye rests, and the <strong>scan path<\/strong>, the route the eye takes from one fixation to the next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For designers, this data is gold. Instead of guessing where users will look, they can make rapid, evidence-based design decisions built around where people <em>actually<\/em> look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a><\/a>The pupil: a window into how we feel<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Perhaps the most striking part of the session was Dr Isiaka&#8217;s discussion of <strong>pupil dynamics<\/strong>. The pupil, she explained, is widely regarded as a window into cognition, it doesn&#8217;t just show what we are paying attention to, but hints at how we <em>feel<\/em> while we are doing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And here&#8217;s the humbling part: we don&#8217;t always know our own state. We may believe we are calmly browsing while our physiology says otherwise. A complex, cluttered page can produce a measurable stress response, confusion, cognitive strain, before we&#8217;re consciously aware of any discomfort. Conversely, a well-designed page can genuinely relax us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In other words, every screen we use is quietly shaping how we feel. The question is whether it was designed with that responsibility in mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a><\/a>Why this matters for human-centred AI<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This is human-centred AI in its purest form: technology that studies people in order to serve people better. Systems that can sense confusion could simplify themselves in response. Interfaces could adapt to reduce stress rather than cause it. Personalisation could mean not just <em>what<\/em> content we see, but <em>how comfortably<\/em> we experience it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It also matters who is doing this research. Dr Isiaka&#8217;s work forthcoming in an AI journal sits at the intersection of AI, psychology and human-computer interaction, and she made a point of noting its particular relevance for women in HCI seeking to understand cognition and everyday visual interaction. At HerHCAI, where our mission is to bring more women into the rooms where AI is imagined, built and tested, her session was both a masterclass and a model.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a><\/a>Join us next time<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Our seminar series continues through the year, with researchers and practitioners exploring how AI can be made fairer, safer and more human. Follow HerHCAI to hear about upcoming sessions and if this topic sparked something for you, that curiosity is exactly where an AI journey begins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>With thanks to Dr Fatima Isiaka for a generous and insightful session, and to everyone who joined us.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The HerHCAI project is a Gender Equality Partnership between Cardiff Metropolitan University (UK) and the Federal University of Technology, Akure (Nigeria), funded by the British Council. It works to advance women&#8217;s participation in human-centred AI through training, mentorship and research.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>HerHCAI Seminar Series Have you ever felt inexplicably tired or irritated after using a cluttered website? It turns out your eyes knew before you did and artificial intelligence is learning to listen to them. That was the theme of our latest HerHCAI seminar, where we were delighted to host Dr Fatima Isiaka for a session [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":807,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events-activities","category-news-blog"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsites.cardiffmet.ac.uk\/HCAI\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsites.cardiffmet.ac.uk\/HCAI\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsites.cardiffmet.ac.uk\/HCAI\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.cardiffmet.ac.uk\/HCAI\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/76"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.cardiffmet.ac.uk\/HCAI\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=799"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.cardiffmet.ac.uk\/HCAI\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":800,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.cardiffmet.ac.uk\/HCAI\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799\/revisions\/800"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.cardiffmet.ac.uk\/HCAI\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsites.cardiffmet.ac.uk\/HCAI\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.cardiffmet.ac.uk\/HCAI\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.cardiffmet.ac.uk\/HCAI\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}