Anna Jansen – Digital Health Bonn

Anna Jansen, M. Sc.
Personalized Digital Health and Telemedicine

Affiliation:
Department for Epileptology
University Hospital Bonn
Medical Faculty
University of Bonn

Location:
Venusberg-Campus 1,
Building 74, Room 2G-016
53127 Bonn, Germany

Telephone: +49-228/287-52171
Email: anna.jansen@ukbonn.de

Short CV:

Anna Jansen earned her Bachelor’s degree in Integrated Product Design (B.A.) in 2019 from the University of Applied Sciences Coburg and her Master’s degree in Cognitive Science (Majors: Neuroscience, Neuroinformatics) in 2024 from the University of Osnabrück. She is now doing her Ph.D. in Computer Science at the University Hospital Bonn/University of Bonn.

Publications:

2025

Alavi, Khashayar; Jansen, Anna; Steininger, Melissa; Mustafa, Sarah Al-Haj; Müllers, Johannes; Surges, Rainer; Helmstaedter, Christoph; von Wrede, Randi; Krüger, Björn

Graph Neural Networks for Analyzing Eye Fixation Patterns in Epilepsy Conference Forthcoming

International Congress on Mobile Health and Digital Technology in Epilepsy, Forthcoming.

BibTeX

Jansen, Anna; Steininger, Melissa; Mustafa, Sarah Al-Haj; Müllers, Johannes; Surges, Rainer; Helmstaedter, Christoph; von Wrede, Randi; Krüger, Björn

Search Behavior – Metrics for Analysis of Eye Tracking Data Conference Forthcoming

International Congress on Mobile Health and Digital Technology in Epilepsy, Forthcoming.

BibTeX

Mustafa, Sarah Al-Haj; Jansen, Anna; Steininger, Melissa; Müllers, Johannes; Surges, Rainer; von Wrede, Randi; Krüger, Björn; Helmstaedter, Christoph

Eyes on Cognition: Exploring Oculomotor Correlates of Cognitive Function in Patients with Epilepsy Journal Article

In: Epilepsy & Behavior, vol. 173, iss. December 2025, no. 110562, 2025.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

@article{alhaj2025,

title = {Eyes on Cognition: Exploring Oculomotor Correlates of Cognitive Function in Patients with Epilepsy},

author = {Sarah Al-Haj Mustafa and Anna Jansen and Melissa Steininger and Johannes Müllers and Rainer Surges and Randi von Wrede and Björn Krüger and Christoph Helmstaedter},

doi = {10.1016/j.yebeh.2025.110562},

year  = {2025},

date = {2025-06-30},

urldate = {2025-06-30},

journal = {Epilepsy & Behavior},

volume = {173},

number = {110562},

issue = {December 2025},

abstract = {Objective

This study investigates the relationship between eye tracking parameters and cognitive performance during the Trail Making Test (TMT) in individuals with epilepsy and healthy controls. By analyzing ocular behaviors such as saccade velocity, fixation duration, and pupil diameter, we aim to determine how these metrics reflect executive functioning and attentional control.

Methods

A sample of 95 participants with epilepsy and 34 healthy controls completed the TMT while their eye movements were recorded. Partial correlations, controlling for age, sex, education, medication count, seizure status and epilepsy duration, examined associations between eye tracking measures and cognitive performance derived from EpiTrack and TMT performance.

Results

In the patient group, faster TMT-A performance was associated with shorter fix- ation durations (r = 0.31, p = 0.006). Lower minimum saccade velocity correlated with slower performance on both TMT-A (r = −0.35, p = 0.002) and TMT-B (r = −0.40, p<0.001), whereas higher peak saccade velocities were linked to worse performance (TMT-A: r = 0.45, p<0.001; TMT-B: r = 0.41, p<0.001). Pupil diameter findings indicated that slower TMT performance was associated with smaller minimum pupil sizes (r = −0.23 to r = −0.36), wich may indicate increased cognitive effort and attentional load. Higher EpiTrack scores also correlated with a smaller minimum pupil diameter − but only during the more demanding TMT-B − and with a more restricted saccade velocity range, reflecting greater motor control and attentional stability. No significant correlations emerged within the control group.

Conclusion

These findings highlight the potential of eye tracking as a non-invasive tool for assessing cognitive function in epilepsy. Efficient cognitive performance was characterized by stable and controlled eye movements, whereas impaired performance involved erratic saccade dynamics and prolonged fixations. Importantly, eye tracking parameters provide additional information beyond simple speed measurements, potentially enhancing the differential diagnostic capabilities of the TMT in epilepsy. The observed associations between oculomotor parameters and cognitive performance were not present in the control group, suggesting that these relationships may be specific to epilepsy. Future research should investigate whether both basic and advanced metrics of search strategies are sensitive to disease dynamics and treatment effects in epilepsy.},

keywords = {},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

Objective
This study investigates the relationship between eye tracking parameters and cognitive performance during the Trail Making Test (TMT) in individuals with epilepsy and healthy controls. By analyzing ocular behaviors such as saccade velocity, fixation duration, and pupil diameter, we aim to determine how these metrics reflect executive functioning and attentional control.
Methods
A sample of 95 participants with epilepsy and 34 healthy controls completed the TMT while their eye movements were recorded. Partial correlations, controlling for age, sex, education, medication count, seizure status and epilepsy duration, examined associations between eye tracking measures and cognitive performance derived from EpiTrack and TMT performance.
Results
In the patient group, faster TMT-A performance was associated with shorter fix- ation durations (r = 0.31, p = 0.006). Lower minimum saccade velocity correlated with slower performance on both TMT-A (r = −0.35, p = 0.002) and TMT-B (r = −0.40, p<0.001), whereas higher peak saccade velocities were linked to worse performance (TMT-A: r = 0.45, p<0.001; TMT-B: r = 0.41, p<0.001). Pupil diameter findings indicated that slower TMT performance was associated with smaller minimum pupil sizes (r = −0.23 to r = −0.36), wich may indicate increased cognitive effort and attentional load. Higher EpiTrack scores also correlated with a smaller minimum pupil diameter − but only during the more demanding TMT-B − and with a more restricted saccade velocity range, reflecting greater motor control and attentional stability. No significant correlations emerged within the control group.
Conclusion
These findings highlight the potential of eye tracking as a non-invasive tool for assessing cognitive function in epilepsy. Efficient cognitive performance was characterized by stable and controlled eye movements, whereas impaired performance involved erratic saccade dynamics and prolonged fixations. Importantly, eye tracking parameters provide additional information beyond simple speed measurements, potentially enhancing the differential diagnostic capabilities of the TMT in epilepsy. The observed associations between oculomotor parameters and cognitive performance were not present in the control group, suggesting that these relationships may be specific to epilepsy. Future research should investigate whether both basic and advanced metrics of search strategies are sensitive to disease dynamics and treatment effects in epilepsy.

Haaga, Lisa; Jansen, Anna; Steininger, Melissa; Müllers, Johannes; Bausch, Marcel; Jordan, Arthur; Surges, Rainer; Krüger, Björn

EpiEye – Einfluss anfallssupressiver Medikamente auf Augenbewegungen und autonome Veränderungen bei Epilepsien Conference

Dreiländertagung Epilepsie 2025, 2025.

BibTeX

Mustafa, Sarah Al-Haj; Jansen, Anna; Surges, Rainer; Helmstaedter, Christoph; von Wrede, Randi; Krüger, Björn

ANNE – Augen-Tracking zur Erkennung von Nebenwirkungen bei Epilepsie Conference

Dreiländertagung Epilepsie 2025, 2025.

BibTeX

Steininger, Melissa; Jansen, Anna; Welle, Kristian; Krüger, Björn

Optimized Sensor Position Detection: Improving Visual Sensor Setups for Hand Tracking in VR Conference

2025 IEEE Conference Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (VR), 2025.

BibTeX

Steininger, Melissa; Jansen, Anna; Mustafa, Sarah Al-Haj; Surges, Rainer; Helmstaedter, Christoph; von Wrede, Randi; Krüger, Björn

Eye-Tracking Reveals Search Behaviour in Epilepsy Patients Conference

3rd International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Epilepsy and Neurological Disorders, 2025.

BibTeX

Jansen, Anna; Steininger, Melissa; Mustafa, Sarah Al-Haj; Müllers, Johannes; Surges, Rainer; Helmstaedter, Christoph; von Wrede, Randi; Krüger, Björn

Prediction Models on Eye Tracking Data in Epilepsy Conference

3rd International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Epilepsy and Neurological Disorders, 2025.

BibTeX