Developmental changes in visual scanning of face and nonface patterns by infants

The eye movements of infants, aged 4–5, 7–8, and 10–11 weeks, were recorded while they viewed either a representation of a face or a nonface stimulus. Presentation of the visual stimulus was paired with the presentation of an auditory stimulus (either voice or tone) or silence. Attention to the visual stimulus was greater for the older two groups than for the youngest group. The effect of the addition of sound was to increase attention to the visual stimulus. In general, the face was looked at more than the nonface stimulus. The difference in visual attention between the face and the nonface stimulus did not appear to be based solely on the physical characteristics of the stimuli. A sharp increase in the amount of looking at the eyes of the face stimulus at 7–8 weeks of age seemed to be related to a developing appreciation of the meaning of the face as a pattern.     

Prolonged investigation of a plane geometric triangle by the human newborn

Five human newborns were presented with a plane geometric triangle repeatedly on the same day and across days. Eye fixations and eye movements to within approximately ±3–4° were recorded by means of corneal photography. There were marked individual differences in the form of visual scanning on the figure. Some infants consistently oriented towards only a single feature while others alternated between single and multiple feature selection. Postnatal age or exposure alone did not appear to guarantee either response.     

The development of equivalence rules for visual configurations

The use of discrete and relational aspects of visual configurations in making similarity judgments was compared in 3-, 4-, 5-, and 8-year-old children and adults. The subjects were asked to match line drawings, which were similar in color, form, or spatial arrangement of the components, in a forced-choice task. There was a shift, with age, toward increased use of spatial arrangement as the basis for the equivalence judgment and toward greater consistency of choice. An analysis of patterns of response suggested the operation of underlying equivalence rules, which change with age from a limited form rule to more extensive rules, which incorporate a form rule as well as a spatial arrangement rule. We proposed a model of rule development that is hierarchical and involves the subordination of earlier rules to later emerging rules.     

Habituation of the visual orienting response in young children1, 2

The eye tracks of 29 children (aged 2-7 years) were recorded by a reflection eye camera while they were looking ata4by 4 matrix of 16 white geometric shapes. When a circle suddenly changed to red, the children immediately looked at it for two-thirds of the presentation time, a reading which was 16 times the initial level before this novel color was introduced. With repeated presentations of the novel red circle display, progressively fewer fixations fell on the red circle. After 20 trials, this habituation was incomplete, and the red circle was still drawing six times the initial amount of looking found on the original white circle. Ss were apparently relatively slow to form a neural representation of the visual environment due to the wide range of choices in the original display. The age of the children had no monotonic effect on the high, and virtually equal, initial visual concentration, nor on the rate at which habituation occurred. An interesting contrast, therefore, appeared between these data and the marked age effects noted by others in the recognition of letter-like shapes. Unlike recognition tasks, orienting and habituation need a minimum of stimulus interpretation. Children, even as young as 2 years, have demonstrated a remarkable efficiency in these processes of orienting and habituation to novelty.     

Development of binocular fixation in human infants

Two experiments measured changes in binocular eye alignment from 1- to 6-month-old human infants. In Experiment 1 changes in binocular eye alignment were recorded from 1, 2, and 3 month olds using corneal photography. A luminous target was moved along the infant's midline at one of two constant speeds. Infants at all three ages showed some evidence of appropriate changes in binocular eye alignment (convergence as the target approached and divergence as the target receded). The likelihood of appropriate convergence and divergence increased with age, as did the ability to respond appropriately to the faster target motion. A measure of convergence lag (further decrease in interpupillary distance after target motion had ended) was obtained for trials on which the target approached the infant. Convergence lag decreased with age and was greater on trials at the faster target speed until 3 months of age. Experiment 2 measured the responses of 3, $\text{4}\text{1}\text{2}$, and 6 month olds as a wedge prism was placed alternately in front of each eye. The prism displaced the image nasally (either 2.5° or 5°), creating inappropriate binocular eye alignment. A refixation eye movement in response to the prism was not present consistently until 6 months of age. Hypotheses as to the mechanism controlling infant binocular eye alignment are discussed with respect both to the present findings and to findings from human adults and animals.     

信息类型和位置对儿童不同时期面孔加工的作用

采用多维面孔任务（face dimensions task）探讨了信息类型和位置对7～17岁儿童面孔加工的作用。该任务通过改变面孔的类型信息（特征和结构）和位置信息（眼部和嘴部）,要求儿童对同时呈现的面孔图片进行“相同”或“不同”的判断。研究发现,儿童面孔加工水平随年龄提高,13～14岁表现最好;对面孔特征的加工好于结构加工,而眼部和嘴部的加工差异从11～12岁开始出现;类型信息和位置信息共同作用于面孔加工,表现为儿童在嘴部的特征和结构加工上未出现显著差异,但眼部的特征加工显著好于眼部的结构加工。     

Configural processing in the perception of eye-gaze direction

Traditional accounts of gaze perception emphasise the geometric or configural cues present in the eye; the position of the iris in relation to the corner of the eye, for example. This kind of geometric account has been supported, in part, by findings that gaze judgments are impaired in faces rotated through 180 degrees, a manipulation known to disrupt the processing of relations between facial elements. However, studies involving this manipulation have confounded inversion of the face context with inversion of the eye region. The effects of inversion might therefore have been caused by a disruption of the computation of gaze direction from the eye region itself and/or a disruption of the influence that face context might exert on gaze processing. In the experiment reported here we independently manipulated eye orientation and the orientation of the face context, and measured participants' sensitivity to gaze direction. Performance was severely affected by inversion of the eyes, regardless of the orientation of the face, whereas face inversion had no significant effect on gaze sensitivity. Previous reports of a face-inversion effect on gaze perception can therefore be attributed to inversion of the eye region itself which, we suggest, disrupts some form of configural or relational processing that is normally involved in the computation of eye-gaze direction.     

Estimator reliability and distance scaling in stereoscopic slant perception

When a horizontal or vertical magnifier is placed before one eye, a frontoparallel surface appears slanted. It appears slanted away from the eye with horizontal magnification (geometric effect) and toward the eye with vertical magnification (induced effect). According to current theory, the apparent slant in the geometric and induced effects should increase with viewing distance. The geometric effect does scale with distance, but there are conflicting reports as to whether the induced effect does. Ogle (1938 Archives of Ophthalmology 20 604-623) reported that settings in slant-nulling tasks increase systematically with viewing distance, but Gillam et al (1988 Perception & Psychophysics 44 473-483) and Rogers et al (1995 Perception 24 Supplement, 33) reported that settings in slant-estimation tasks do not. We re-examined this apparent contradiction. First, we conducted two experiments whose results are consistent with the literature and thus replicate the apparent contradiction. Next, we analyzed the signals available for stereoscopic slant perception and developed a general model of perceived slant. The model is based on the assumption that the visual system knows the reliability of various slant-estimation methods for the viewing situation under consideration. The model's behavior explains the contradiction in the literature. The model also predicts that, by manipulating eye position, apparent slant can be made to increase with distance for vertical, but not for horizontal, magnification. This prediction was confirmed experimentally.     

Eye centring in portraits: a theoretical and empirical evaluation

Tyler (1998 Nature 392 877) proposed that 'painters centre one eye in portraits', and that this is a hidden aesthetic principle used implicitly by artists and by viewers of portraits. We assess that hypothesis in three related studies: a Monte-Carlo analysis of eye placement in synthetic faces randomly placed within a frame; a survey of eye position in 786 painted portraits from Western art of the past six centuries; and an experimental study in which fifty subjects were asked which of two versions of 60 pairs of portraits they preferred, in only one of which the eye was precisely centred. Taken together, the three studies showed no evidence to support Tyler's hypothesis, and in particular there was no evidence for subjects having an aesthetic preference for a centred eye in portraits. We conclude that one eye tends to be relatively close to the vertical midline because of geometric constraints on the placing of a relatively large object, the head, within a pictorial frame.     

Preschoolers' use of eye contact while speaking: The influence of sex,age, and conversational partner

The influences of sex, age, and conversational, partner (mother vs. stranger) on eye contact during verbalizations were examined in a longitudinal study of 33 children at 2 and 4 years of age. A free-play sample was obtained of each child interacting with mother and with a male or female experimenter. The amount of eye contact in conjunction with verbalization was analyzed. Significant main effects were found for sex (females engaged in a higher percent of eye contact than males) and conversational partner (more eye contact while speaking exhibited to experimenter than to mother). There was an interaction between age and conversational partner, in that mother received more and experimenter relatively less percent of eye contact during verbalizations as children got older. Notably, there was no main effect for age. These results revealed sex differences at an age (2–2 1/2 years) and in a context (free-play setting) not previously studied, demonstrating the robustness of the effect. Further, age findings seem indicative of unique developmental trends for eye contact during verbalizations for the ages between 2 and 4 years.Mount Saint Vicent University     

不规则几何图形识别取样特征的眼动研究

探讨不规则几何图形识别中取样的眼动特征。被试为12名大学生,刺激材料为20个不规则几何图形,采用EyelinkII型眼动仪。结果发现,随作业难度加大,被试在认知加工中的有效取样时间比显著下降。在不良视觉条件下,图形信息的取样点数量显著减少,眼动扫视路径显著增长。在识别旋转图形时,有效取样时间下降,取样点数量增加,眼动扫视路径增长。图形信息的显示条件与显示方式的交互作用对图形识别的反应时、取样点的数量和眼动扫视路径长度的影响显著。     

Preference for information about intensity of signaled tailshock

Three experiments are reported which were designed to demonstrate preference for signaled shock and to delineate the roles of the preparatory-response, information-seeking, and signaled-safety hypotheses of this phenomenon. Experiment 1 demonstrated a preference for a signal-tailshock condition over a tailshock-signal condition in a shuttlebox. In Experiment 3, rats were exposed to signaled tailshock of two intensities in both compartments of the shuttlebox, but in one compartment the signals provided information about the intensity of the impending tailshock, whereas in the other compartment the signals did not. The tailshock intensities were .6 and 1.3 mA for one group and .6 and 1.8 mA for a second group. Experiment 2 assured that even the smaller intensity difference was readily discriminable. For Group .6-1.8 a significant preference for the condition in which the signals predicted the intensity of the impending tailshocks was obtained, but no preference for either condition was found for Group .6-1.3. As signaled safety was equated in the two compartments of Experiment 3, the observed preference cannot be accounted for by the signaled-safety hypothesis. Information seeking cannot explain the lack of preference in Group .6-1.3 as the difference between those two intensities was proven discriminable in Experiment 2. Assuming that sufficient differences in shock intensity yield different preparatory responses, the present results are compatible with the preparatory-response hypothesis and suggest that preparatory responding plays a role in producing the preference for signaled shock.     

A developmental study of the effect of eye movements on the processing of shape information

Three experiments were performed using an aperture-viewing technique to assess the accuracy of shape perception when subjects were required to emit eye movements in order to pick up shape information, compared with the accuracy of shape perception when subjects were not required to emit eye movements in order to pick up the same shape information. In two of the three experiments, we also tried to elicit two different kinds of eye movements which have been suggested as being differentially useful for the processing of shape information. All three experiments explored whether the usefulness of eye movements varied as a function of age. The results of all three experiments indicate that the accuracy of shape perception improves with age under aperture-viewing conditions. The conditions in which eye movements were required to pick up the shape information led to an improvement in the processing of the shape information. This improvement seems to be about the same for both of the eye movement conditions and for all of the age groups tested (4.6 years through 21.7 years).     

Mapping and correcting the influence of gaze position on pupil size measurements

Pupil size is correlated with a wide variety of important cognitive variables and is increasingly being used by cognitive scientists. Pupil data can be recorded inexpensively and non-invasively by many commonly used video-based eye-tracking cameras. Despite the relative ease of data collection and increasing prevalence of pupil data in the cognitive literature, researchers often underestimate the methodological challenges associated with controlling for confounds that can result in misinterpretation of their data. One serious confound that is often not properly controlled is pupil foreshortening error (PFE)—the foreshortening of the pupil image as the eye rotates away from the camera. Here we systematically map PFE using an artificial eye model and then apply a geometric model correction. Three artificial eyes with different fixed pupil sizes were used to systematically measure changes in pupil size as a function of gaze position with a desktop EyeLink 1000 tracker. A grid-based map of pupil measurements was recorded with each artificial eye across three experimental layouts of the eye-tracking camera and display. Large, systematic deviations in pupil size were observed across all nine maps. The measured PFE was corrected by a geometric model that expressed the foreshortening of the pupil area as a function of the cosine of the angle between the eye-to-camera axis and the eye-to-stimulus axis. The model reduced the root mean squared error of pupil measurements by 82.5 % when the model parameters were pre-set to the physical layout dimensions, and by 97.5 % when they were optimized to fit the empirical error surface.     

词汇获得年龄效应的眼动研究

采用两个实验考察了获得年龄因素在汉语词汇识别中的作用。实验一采用经典的词汇判断任务考察了获得年龄和词频因素在词汇判断中的作用,结果发现获得年龄和词频两个因素均影响词汇识别。实验二采用阅读句子任务,通过实时记录的眼动追踪技术进一步考察了在有语境的情况下,获得年龄和词频因素在词汇加工中的作用。结果发现,在阅读句子任务中,词汇获得年龄和词频因素都在词汇加工中起作用,二者存在交互作用,晚获得词存在词频效应。两个实验的结果均支持了在汉语词汇识别中,存在获得年龄效应。     

儿童图形识别取样的时空策略

本研究探讨儿童图形识别取样的时间和空间策略。被试为24名六年级学生和24名三年级学生,刺激材料为20个不规则无意义几何图形。结果发现:六年级学生采取取样空间扩展为主,取样时间调整为辅的策略,三年级学生采用增加取样时间为主,扩展取样空间为辅的取样策略。任务难度加大时,被试采用恒定取样点时间和增加取样点数目的时-空策略。在空间取样策略发展上,学生年龄和任务难度的交互影响显著。     

Eye movements during coincidence-anticipation performance

The present study related visual processing, as indicated by eye movements, to performance accuracy on coincidence-anticipation tasks. Three age groups were tested on a coincidence-anticipation task and their eye movements recorded. Three levels of response were administered under three levels of stimulus speed. A MANOVA indicated that both eye tracking and coincidence-anticipation varied among the age groups and with stimulus speed, although in different directions. Eye tracking error decreased with increasing age but only the coincidence-anticipation response accuracy of the youngest group appeared to be less accurate than that of the adults. Eye tracking error also decreased with decreasing stimulus speed but coincidence-anticipation performance was least accurate at the slow speed. Coincidence-anticipation error was the major contributor to performance differences with changes in the type of response.     

Temporal delay,type of forewarning,and resistance to influence

Previous researchers have manipulated forewarning by providing premessage information about the topic and position of the upcoming communication, or the communicator's persuasive intent. Subjects in the present experiment were force-warned either 10 min prior to the communication, or just before the message began of the speaker's topic and position, persuasive intent, or topic only. As hypothesized, forewarning of the communicator's persuasive intent inhibited persuasion regardless of the length of the delay period, but forewarning of the topic and position required a delay in order to confer resistance to subsequent persuasion, suggesting that although both manipulations have been called “forewarning they may lead to reduced persuasion through different mechanisms. Foreknowledge of the source's topic, but not his position also increased resistance to persuasion when followed by a delay period. The results were discussed in terms of both cognitive and motivational mechanisms that may underly the persuasion inhibiting effects of forewarning.     

Direct measurement of the curvature of visual space

We consider the horizontal plane at eye height, that is all objects seen at the horizon. Although this plane visually degenerates into a line in the visual field, the 'depth' dimension nevertheless gives it a two-dimensional structure. We address the problem of intrinsic curvature of this plane. The classical geometric method is based on Gauss's original definition: The angular excess in a triangle equals the integral curvature over the area of the triangle. Angles were directly measured by a novel method of exocentric pointing. Experiments were performed outside, in the natural environment, under natural viewing conditions. The observers were instructed not to move from a set location and to maintain eye height, but were otherwise free to perform eye, head, and body movements. We measured the angular excess for equilateral triangles with sides of 2-20 m, the vantage position at the barycenter. We found angular excesses and deficits of up to 30 degrees. From these data we constructed the metric. The curvature changes from elliptic in near space to hyperbolic in far space. At very large distances the plane becomes parabolic.     

Age-related decline in the reflexive component of overt gaze following

Previous research has found age-related declines in social perception tasks as well as the ability to engage in joint attention and orienting covert attention (i.e., absence of eye movements) in response to an eye gaze cue. We used an overt gaze following task to explore age differences in overt gaze following whilst people searched for a target. Participants were faster to detect targets appearing at the looked-at location, and although the gaze cue biased the direction in which saccades were executed, no age differences were found in overt gaze following. There were, however, age effects relating to involuntary eye movements. In the younger adults, anticipatory saccades were biased in the direction of the gaze cue, but this bias was not observed in the older group. Moreover, in the younger adults, saccades that followed the gaze were initiated more rapidly, illustrating the reflexive nature of gaze following. No such difference was observed in the older adults. Importantly, our results showed that whilst the general levels of gaze following were age invariant, there were age-related differences in the reflexive components of overt gaze following.