PREFERENTIAL LOOKING - A SUDDEN SHIFT IN VISUAL FIXATION PATTERN AT 32 MONTHS OF AGE

Citation
K. Jacobsen et al., PREFERENTIAL LOOKING - A SUDDEN SHIFT IN VISUAL FIXATION PATTERN AT 32 MONTHS OF AGE, Scandinavian journal of psychology, 36(3), 1995, pp. 323-326
Citations number
9
Categorie Soggetti
Psychology
ISSN journal
00365564
Volume
36
Issue
3
Year of publication
1995
Pages
323 - 326
Database
ISI
SICI code
0036-5564(1995)36:3<323:PL-ASS>2.0.ZU;2-O
Abstract
Observations of eye movements of young children in a modified preferen tial looking task suggest a change in the visual looking pattern takin g place during a very brief time between 32 and 33 months of age. In t he younger children, a grating stimulus elicited eye movements towards the target followed by a few seconds of focused attention; in the old er children a visual avoidance behavior was observed where subjects lo oked consistently in the opposite direction of the target. An analysis of video recordings suggests that this avoidance pattern was a compos ite of a very brief initial target-directed eyemovement which was quic kly arrested, and followed by eye movements in the opposite direction, initiating a search of the visual scene.