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Updated: Jun 24, 2026

Eye Tracking During Visually Situated Language Comprehension: Flexibility and Limitations in Uncovering Visual Context Effects
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How chimpanzees look at pictures: a comparative eye-tracking study.

Fumihiro Kano1, Masaki Tomonaga

  • 1Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Inuyama, Aichi 484-8506, Japan. fkanou@pri.kyoto-u.ac.jp

Proceedings. Biological Sciences
|March 28, 2009
PubMed
Summary

Eye tracking reveals chimpanzees and humans share similar visual attention patterns, focusing on animals and faces. However, chimpanzees exhibit quicker, broader eye movements and shorter face fixations than humans.

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Area of Science:

  • Comparative psychology
  • Primate behavior
  • Cognitive neuroscience

Background:

  • Limited understanding of chimpanzee visual attention and eye movements.
  • Potential insights for comparative cognition studies.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To conduct the first examination of eye tracking in chimpanzees.
  • To compare chimpanzee and human visual scanning patterns of naturalistic images.

Main Methods:

  • Recorded eye movements of chimpanzees and humans viewing images of animals and humans.
  • Compared fixation durations and locations between species.

Main Results:

  • Both species fixated longer on animal figures and face regions.
  • Faces were recognized instantly by both species.

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Last Updated: Jun 24, 2026

Eye Tracking During Visually Situated Language Comprehension: Flexibility and Limitations in Uncovering Visual Context Effects
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Exploring Infant Sensitivity to Visual Language using Eye Tracking and the Preferential Looking Paradigm
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  • Chimpanzees showed faster, broader eye movements and shorter face fixation durations than humans.

    • Conclusions:

    • Chimpanzees and humans share common visual strategies when observing images.
    • Notable differences exist in their eye movement patterns, particularly in fixation speed and breadth.