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Published on: November 14, 2018
Eye tracking infants: investigating the role of attention during learning on recognition memory
1Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom.
Insights
Infant attention focuses on objects and people, not backgrounds, during learning. Limited recognition memory suggests early memory changes aren't due to attention focus shifts.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Development
- Infant Psychology
- Visual Attention
Background:
- Understanding age-related changes in infant memory is crucial for developmental psychology.
- Previous research suggests shifts in attentional focus may impact memory encoding.
- Infant attention patterns during learning events require further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate age-related differences in infant attentional focus during a learning event.
- To examine infant recognition memory for different event features (person, object, background).
- To determine if attentional focus during encoding influences early memory development.
Main Methods:
- Utilized eye-tracking technology to record visual attention in 6- and 9-month-old infants.
- Infants watched a video of an adult demonstrating actions with an object.
- Recognition memory was assessed using the Visual Paired Comparison procedure.
Main Results:
- Infants at both ages primarily focused attention on the person and object, attending to the background only 12% of the time.
- Despite focused attention on central features, infants demonstrated limited recognition memory for individual event components.
- No significant age-related differences in attentional focus were observed between 6- and 9-month-olds.
Conclusions:
- Infant attentional focus during learning is consistently directed towards salient features like people and objects.
- Limited recognition memory in infants may not stem from age-related changes in attentional focus during encoding.
- Findings challenge the hypothesis that attentional shifts solely explain early developmental changes in memory performance.
Abstract:
In the present study, eye tracker methodology was used to explore whether there were age-related changes in the focus of infant attention during a learning event and subsequent recognition memory for event features. Six- and 9-month old infants watched a video of an adult demonstrating a sequence of actions with an object while visual attention was recorded using an eye tracker. At both ages, attention was focused primarily on the object and person, with the background attended to for approximately 12% of their viewing time. Recognition memory for the person, object and background from the video was assessed immediately using a Visual Paired Comparison procedure. Despite focusing on the central features while watching the target video, infants showed only limited evidence of recognition memory for the individual components of the event. Taken together, these findings suggest that the early age-related changes in memory performance seen in the literature may not be the result of age-related changes in attentional focus during encoding.
