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Walking direction triggers visuo-spatial orienting in 6-month-old infants and adults: An eye tracking study
Lara Bardi1, Elisa Di Giorgio2, Marco Lunghi3
1Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Belgium; Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Italy.
Insights
Six-month-old infants use biological motion, like a walking human display, to direct their visual attention. This ability, crucial for spatial attention development, is present in upright but not inverted displays.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Visual Perception
Background:
- Visuo-spatial attention guides visual processing and is fundamental for cognitive development.
- Biological motion perception, the ability to recognize animate movement, emerges early in human development.
- Understanding how early perceptual cues influence attentional development is crucial for developmental science.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if the walking direction of a biological motion point-light display can trigger visuo-spatial attention in 6-month-old infants.
- To compare attentional cueing effects between infants and adults using biological motion stimuli.
- To determine the role of stimulus orientation (upright vs. inverted) in biological motion cueing.
Main Methods:
- Employed a cueing paradigm with eye movement recording in a free viewing condition.
- Participants (6-month-old infants and adults) viewed central point-light displays of walking humans.
- Manipulated stimulus orientation (upright/inverted) and facing direction (left/right) of the walker.
Main Results:
- Infants and adults showed shorter saccade latencies to targets congruent with the walker's facing direction.
- This cueing effect was observed only for upright biological motion, not inverted displays.
- Adults, but not infants, were cued by a non-biological rolling circle, suggesting a developmental priority for biological motion.
Conclusions:
- Biological motion serves as a potent cue for visuo-spatial attention in human infants.
- The ability to use biological motion for spatial cueing develops and relies on upright configuration.
- Biological motion perception holds a developmental priority in guiding spatial attention compared to non-biological motion.
Abstract:
The present study investigates whether the walking direction of a biological motion point-light display can trigger visuo-spatial attention in 6-month-old infants. A cueing paradigm and the recording of eye movements in a free viewing condition were employed. A control group of adults took part in the experiment. Participants were presented with a central point-light display depicting a walking human, followed by a single peripheral target. In experiment 1, the central biological motion stimulus depicting a walking human could be upright or upside-down and was facing either left or right. Results revealed that the latency of saccades toward the peripheral target was modulated by the congruency between the facing direction of the cue and the position of the target. In infants, as well as in adults, saccade latencies were shorter when the target appeared in the position signalled by the facing direction of the point-light walker (congruent trials) than when the target appeared in the contralateral position (incongruent trials). This cueing effect was present only when the biological motion cue was presented in the upright condition and not when the display was inverted. In experiment 2, a rolling point-light circle with unambiguous direction was adopted. Here, adults were influenced by the direction of the central cue. However no effect of congruency was found in infants. This result suggests that biological motion has a priority as a cue for spatial attention during development.
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