Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 29, 2026
Exploring Infant Sensitivity to Visual Language using Eye Tracking and the Preferential Looking Paradigm
Published on: May 15, 2019
Automatic Detection of Attention Shifts in Infancy: Eye Tracking in the Fixation Shift Paradigm
Louisa Kulke1, Janette Atkinson1,2, Oliver Braddick2
1Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, Faculty of Brain Sciences, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
Insights
Infants over 4 months old show faster attention shifts than younger infants. Remote eye-tracking precisely measures these attention shifts, aiding early detection of developmental abnormalities.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Infant Vision
Background:
- Understanding attentional development in infancy is crucial for identifying early developmental trajectories.
- Traditional behavioral observation methods for assessing infant attention have limitations in precision and efficiency.
Purpose of the Study:
- To measure changes in attentional switching in infants aged 1 to 9 months.
- To evaluate the efficacy of remote eye-tracking within the Fixation Shift Paradigm for assessing infant attention.
Main Methods:
- Utilized remote eye-tracking (Tobii X120) to record saccadic latencies, reflecting fixation shifts.
- Employed the Fixation Shift Paradigm, comparing competition and non-competition conditions for visual target acquisition.
- Recruited 67 typically developing infants for the study.
Main Results:
- A significant decrease in saccadic latencies was observed in infants older than 4 months compared to younger infants.
- The difference in fixation shift times between competition and non-competition conditions diminished with age.
- Reduced saccadic latencies during the testing session indicated a learning effect.
Conclusions:
- Remote eye-tracking with the Fixation Shift Paradigm offers enhanced temporal and spatial accuracy over direct observation.
- This non-invasive method is infant-friendly, efficient, and suitable for detecting early attentional abnormalities in clinical populations.
Abstract:
This study measured changes in switches of attention between 1 and 9 months of age in 67 typically developing infants. Remote eye-tracking (Tobii X120) was used to measure saccadic latencies, related to switches of fixation, as a measure of shifts of attention, from a central stimulus to a peripheral visual target, measured in the Fixation Shift Paradigm. Fixation shifts occur later if the central fixation stimulus stays visible when the peripheral target appears (competition condition), than if the central stimulus disappears as the peripheral target appears (non-competition condition). This difference decreases with age. Our results show significantly faster disengagement in infants over 4 months than in the younger group, and provide more precise measures of fixation shifts, than behavioural observation with the same paradigm. Reduced saccadic latencies in the course of a test session indicate a novel learning effect. The Fixation Shift Paradigm combined with remote eye-tracking measures showed improved temporal and spatial accuracy compared to direct observation by a trained observer, and allowed an increased number of trials in a short testing time. This makes it an infant-friendly non-invasive procedure, involving minimal observational training, suitable for use in future studies of clinical populations to detect early attentional abnormalities in the first few months of life.
