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Head and eye movements affect object processing in 4‐month‐old infants more than an artificial orientation cue
Author(s) -
Wahl Sebastian,
Michel Christine,
Pauen Sabina,
Hoehl Stefanie
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
british journal of developmental psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.062
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 2044-835X
pISSN - 0261-510X
DOI - 10.1111/bjdp.12001
Subject(s) - psychology , gaze , cued speech , eye movement , orientation (vector space) , eye tracking , affect (linguistics) , cognitive psychology , object permanence , object (grammar) , cognition , visual attention , communication , developmental psychology , audiology , computer vision , artificial intelligence , cognitive development , neuroscience , computer science , medicine , geometry , mathematics , psychoanalysis
This study investigates the effects of attention‐guiding stimuli on 4‐month‐old infants' object processing. In the human head condition, infants saw a person turning her head and eye gaze towards or away from objects. When presented with the objects again, infants showed increased attention in terms of longer looking time measured by eye tracking and an increased N c amplitude measured by event‐related potentials ( ERP ) for the previously uncued objects versus the cued objects. This suggests that the uncued objects were previously processed less effectively and appeared more novel to the infants. In a second condition, a car instead of a human head turned towards or away from objects. Eye‐tracking results did not reveal any significant difference in infants' looking time. ERP s indicated only a marginally significant effect in late slow‐wave activity associated with memory encoding for the uncued objects. We conclude that human head orientation and gaze direction affect infants' object‐directed attention, whereas movement and orientation of a car have only limited influence on infants' object processing.