Eye tracking studies of normative and atypical development
Canan Karatekin
Karatekin, C. (2007). Eye tracking studies of normative and atypical development. Developmental Review, 27, 283–348.
Intro
Our pupils constantly dilate in response to cognitive and emotional stimuli. We use eye tracking to explain cognitive processes and examine socio-emotional processes.
Eye tracking measures
Saccades: ballistic eye movements that bring objects into vision. It is the rapid movement of the eye between fixation points. External saccadess – Participants look at visual stimulus as soon as it appears. Internal saccades – antisaccades (saccades not on a stimulus), predictive saccades, and memory-guided saccades.
Pursuit: these are smooth, non-ballistic movements that match gaze velocity with target velocity to keep an object within vision. It’s used to track small objects that move slowly. Here participants track a small, slow stimulus.
Eye movements during scene/face perception: useful for examining information processing in more natural contexts. People look at informative regions when shown a picture of a scene or face. Researchers study the location, duration and sequencing of fixations to infer what participants are paying attention to.
Pupillary dilations: Pupils dilate according to the amount of light, and functioning of cognitive resources. Pupils dilate in either tonic manner (stress, anxiety, arousal) or phasic (onset of stimuli). Pupils dilate when working memory has high load. Childhood and young adulthood, there is a decrease in resting pupillary diameter.
Eye tracking in children and adolescents: Normative development
Both pro and antisaccades (saccades made to a location opposite from the visual stimulus) have been measured in children and adolescents. Maturing working memory capacity improves the ability to execute anitsaccades. A lot of studies are mentioned comparing age groups and pro and antisaccades execution.
Again, numerous studies are mentioned on the difference between pursuit of adults and children. In general, children’s values in velocity and position varied more than adults.
With eye movements during scene/face perception, the author found that by age 8-10, the ability to incidentally learn a sequence in an image is mature. But the ability to intentionally learn a sequence develops through adolescence.
In term of pupillary dilation, it was found that 10 year olds use the same resources as adults to complete simple tasks of working memory and sustained attention.
Eye tracking in children and adolescents: Atypical development
Eye tracking has revealed three disorders:
Schizophrenia – people with this disorder are impaired on pursuit measures. They also have lower levels of visual attention.
Pervasive Developmental Disorder – (autism and down syndrome) The dynamics in saccades in this group are normal, pursuit is abnormal, and antisaccade errors are frequent.
ADHD – This group has difficulty with executive functions. They make more premature saccades and more errors on antisaccades tasks. This reflects difficulties in inhibition.
Limitations of eye tracking as a tool
– We can’t generalize about the oculomotor system and its relation to other motor systems.
-In the lab, eye movements may be different than in the real world.
-It’s hard to make inferences about specific brain regions because pursuit and prosaccades are mediated by a bunch of neural networks.
-You can’t assume a task is being performed the same way cognitively across age or clinical groups.
Strengths and potentials of eye tracking as a tool
-Eye tracking is an alternative way in studying developement.
-It’s non-invasive; young kids can tolerate it.
-The fundamentals are highly researched.
-It can tap into neural bases of different types of eye movements.
-Eye tracking can examine neural, cognitive, social and emotional processes.
-It can be used in research of typical and atypical populations.
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Studying computer game learning experience through eye tracking
Serkan Alkan and Kursat Cagiltay
Alkan, S. & Cagiltay, K. (2007). Studying computer game learning experience through eye tracking. British Journal of Educational Technology, 38(3), 538–542. DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2007.00721.x
This study aimed to explore how novices learn to play a computer game. It looked at the strategies they use, how their attention changes throughout the game, and any usability issues. 15 undergraduate college students participated in this study that used eye tracking and interviews. The eye movement data contained saccades and fixations. The researchers found that the students used a trial and error strategy to learn the game. They paid no attention to instructions even though they all clicked on the instruction buttons. During the levels, the number of fixations were higher than on the menu screen. Fixations among levels of varying difficulty varied depending on the participant.
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Using Eye-tracking In a Multimedia Simulation to Predict Learning: Visual Transitions and Individual Differences
O’Keefe et al. (2011). Predicting Learning from Visual Transition. Paper to be presented at AERA 2011.
This study looked at how learners interact with an exploratory model and associated graph. They model in question provided interaction on a chemistry topic, gas laws. Eye tracking measured visual attention, on variations of the simulation (icons vs. symbols). The aims of the study were to find the most optimal visual pattern, and to see if attention patterns vary between learners with different characteristics (such as spatial ability). Eye tracking allowed for direct monitoring of the participants’ visual attention.
Twenty-seven high school students participated in a questionnaire and pre test for prior knowledge, and the eye tracking itself. Results showed that the more an individual moved their fixations from the control sliders in the sim to the graph, the better they performed on the post-test. High fixation rates on areas of interest correlated with high spatial rotation ability. The researchers concluded that more visual scaffolding was needed to help students make connections between the model and the graph.
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Article of choice:
Flow experiences of children in an interactive social game environment
Yavuz Inal
This study focused on the flow experience of thirty-three elementary school children playing both educational and non-educational games. The aims of the study were to see which factors of a game influenced flow experience, the differences in these factors between boys and girls, if group play encouraged flow, and which genres facilitated flow. The study was conducted by interviews and observations. The results showed that challenge, feedback, and complexity of the games contributed the most to flow experience (Cagiltay, 2007). Frame story only facilitated a flow experience in girls, however, and both boys and girls experienced flow more often in groups than individually (Cagiltay, 2007). Boys experienced flow more often due to challenge and complexity of the games.
Inal, Y. and Cagiltay, K. (2007), Flow experiences of children in an interactive social game environment. British Journal of Educational Technology, 38: 455–464.
Katya's Educational Technology Experience 