Are Children More Unique and Exploratory than Adults? A Developmental Eye Tracking Study
Year: 2025
Type: other
Abstract: This project investigates differences in gaze behavior between adults, older children (8-10), and younger children (4-6) as they view 30 naturalistic scenes. Prior literature often characterizes children as more unique in their visual exploration patterns than adults, but it remains unclear whether children show more repetitive (“sticky”) or more exploratory behavior. The present study aims to clarify these questions by examining both between-group differences and within-group variability in gaze patterns. We expect that younger children will display greater within-group uniqueness compared to adults and older children, and that their collective gaze behavior will differ more from the older age groups. The current pre-registration will look specifically at how variability in gaze changes over time (within the 5-second time window that scenes are viewed) and across repetitions. To characterize how gaze behavior unfolds over time, gaze patterns will be divided into five consecutive one-second intervals. Looking specifically at a subset of 5 images that each repeat 5 times, we will analyze how gaze behavior changes across repetitions. Together, these analyses will provide a comprehensive account of age-related differences in gaze uniqueness, temporal dynamics, and repetition-related changes in visual exploration.
Source: Open Science Framework
Language: English
Subfield: Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7117417197