Research Article
Empty Looks or Paying Attention? Exploring Infants' Visual Behavior during Encoding of an Elicited Imitation Task
Trine Sonne,
Osman S. Kingo,
Peter Krøjgaard,
Corresponding Author
Trine Sonne
Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Aarhus University
Correspondence should be sent to Trine Sonne, Center on Autobiographical Memory Research, Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Aarhus University, Bartholins Allé 9, 1350-424, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark. E-mail: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorOsman S. Kingo
Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Aarhus University
Search for more papers by this authorPeter Krøjgaard
Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Aarhus University
Search for more papers by this authorTrine Sonne,
Osman S. Kingo,
Peter Krøjgaard,
Corresponding Author
Trine Sonne
Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Aarhus University
Correspondence should be sent to Trine Sonne, Center on Autobiographical Memory Research, Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Aarhus University, Bartholins Allé 9, 1350-424, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark. E-mail: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorOsman S. Kingo
Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Aarhus University
Search for more papers by this authorPeter Krøjgaard
Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Aarhus University
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
Recently, there has been an increased interest in the relationship between looking time during encoding and subsequent memory performance in imitation tasks. Hitherto, the results have been inconclusive: one line of research supporting the link between looking time and performance and another line finding no relation. The existing studies may, however, have been restricted by using small samples, limited looking time measures, and short retention intervals. We here examined the relationship between the encoding process by means of looking time as well as pupil dilation (by means of eye-tracking technology) in sixty-eight 20-month-old infants participating in an elicited imitation task and their subsequent memory performance (at an encoding test and at a 2-week delayed recall test). Additional twenty-two infants provided baseline measures. Simple looking time (assessed as fixation duration) did not correlate consistently with subsequent memory measures. In some cases, however, looking time correlated negatively with imitation scores. In contrast, positive correlations were found between pupil dilation and some of the memory measures, suggesting that pupil dilation may be a more sensitive tool compared to looking time measures.
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