Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.Aug 15 2020
A new study from the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology describes how existing infrared technology can be adapted to measure recognition memory and other cognitive outcomes in infants.
The study demonstrated that the eye tracking technology and computer-controlled stimulus presentation can be successfully used to automate assessments of infant looking behaviors to measure specific cognitive functions. The outcomes were similar to those found in previous studies using nonautomated techniques. The results also support the hypothesis that infants have side and stimulus preferences that affect their performance on specific cognitive outcomes.
The study "Characterization of performance on an automated visual recognition memory task in 7.5-month-old infants" was published in Neurotoxicology and Teratology.
"Traditionally, eye-tracking studies require you to keep your head still and avoid any movement so that the eye tracker can work properly," said Andrea Aguiar, a research assistant professor of comparative biosciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "This is not a feasible method when you study infants. Additionally, we needed an automated approach that was not subjected to individual examiners' biases."
Typically, behavior studies on infants are carried out in the presence of trained examiners who need to decide where the babies are looking. Unfortunately, this approach is problematic because there is a lot of variation across examiners. Using the infrared eye tracker eliminates that variation.