At some time during every fixation a decision is made to move the eyes, directing them to a new location in the stimulus array. To understand the eye movement control processes, three general hypotheses concerning the cognitive basis for deciding to move the eyes were investigated: the saccade (movement) initiation time is determined only on the…

A new theory linking information extraction patterns to the visual perception of direction and extent is presented. Seven demonstration experiments employ predictions from efferent considerations to create a new set of illusions of direction and extent and to demonstrate new predictable variations in the magnitude of some classical illusion…

The ability of young infants between the ages of 8 and 17 weeks to perceive outline shapes was investigated in nine experiments using an habituation paradigm. (JMB)

This research project assessed: (1) the practicality of recording heart rate in 18-month-old infants as they watched events filmed on color, silent motion picture films; and (2) the validity and sensitivity of heart rate change as an index of differential attention arousal elicited by changes within and between complex visual events. The research…

A study investigated at what point during eye fixations visual information is used in furthering the reading process. The study identified two aspects of information processing: registration, in which a light pattern on the retina triggers a pattern of neural activity in the visula cortex; and utilization, in which the registered pattern has an…

The processing of mental structures in perception appears to be serial, in that viewers can fill in missing parts from an impoverished stimulus following a top down process. To investigate the effects of unfamiliarity, complexity, and legibility on object and layout perception of unfamiliar stimuli, ten subjects were shown one of four ribbon…

Two experiments were conducted to assess whether the distribution of fixation times might be related to the prevailing cognitive activity involved with two different tasks, i.e., driving and observing colored fields. The results suggest that the distribution of fixation times can be associated with the prevailing cognitive activity while viewing.…

Six-month-old African-American infants' expectation of a visual stimulus was related to developmental measures. Reaction time was related to eye fixation in tests that measured visual recognition memory (VRM) and presented objects of different shapes to the infant. Reaction time and infants' stimulus expectation predicted VRM novelty preference.…

Four experiments show that observers can selectively attend to one of two stationary superimposed pictures. Selective recognition occurred with large displays in which observers were free to make eye movements during a 3-sec exposure and with small displays in which observers were instructed to fixate steadily on a point. (Author/RD)

Investigates the dominance of global versus local visual properties in four-month-old infants as a function of individual differences in fixation duration. Suggests that long-looking infants process visual information more slowly than short-looking infants, and there may be qualitative differences in the manner in which the two groups of infants…

The research reviewed in this paper concerns the visual perceptual processes occurring as people are engaged in the act of reading. The issues that are examined include the control of eye movements, perception during a fixation, and perception across successive fixations. Consideration also is given to problems related to obtaining information…

Reviews studies of eye movements in reading and other information processing skills such as picture viewing, visual search, and problem solving. (BD)

To investigate the relationship between the location of the words being read and the location of the eyes in the text, three experiments were conducted using the Disappearing Text Technique with college students. This was done by occasionally removing the text during reading and having the reader report the last word that had been read.…

While most present research suggests that visual information acquired from peripheral visual areas on one fixation during reading facilitates the identification of words available on the next fixation, some researchers hold with the "word unit hypothesis," which suggests that information gained peripherally from a word on one fixation…