The influence of familiarity on explicit eye gaze judgement in preschoolers

Author(s)
Christine Michel, Stefanie Hoehl, Tricia Striano
Abstract

The current study explores the influence of familiarity on explicit eye gaze judgement in preschoolers. We introduce reaction times for touches as a new measure for children studies. Children aged four–six years saw either their caregiver's face or a stranger's face looking at an object or away from it. Children were asked to touch the face that was looking at the object and reaction times to correct touches were measured. Children reacted faster to strangers' faces than to their caregivers' faces. This may indicate that preschoolers used the face of a stranger more effectively as a source of information about the environment and for this reason detected the eye gaze-object relationship faster. In addition, children's reactions were faster in a nonsocial shape-matching task than in the social eye gaze-judgement task. The applied paradigm is appropriate to further investigate the development and influencing factors of explicit eye gaze judgements in preschoolers.

Organisation(s)
External organisation(s)
Scientific Software Center, City University of New York
Journal
European Journal of Developmental Psychology
Volume
11
Pages
344-355
No. of pages
12
ISSN
1740-5629
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/17405629.2013.832670
Publication date
05-2014
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
501005 Developmental psychology
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Developmental and Educational Psychology, Social Psychology
Portal url
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/the-influence-of-familiarity-on-explicit-eye-gaze-judgement-in-preschoolers(a1a9d1e7-4129-4f64-82fb-4b3cdc793bcd).html