The article co-authored by Sabrina Thurman, assistant professor of psychology, appeared in the Journal of Motor Learning and Development.
Sabrina Thurman, assistant professor of psychology, recently co-authored a peer-reviewed empirical article, “Directing gaze on a scene prior to reaching for an object: Changes over the first year of life,” in the Journal of Motor Learning and Development.
The study used eye-tracking technology to investigate developmental differences in how infants and adults direct their gaze on a three-dimensional scene prior to reaching. Results showed that adults’ visual fixations were predominantly focused on the object to reach. Infants as young as 5 months old sustained their gaze on an object on which they would later be able to act. Between 5 and 11 months of age, infants increased their amount of time looking at the goal object.
These findings are a product of an ongoing collaboration with Daniela Corbetta at the University of Tennessee Knoxville focused on developmental changes in visual attention during reaching in infancy.