title: Time course of visual attention in infant categorization of cats versus dogs: evidence for a head bias as revealed through eye tracking.
abstract: Previous looking time studies have shown that infants use the heads of cat and dog images to form category representations for these animal classes. The present research used an eye-tracking procedure to determine the time course of attention to the head and whether it reflects a preexisting bias or online learning. Six- to 7-month-olds were familiarized with cats or dogs in upright or inverted orientations and then tested with a novel cat and novel dog in the same orientation. In the upright orientation, infants fixated head over body throughout familiarization; with inversion, no head preference was observed. These findings suggest that infant reliance on the head to categorize cats versus dogs results from a bias that pushes attention to the head.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA. pquinn@udel.edu
authors.forename: Paul C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Quinn
authors.forename: Matthew M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Doran
authors.forename: Jason E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Reiss
authors.forename: James E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Hoffman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001245:Association Learning; D001288:Attention; D002415:Cats; D003210:Concept Formation; D004285:Dogs; D005133:Eye Movements; D005403:Fixation, Ocular; D006257:Head; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D009949:Orientation; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D002666:Psychology, Child