TY - BOOK

T1 - Infant information processing across the visual field

T2 - from visual perception to social cognition

AU - Capparini, Chiara

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - Detecting information from our rich visual environment is fundamental to guideour attention and to act in the surrounding space. Thus far, infant visualinformation processing has been primarily studied presenting images withinlimited visual areas on standard computer displays. This is a simplification of amuch richer visual environment in which information derives from a wide spaceincluding more peripheral locations. Evidence shows that infants’ peripheralvision is developing during the first postnatal year of life. Nevertheless, moststudies used flashing lights and little is known about social and non-socialinformation processing at high eccentricities. The aim of this thesis was tounderstand how low- and high-level visual information is processed across thedeveloping visual field and how it then translates into social behaviour and morenaturalistic environments. This aim was achieved by exploring infants’sensitivities to different visual information - such as Gabor patches, face-likestimuli and faces expressing emotions - across a wide visual field extending tomid-peripheral locations (up to 60° eccentricity) and by investigating socialbehaviour during virtual interactions. In Chapter 1, the literature on infantinformation processing ranging from visual perception to social cognition waspresented and the objectives of the thesis were described. In Chapter 2, theextent of the peripheral visual field in response to basic low-level visual stimuliwas measured in 9-month-old infants and adults. In Chapter 3, the influence ofstimulus content on peripheral information detection was investigated bypresenting 9-month-old infants with face-like targets across the visual field. InChapter 4, a tool for gaze and head tracking beyond standard screen sizes wasdescribed. In Chapter 5, attention-getting and attention-holding mechanismstowards different facial emotional expressions appearing at the edge of thedeveloping visual field were investigated in 9-month-olds. In Chapter 6, thegaze following skills of 11- to 12-month-old infants during virtual socialinteractions were explored. Overall, the results of these studies showed thatlow- and high-level visual content affects visual field sensitivities and attention.The implications of the results for visual information processing were presentedin Chapter 7.

AB - Detecting information from our rich visual environment is fundamental to guideour attention and to act in the surrounding space. Thus far, infant visualinformation processing has been primarily studied presenting images withinlimited visual areas on standard computer displays. This is a simplification of amuch richer visual environment in which information derives from a wide spaceincluding more peripheral locations. Evidence shows that infants’ peripheralvision is developing during the first postnatal year of life. Nevertheless, moststudies used flashing lights and little is known about social and non-socialinformation processing at high eccentricities. The aim of this thesis was tounderstand how low- and high-level visual information is processed across thedeveloping visual field and how it then translates into social behaviour and morenaturalistic environments. This aim was achieved by exploring infants’sensitivities to different visual information - such as Gabor patches, face-likestimuli and faces expressing emotions - across a wide visual field extending tomid-peripheral locations (up to 60° eccentricity) and by investigating socialbehaviour during virtual interactions. In Chapter 1, the literature on infantinformation processing ranging from visual perception to social cognition waspresented and the objectives of the thesis were described. In Chapter 2, theextent of the peripheral visual field in response to basic low-level visual stimuliwas measured in 9-month-old infants and adults. In Chapter 3, the influence ofstimulus content on peripheral information detection was investigated bypresenting 9-month-old infants with face-like targets across the visual field. InChapter 4, a tool for gaze and head tracking beyond standard screen sizes wasdescribed. In Chapter 5, attention-getting and attention-holding mechanismstowards different facial emotional expressions appearing at the edge of thedeveloping visual field were investigated in 9-month-olds. In Chapter 6, thegaze following skills of 11- to 12-month-old infants during virtual socialinteractions were explored. Overall, the results of these studies showed thatlow- and high-level visual content affects visual field sensitivities and attention.The implications of the results for visual information processing were presentedin Chapter 7.

U2 - 10.17635/lancaster/thesis/1833

DO - 10.17635/lancaster/thesis/1833

M3 - Doctoral Thesis

PB - Lancaster University

ER -