The Application of Eye Movement Registration Systems in the Assessment of Visuospatial Memory in Preschool Children

Abstract

Background. Neuropsychological diagnostics of visual perception is of great importance in childhood, as it is the basis for the formation of basic writing and reading skills. The integration of objective methods with the classical ones is a wide-spread trend, allowing to detect signs of disorders at early stages. Objective. This study is aimed at identifying the relationship between oculomotor patterns in preschool children using the Pupil Invisible eye tracker and their performance on nonverbal visual tasks related to working memory. Study Participants. The study involved preschool children from a preschool educational institution in Moscow (N = 53, 25 girls 6.760,32 years old and 28 boys 6.740,31 years old). Results. Significant differences were found in the number of fixations between children who showed high and average results in memorizing the spatial location of stimuli (p < 0.01). The results were also compared with the results of tests on cognitive flexibility, nonverbal intelligence, and fine motor skills, allowing for a clearer separation of visual working memory functions from other control processes. The level of cognitive flexibility, nonverbal intelligence, and fine motor skills did not affect these differences. The number of fixations is related to the Location scale (Rh = 0.35, p < 0.01). Oculomotor performance decreased from level one to level four (0.001 < p < 0.01) per stimulus. Conclusions. The use of eye movement recording systems in conjunction with the assessment of nonverbal visual working memory has been successfully tested, reflecting the promising use of modern technologies in the study of cognitive processes. Participants demonstrating high levels of spatial memory show more fixations while viewing an image. Overall attentional focus increased with increasing task difficulty. Oculomotor responses may play an additional role in the success of memorizing visual information, reflecting the modulation processes of visual working memory.

Keywords

• eye-tracking
• fixations
• saccades
• visual-spatial memory
• nonverbal working memory