Analysis of attention through eye movements parameters in intradimensional differential reinforcement training and generalization tests

• Grant number: 14/13483-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date until: October 01, 2014
• End date until: October 31, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Experimental Psychology
• Agreement: Coordination of Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES)
• Principal Investigator: Gerson Aparecido Yukio Tomanari
• Grantee: Peter Endemann
• Host Institution: Instituto de Psicologia (IP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 14/50909-8 - INCT 2014: Behavior, Cognition and Teaching (INCT-ECCE): relational learning and symbolic functioning, AP.TEM

Abstract

Attention was defined as synonymous with stimulus control and measured primarily by the effective responses frequency in different test conditions. The generalization tests were developed and suggested as the most important measure of stimulus control and behavioral processes related to attention. Among the protocols of training, the intradimensional differential reinforcement (TRD-ID) has provided precise control for specific dimensions of the stimuli. The emergence of the concept of observing response (OR) and the distinction between the functional aspects of OR and effective response allowed the use of new measures of control. Advances in the empirical investigation of OR and analysis of new measures were possible with the record of eye fixations. However, studies have shown that parameters of ocular fixation undergo changes due to intervening variables such as exposure time, familiarity to stimuli and so on. Study on operant control of eye movements has demonstrated differentiation in parameters such as amplitude, peak velocity, and reaction time due to reinforcement contingencies. This project is to evaluate these parameters as measures of attention control. Through a TRD-ID with different numbers of trials, the sensitivity of the parameters to intervening variables will be evaluated. After training, the parameters will be assessed in generalization tests in order to identify which parameters can better describe the extent of attention control, allowing their use as reliable measurements in different conditions of training and tests. (AU)