The setup consisted of a 17-inch monitor with an integrated infrared eye-tracking system (Tobii 1750, Tobii Corporation, Sweden). The eye-tracker measured gaze position of each eye separately using cornea reflection at 50 Hz. The experiments were conducted in a quiet room at ambient light conditions, and the monitor was positioned against a uniform background. Each child sat in a comfortable chair, at approximately 60 cm distance of the monitor to ensure efficient tracking of the eyes. The youngest children (4∼12 months old) sat on a parent or investigator's lap. The system's latency was ±30 ms and it compensated free head movements, allowing a visual angle toward the monitor of 30 × 24 degrees (1280 × 1024 pixels). In general, tracking of the eyes is influenced by tracking distance, pupil diameter and wearing glasses. First, a standardized 5-point calibration procedure of both eyes was performed. Next, one sequence of approximately 15 minutes was shown with the objective to present randomly visual stimuli. Each sequence contained smiley-like stimuli to test basic eye movements, such as saccades and pursuit, to exclude children with ocular motor apraxia. In addition, stimuli were shown to test visual orienting behavior and higher order visual processing functions, such as form and motion coherence, and competitive and non-competitive dots. Two different sequences were used for this study, both consisting of the same visual stimuli but presented in a different order.
All sequences shown to the 213 children included the form stimulus. Of these 213 sequences, 178 also included the motion stimulus. The stimuli contained a specific area with a higher salience, defined as the target area, which was presented in one of the quadrants of the monitor. The form stimulus consisted of an array of randomly orientated short white lines (0.2 × 0.6 degree, density 4.3 lines/degree
2) on a black background. In the target area, all the lines were orientated coherently to form a curved pattern (
Fig. 1A). The motion stimulus consisted of white dots (diameter 0.25 degree, density 2.6 dots/degree
2) that expanded over a black background, starting at the center of the target area and moving to the borders of the monitor (
Fig. 1B). This expansion had a velocity of 11.8 degrees/s and each dot had a limited life time of 0.4 seconds. At the viewing distance of 60 cm, the light intensity of the form and motion stimulus was 16 and 9 lux, respectively. Both stimuli were repeated four times during the sequence (each time with the target area in another corner), and were shown for four seconds.
For the test-retest analysis, both sequences were presented to one child with a 10-minute break. For all 35 children within the subgroup, both shown sequences included the form stimulus. For 17 children within the subgroup, both sequences included the motion stimulus. The total testing time for children who participated in one sequence was 15 minutes. The total testing time for children who participated in test-retest analysis was approximately 40 minutes. All measurements were stored on the hard disk and analyzed manually off-line using self-written Matlab programs (Mathworks Inc., Natick, MA).