Paper Summary:

This paper examines the nature of temporal memory, visual perception, and attention shifts through eye movement prove intriguing subject matter. The paper looks into two particular experimental designs used to investigate these issues. The first investigates how eye movement and visual short-term memory are related to pedestrian traffic behavior. The second experimental design tests the correlation between television viewing and the ability to read stereograms. Both television viewing and comprehension of stereograms require a long period of looking at once spot and taking in visual information, though one involves absorption of moving information and the other involves absorption of still information. The paper explains that both designs observe eyeball movement and visual focus in terms of competency tasks and that one involves the real-life scenario of pedestrian behavior, while the other involves the ability to detect hidden geometric patterns using visual focus. The paper concludes that the first experiment is an important test to implement because pedestrian traffic fatalities prove to be a dominant and historical problem, while the second test is interesting because the ability to glimpse the hidden images in stereograms is still an unsolved mystery.

Outline:
Introduction
Experimental Design
Non-Experimental/Correlational Design
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"The problem is how to test the hypotheses in an ethical fashion. Restricting the potential eye movement and scope of vision of pedestrians as they walk through real-life traffic would be very ethically wrong. Instead, a simulation needs to be developed whereby the safety of subjects is not compromised. In this case, the simulation can come either via reconstruction of a traffic scenario (difficult to enact) or in terms of a computer simulation (which poses no safety risk). A number of computer games already exist in which traffic and pedestrian behavior are a major part of the game. An obvious example is Grand Theft Auto, though as this game is controversial (violence, bad language) it may not be appropriate. The game "City Life" would be better, as it is visually very realistic and easy to maneuver. Other Sims games may be also appropriate and are readily available. However, in order to eliminate the chance of video prowess of being an extraneous variable, the game should be very simple and easy for computer game "beginners" to maneuver. A pedestrian street version of city life, or a fairly "clean" part of Grand Theft Auto, may be appropriate. The scene selection is one whereby intersecting traffic is a consideration and the A to B point of pedestrian travel is a fairly straight, easy-to-monitor course."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Brockmole, J.R. and Irwin, D.E. (2005). Eye Movements and the Integration of Visual Memory and Visual Perception. Perception and Psychophysics, 67, 3, 495-512.
• Carlson-Radvansky, L.A. and Irwin, D.E. (1995). Memory for Structural Information Across Eye Movements. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 21, 6, 1441-1458.
• Tatler, B.W., Gilchrist, I.D. and Land, M.F. (2005). Visual Memory for Objects in Natural Scenes: From Fixations to Object Files. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 58A, 5, 910-960.

Visitors who viewed this Comparison Essay also liked these:

• Essay # 72641 : "Eye Movements And Visual Attention"
• Research Paper # 72169 : "Memory and Academic Achievement"
• Term Paper # 149307 : "Semantic Memory and Language Production"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: