A procedural theory of eye movements in doing arithmetic

Suppes, Patrick; Cohen, Michael S.; Laddaga, Robert; Anliker, James; Floyd, Robert W.

doi:10.1016/0022-2496(83)90033-0

Cited by 57 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Examples of such tasks, which have been studied in the past, include visual search through arrays of characters (Hooge & Erkelens, 1996; 1999); visuomotor tasks requiring predictable actions, such as tapping a series of rods (Epelboim et al, 1995), or manipulating sets of virtual blocks (Hayhoe et al, 1998); tasks requiring navigating through the environment (Pelz & Canosa, 2001; Turano et al, 2003); reading (McConkie et al, 1988; Schnitzer & Kowler, 2006); or problem solving (Suppes et al, 1983; Epelboim & Suppes, 2001). In these tasks the sequential selection of saccadic targets may produce the patterns of attentional enhancement much like those we observed here during sequences of saccades to selected targets.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Visual memory during pauses between successive saccades

et al. 2008

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Selective attention is closely linked to eye movements. Prior to a saccade, attention shifts to the saccadic goal at the expense of surrounding locations. Such a constricted attentional field, while useful to ensure accurate saccades, constrains the spatial range of high-quality perceptual analysis. The present study showed that the attention could be allocated to locations other than the saccadic goal without disrupting the ongoing pattern of saccades. Saccades were made sequentially along a color-cued path. Attention was assessed by a visual memory task presented during a random pause between successive saccades. Saccadic planning had several effects on memory: (1) fewer letters were remembered during intersaccadic pauses than during maintained fixation; (2) letters appearing on the saccadic path, including locations previously examined, could be remembered; off-path performance was near chance; (3) memory was better at the saccadic target than all other locations, including the currently fixated location. These results show that the distribution of attention during intersaccadic pauses results from a combination of top-down enhancement at the saccadic target coupled with a more automatic allocation of attention to selected display locations. This suggests that the visual system has mechanisms to control the distribution of attention without interfering with ongoing saccadic programming.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Visual memory during pauses between successive saccades

et al. 2008

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“…What I am trying to stress is the desirability of significantly raising the standard of theorizing as far as formalization and explicitness go. It would, for example, be interesting to study the eye movements of several species in performing the kinds of tasks described by D & P. Some aspects of eye movement in children and adults doing ordinary arithmetical problems might be used in formulating a theory about the eye movement of animals (for work with human subjects, see Suppes et al 1983). A careful study of eye movements, for example, might help discriminate between various hypotheses or theories of how animals are solving simple numerical "problems.…”

Section: Patrick Suppesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Numerical competence in animals: Definitional issues, current evidence, and a new research agenda

1988

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Numerical competence is one of the many aspects of animal cognition that have enjoyed a resurgence of interest during the past decade. Evidence for numerical abilities in animals has followed a tortuous path to respectability, however, from Clever Hans, the counting horse, to modern experimental studies. Recent surveys of the literaturereveal theoretical as well as definitional confusion arising from inconsistent terminology for numerical processes and procedures. The term “counting” has been applied to situations having little to do with its meaning in the human literature. We propose a consistent vocabulary and theoretical framework for evaluating numerical competence. Relative numerousness judgments, subitizing, counting, and estimation may be the essential processes by which animals perform numerical discriminations. Ordinality, cardinality, and transitivity also play an important role in these processes. Our schema is applied to a variety of recent experimental situations. Some evidence of transfer is essential in demonstrating higher-order ability such as counting or “sense of number.” Those instances of numerical competence in which all viable alternatives to counting (e.g., subitizing) have been precluded, but no evidence of transfer has been demonstrated might be described as “protocounting.” To show that animals are capable of “true” counting future research will have to demonstrate generality across situations.

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“…Another example of using global eye movement patterns to study mental processes is the work on arithmetic by Suppes, Cohen, Laddaga and Floyd (1983). Suppes et al (1983) classified the eye movements that were made while subjects solved arithmetic problems into classes corresponding to specific operations, e.g. "go to the next number", "go back by one", "skip the next number", etc.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Instead, the subjects performed seemingly unproductive operations suCh as skipping more than two numbers, or looking at blank areas on the page. Suppes et al (1983) concluded that these out-of-sequence operations represented "wandering" of the eye that occurred while the subject was not sure of what to do next--he wandered as he wondered. Epelboim, Booth and Steinman (1994a) showed that when a similar classification was used to classify eye movements made while reading a text, the out-of-sequence operations, such as going back to the previous sentence, or skipping forward by more than two words, represented a different of type mental process than such operations seemed to represent when arithmetic problems were solved.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%