Gaze coherence reveals distinct tracking strategies in multiple object and multiple identity tracking

0578243 - PSÚ 2024 DE eng J - Journal Article
Lukavský, Jiří - Meyerhoff, H.S.
Gaze coherence reveals distinct tracking strategies in multiple object and multiple identity tracking.
Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. listopad (2023). ISSN 1069-9384. E-ISSN 1531-5320
R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA19-07690S
Grant - others:Ministerstvo školství, mládeže a tělovýchovy - GA MŠk(CZ) LM2018140
Institutional support: RVO:68081740
Keywords : attention * eye movements * multiple identitty * multiple object tracking * tracking
OECD category: Psychology (including human - machine relations)
Impact factor: 3.5, year: 2022
Method of publishing: Limited access

In dynamic environments, a central task of the attentional system is to keep track of objects changing their spatial location over time. In some instances, it is sufficient to track only the spatial locations of moving objects (i.e., multiple object tracking, MOT). In other instances, however, it is also important to maintain distinct identities of moving objects (i.e., multiple identity tracking, MIT). Despite previous research, it is not clear whether MOT and MIT performance emerge from the same tracking mechanism. In the present report, we study gaze coherence (i.e., the extent to which participants repeat their gaze behaviour when tracking the same object locations twice) across repeated MOT and MIT trials. We observed more substantial gaze coherence in repeated MOT trials compared to the repeated MIT trials or mixed MOT-MIT trial pairs. A subsequent simulation study suggests that MOT is based more on a grouping mechanism than MIT, whereas MIT is based more on a target-jumping mechanism than MOT. It thus appears unlikely that MOT and MIT emerge from the same basic tracking mechanism.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0347288