AN INVESTIGATION OF VISUAL SCANNING STRATEGIES OF REFLECTIVE AND IMPULSIVE CHILDREN AND ADULTS ON THE MATCHING FAMILIAR FIGURES TEST

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was First to investigate the differences of visual scanning strategies of reflective and impulsive 3 rd graders and college students on the M. F. F. test, and then to clarify the mechanisms of emerging differences based on their performances (RT and errors).
The Ss, 85 3 rd graders and 50 college students, were given the M. F. F. test and were classified as Reflectives or Impulsives.
Based on the above test, 9 reflective and 10 impulsive children, together with and 7 reflective and 6 impulsive college students, were selected for the subsequent analysis.
While they were working on every test item, their eye movements were recorded by the ophthalmograph apparatus. It was assumed that a subject's eye movements reflect his cognitive approach to the task.
Several visual regard measures were tallied for the initial response at each task, that is, the mean number of fixations per item. The mean number of variants fixated per item, the percentage of fixations that fall on the standard stimulus, the coverage and density of fixations per item, and so on, were calculated.
By analysing the sequential patterns of fixation, three main scanning strategies were observed. They were named respectively “Homologous Comparison (HC)”,“Check”, and “Run”. A “HC” refers to the direct comparison of corresponding parts of two figures.“A round trip” type of eye movements between the corresponding parts of the two figures is defined as a “Check”. A “Run” is a sequential fixation on the same part of the standard figure and of the several variant figures.
The main results were as follows.
1. Reflective subjects made more fixations on standard and variant stimuli than impulsive subjects.
2. Fixation in the reflective children covered significantly a wider range of the stimulus figures than in the case impulsive children, and the reflective subjects tended to examine the stimulus figures in greater detail than the impulsive. 3. The number of successive fixation patterns was significantly greater for the reflective children than for the impulsive.
However, the difference in this measure between the two groups of college students did not reach any significant level.
4. Reflective and impulsive subjects of both children and college students were alike in some qualitative aspects of scanning strategy.
5. In general, adults made more effective and exhaustive comparisons than children did.