Abstract
Experiments were conducted to examine the spatial perception of children patients under treatment in response to the movements of their mothers. For this purpose, a video was produced on the assumption that a child lying on its back in the dental chair would respond when his or her mother moves in to look into his or her face. The video was shown to a total of 37 child patients. Using the Visicon camera, we measured and analyzed the ocular movements. Our findings were as follows:
1. Thirty-one children (83.8%) scanned their mothers (scanning group), while six children did not (non-scanning group).
2. In the scanning group, there were 25 child subjects (80.6%) who also cast their eyes over objects other than their mothers. The average number of times their eyes fell on their mother was 17.9 and the average length of time their eyes rested on their mothers was 2,980.6 ms. Likewise, the number of times and the length of time their eyes fell and rested on other objects were 6.2 and 918.6 ms respectively.
3. For 28 subjects (90.3%) the primary fixation point of observation was recorded when their mothers tried to look into the children's faces. On the other hand, three subjects (9.7%) fixed their eyes on their mothers for the first time when their mothers were looking into their faces.
4. There were six kinds of scanning pattern in the scanning group and three kinds in the nonscanning group.
Upon analysis, we concluded that child patients in the dental chair are quick to respond to their mothers' movements and at this stage, they turn their eyes to their mothers.
