Has someone moved my plate? The immediate and persistent effects of object location changes on gaze allocation during natural scene viewing

Abstract

In this study, we investigated the immediate and persisting effects of object location changes on gaze control during scene viewing. Participants repeatedly inspected a randomized set of naturalistic scenes for later questioning. On the seventh presentation, an object was shown at a new location, whereas the change was reversed for all subsequent presentations of the scene. We tested whether deviations from stored scene representations would modify eye movements to the changed regions and whether these effects would persist. We found that changed objects were looked at longer and more often, regardless of change reportability. These effects were most pronounced immediately after the change occurred and quickly leveled off once a scene remained unchanged. However, participants continued to perform short validation checks to changed scene regions, which implies a persistent modulation of eye movement control beyond the occurrence of object location changes. © 2010 The Psychonomic Society, Inc.