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Much ado about eye movements to nothing: a response to Ferreira et al.: Taking a new look at looking at nothing

2009; Elsevier BV; Volume: 13; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.tics.2009.02.006

1879-307X

Daniel C. Richardson, Gerry T. M. Altmann, Michael J. Spivey, Merrit A. Hoover,

Categorization, perception, and language

Ferreira et al.[ 1 Ferreira F. et al. Taking a new look at looking at nothing. Trends Cogn. Sci. 2008; 11: 405-410 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF Scopus (164) Google Scholar ] outline an 'integrated representation theory' of the 'looking at nothing' phenomenon that we have previously documented [ 2 Richardson D.C. Spivey M.J. Representation, space and hollywood squares: Looking at things that aren't there anymore. Cognition. 2000; 76: 269-295 Crossref PubMed Scopus (256) Google Scholar , 3 Spivey M.J. Geng J.J. Oculomotor mechanisms activated by imagery and memory: Eye movements to absent objects. Psychol. Res. 2001; 65: 235-241 Crossref PubMed Scopus (313) Google Scholar , 4 Richardson D.C. Kirkham N.Z. Multimodal events and moving locations: Eye movements of adults and 6-month-olds reveal dynamic spatial indexing. J. Exp. Psychol. Gen. 2004; 133: 46-62 Crossref PubMed Scopus (119) Google Scholar , 5 Spivey M.J. et al. Thinking outside the brain: oculomotor indexes to visual and linguistic information. in: Henderson J.M. Ferreira F. The Interface Language, Vision, and Action. Psychology Press, 2004: 161-190 Google Scholar , 6 Hoover M.A. Richardson D.C. When facts go down the rabbit hole: Contrasting features and objecthood as indexes to memory. Cognition. 2008; 108: 533-542 Crossref PubMed Scopus (72) Google Scholar , 7 Altmann G.T.M. Language-mediated eye movements in the absence of a visual world: the 'blank screen paradigm'. Cognition. 2004; 93: 79-87 Crossref Scopus (195) Google Scholar , 8 Altmann G.T.M. Kamide Y. Now you see it, now you don't: mediating the mapping between language and the visual world. in: Henderson J.M. Ferreira F. The Interface of Language, Vision and Action. Psychology Press, 2004: 347-386 Google Scholar , 9 Altmann G.T.M. Kamide Y. The real-time mediation of visual attention by language and world knowledge: Linking anticipatory (and other) eye movements to linguistic processing. J. Mem. Lang. 2007; 57: 502-518 Crossref Scopus (281) Google Scholar ]. We largely agree with the explanation by Ferreira et al. because we have argued for the same mechanisms ourselves in prior publications. Their claim to novelty rests upon a misrepresentation of our views (see Box 1). Here, we discuss the one novel claim that Ferreira et al. do make, concerning the consequence of looking at nothing, rather than the mechanism by which the looking is initiated. There is no evidence, as yet, that this consequence occurs. Box 1Internal representations and spatial pointersFerreira et al. mischaracterize our claims. Altmann [ 7 Altmann G.T.M. Language-mediated eye movements in the absence of a visual world: the 'blank screen paradigm'. Cognition. 2004; 93: 79-87 Crossref Scopus (195) Google Scholar ] is reported as arguing that looks to nothing arise 'because the visual system uses the world as an external memory rather than relying on internal representations' and that 'because there is no internal representation of what had been present before, the visual system does not detect that the display has changed from containing objects to being empty' [ 1 Ferreira F. et al. Taking a new look at looking at nothing. Trends Cogn. Sci. 2008; 11: 405-410 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF Scopus (164) Google Scholar ]. Altmann actually wrote: 'One might suppose, however, that when the screen is entirely blank, the processing system would be aware that there was nothing relevant in the visual field', adding that, 'spatial pointers are a component of the episodic trace associated with each item – activating that trace necessarily activates the (experiential) component encoding the location of that item, and it is this component that automatically drives the eyes towards that location' [ 7 Altmann G.T.M. Language-mediated eye movements in the absence of a visual world: the 'blank screen paradigm'. Cognition. 2004; 93: 79-87 Crossref Scopus (195) Google Scholar ]. In volumes edited by Henderson, Ferreira and others [ 8 Altmann G.T.M. Kamide Y. Now you see it, now you don't: mediating the mapping between language and the visual world. in: Henderson J.M. Ferreira F. The Interface of Language, Vision and Action. Psychology Press, 2004: 347-386 Google Scholar , 9 Altmann G.T.M. Kamide Y. The real-time mediation of visual attention by language and world knowledge: Linking anticipatory (and other) eye movements to linguistic processing. J. Mem. Lang. 2007; 57: 502-518 Crossref Scopus (281) Google Scholar ], Altmann and Kamide write that these eye movements 'do not appear to be contingent on a concurrent image; the locations to which eye movements are directed appear to be determined, at least in part, by the mental representation of the scene rather than by the scene itself'. Evidently, internal representations are key to our accounts. Ferreira et al. mischaracterize our claims. Altmann [ 7 Altmann G.T.M. Language-mediated eye movements in the absence of a visual world: the 'blank screen paradigm'. Cognition. 2004; 93: 79-87 Crossref Scopus (195) Google Scholar ] is reported as arguing that looks to nothing arise 'because the visual system uses the world as an external memory rather than relying on internal representations' and that 'because there is no internal representation of what had been present before, the visual system does not detect that the display has changed from containing objects to being empty' [ 1 Ferreira F. et al. Taking a new look at looking at nothing. Trends Cogn. Sci. 2008; 11: 405-410 Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF Scopus (164) Google Scholar ]. Altmann actually wrote: 'One might suppose, however, that when the screen is entirely blank, the processing system would be aware that there was nothing relevant in the visual field', adding that, 'spatial pointers are a component of the episodic trace associated with each item – activating that trace necessarily activates the (experiential) component encoding the location of that item, and it is this component that automatically drives the eyes towards that location' [ 7 Altmann G.T.M. Language-mediated eye movements in the absence of a visual world: the 'blank screen paradigm'. Cognition. 2004; 93: 79-87 Crossref Scopus (195) Google Scholar ]. In volumes edited by Henderson, Ferreira and others [ 8 Altmann G.T.M. Kamide Y. Now you see it, now you don't: mediating the mapping between language and the visual world. in: Henderson J.M. Ferreira F. The Interface of Language, Vision and Action. Psychology Press, 2004: 347-386 Google Scholar , 9 Altmann G.T.M. Kamide Y. The real-time mediation of visual attention by language and world knowledge: Linking anticipatory (and other) eye movements to linguistic processing. J. Mem. Lang. 2007; 57: 502-518 Crossref Scopus (281) Google Scholar ], Altmann and Kamide write that these eye movements 'do not appear to be contingent on a concurrent image; the locations to which eye movements are directed appear to be determined, at least in part, by the mental representation of the scene rather than by the scene itself'. Evidently, internal representations are key to our accounts.