You’re driving on the interstate with traffic all around you. In tiny increments of time, you are aware of the types of cars on either side. Because you’re familiar with them, your conscious attention is directed elsewhere.

Psychologist Dr. Wayne Mitchell is fascinated by the response to the unfamiliar, especially in infants. He is examining the physiological changes that take place – like longer looks and decreased heart rate – as children actively encode new information to understand what they’re looking at.

Mitchell’s lab is using the Tobii eye tracker to examine visual scanning patterns, and associated heart-rate changes, in both infants and adults.

He hopes the research leads to new ways to detect developmental problems in infancy or early childhood, then to the creation of new intervention methods to improve visual learning.