To comprehend edited video, viewers must infer the meaning conveyed by successive video shots (i.e., continuous video segments separated by edit points, such as camera cuts). The central question here was whether comprehension-related top-down cognitive processes drive eye movements during sequential processing of video montage. Eye movements were recorded as 4 year olds and adults (n = 62) watched a video with the same constituent shots in either normal or random sequence. The key analyses compared eye movements to constituent shots when presented in normal order with those to the same shots presented in random order. The dependent variable was attentional synchrony or the extent to which viewers looked at the same location at the same time, indicating commonality of processing the video. This was calculated as the bivariate contour ellipse area within which points of gaze fell during each video frame. Results indicated that children were more scattered in their gaze locations than adults. Viewers became more similar to each other as normal vignettes unfolded over time; this was especially true in adults and possibly reflects a growing and shared understanding of the content. Conversely, adult attentional synchrony was reduced when watching random shot sequences. Thus, attentional synchrony during normal video viewing is driven not only by salient visual features, such as movement and areas of high contrast, but also, by the unfolding sequential comprehension of video montage, especially in adults. Differences between children and adults indicate that this top-down control of eye movements while watching video changes systematically over development.
Keywords: cognition; development; eye movements; sequential comprehension; television.