Validation of an open source, remote web‐based eye‐tracking method (WebGazer) for research in early childhood

Measuring eye movements remotely via the participant's webcam promises to be an attractive methodological addition to in-person eye-tracking in the lab. However, there is a lack of systematic research comparing remote web-based eye-tracking with in-lab eye-tracking in young children. We report a multi-lab study that compared these two measures in an anticipatory looking task with toddlers using WebGazer.js and jsPsych. Results of our remotely tested sample of 18-27-month-old toddlers (N = 125) revealed that web-based eye-tracking successfully captured goal-based action predictions, although the proportion of the goal-directed anticipatory looking was lower compared to the in-lab sample (N = 70). As expected, attrition rate was substantially higher in the web-based (42%) than the in-lab sample (10%). Excluding trials based on visual inspection of the match of time-locked gaze coordinates and the participant's webcam video overlayed on the stimuli was an important preprocessing step to reduce noise in the data. We discuss the use of this remote web-based method in comparison with other current methodological innovations. Our study demonstrates that remote web-based eye-tracking can be a useful tool for testing toddlers, facilitating recruitment of larger and more diverse samples; a caveat to consider is the larger drop-out rate

TANGO: A reliable, open-source, browser-based task to assess individual differences in gaze understanding in 3 to 5-year-old children and adults

Traditional measures of social cognition used in developmental research often lack satisfactory psychometric properties and are not designed to capture variation between individuals. Here, we present the TANGO (Task for Assessing iNdividual differences in Gaze understanding-Open); a brief (approx. 5–10min), reliable, open-source task to quantify individual dif-ferences in the understanding of gaze cues. Localizing the attentional focus of an agent is crucial in inferring their mental states, building common ground, and thus, supporting cooperation. Our interactive browser-based task works across devices and enables in-person and remote testing. The implemented spatial layout allows for discrete and continuous measures of participants’ click imprecision and is easily adaptable to different study requirements. Our task measures inter-individual differences in a child (N = 387) and an adult (N = 236) sample. Our two study versions and data collection modes yield com-parable results that show substantial developmental gains: the older children are, the more accurately they locate the target. High internal consistency and test–retest reliability estimates underline that the captured variation is systematic. Associations with social-environmental factors and language skills speak to the validity of the task. This work shows a promising way forward in studying individual differences in social cognition and will help us explore the structure and development of our core social-cognitive processes in greater detail

Moral Attitudes Towards Humans and Other Animals Across Diverse Societies

Several researchers stress the importance of cultivating sustainable relations between humans and other animals (Hodson & Dhont, 2020). However, previous studies revealed a dramatic increase in pro-human bias and speciesist attitudes with age in US-American and British participants (McGuire et al., 2023; Wilks et al., 2021). It remains unclear which specific mechanisms drive the observed increase and from what age children establish such moral hierarchies among nonhuman animals and humans (McGuire et al., 2023). The current project aims to shed light on these aspects by replicating previously obtained findings in cultural groups that differ in their response patterns regarding nonhuman animals’ perceived cognition, sentience, and similarity to humans. To our knowledge, this is one of the first projects to systematically compare moral attitudes towards humans and nonhuman animals across culturally diverse societies. This is of great interest, as such attitudes are malleable and likely influenced by social learning processes and respective prevailing norms (e.g., McGuire et al., 2023). In each cultural group, we plan to observe the behavior of 5-9-year-old children and adults in a task that allows a gradual and independent rating of humans’, locally meaningful companion and food animals’ moral standing (i.e., moral circle task adapted from Neldner et al., 2018). Besides, we assess the participants’ choices in a series of trade-off dilemmas (adapted from Wilks et al., 2021), which force them to prioritize between humans and representatives of companion and food animals. Including two different tasks enables us to investigate the assignment of moral worth from different perspectives and helps to understand better how findings obtained in previous research relate to each other

Moral Attitudes Towards Humans and Other Animals Across Development

Several researchers stress the importance of cultivating sustainable relations between humans and other animals (Hodson & Dhont, 2020). However, previous studies revealed a dramatic increase in pro-human bias and speciesist attitudes with age in US-American and British participants (McGuire et al., 2023; Wilks et al., 2021). It remains unclear which specific mechanisms drive the observed increase and from what age people establish such moral hierarchies among nonhuman animals and humans (McGuire et al., 2023). The current project aims to shed light on the developmental trajectory of the moral prioritization of humans over other animals (i.e., pro-human bias) and the moral differentiation between different groups of animals (i.e., moral divide) by systematically investigating such attitudes in a wide age range covering childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. This is of great interest, as such attitudes are malleable and likely influenced by social learning processes and respective prevailing norms (e.g., McGuire et al., 2023). Specifically, we plan to observe the behavior of participants aged between 5 and 70 in a task that allows a gradual and independent rating of humans’, companion, and food animals’ moral standing (i.e., moral circle task, adapted from Neldner et al., 2018). Besides, we assess the participants’ choices in a series of tragic trade-off dilemmas (adapted from Wilks et al., 2021), which force them to prioritize between humans and representatives of companion and food animals. Including two different tasks enables us to investigate the assignment of moral worth from different perspectives and helps to understand better how findings obtained in previous research relate to each other

Induction of thymic atrophy and loss of thymic output by type-I interferons during chronic viral infection

Type-I interferon (IFN-I) signals exert a critical role in disease progression during viral infections. However, the immunomodulatory mechanisms by which IFN-I dictates disease outcomes remain to be fully defined. Here we report that IFN-I signals mediate thymic atrophy in viral infections, with more severe and prolonged loss of thymic output and unique kinetics and subtypes of IFN-α/β expression in chronic infection compared to acute infection. Loss of thymic output was linked to inhibition of early stages of thymopoiesis (DN1-DN2 transition, and DN3 proliferation) and pronounced apoptosis during the late DP stage. Notably, infection-associated thymic defects were largely abrogated upon ablation of IFNαβR and partially mitigated in the absence of CD8 T cells, thus implicating direct as well as indirect effects of IFN-I on thymocytes. These findings provide mechanistic underpinnings for immunotherapeutic strategies targeting IFN-1 signals to manipulate disease outcomes during chronic infections and cancers

Validation of an open source, remote web‐based eye‐tracking method (WebGazer) for research in early childhood

AbstractMeasuring eye movements remotely via the participant's webcam promises to be an attractive methodological addition to in‐person eye‐tracking in the lab. However, there is a lack of systematic research comparing remote web‐based eye‐tracking with in‐lab eye‐tracking in young children. We report a multi‐lab study that compared these two measures in an anticipatory looking task with toddlers using WebGazer.js and jsPsych. Results of our remotely tested sample of 18‐27‐month‐old toddlers (N = 125) revealed that web‐based eye‐tracking successfully captured goal‐based action predictions, although the proportion of the goal‐directed anticipatory looking was lower compared to the in‐lab sample (N = 70). As expected, attrition rate was substantially higher in the web‐based (42%) than the in‐lab sample (10%). Excluding trials based on visual inspection of the match of time‐locked gaze coordinates and the participant's webcam video overlayed on the stimuli was an important preprocessing step to reduce noise in the data. We discuss the use of this remote web‐based method in comparison with other current methodological innovations. Our study demonstrates that remote web‐based eye‐tracking can be a useful tool for testing toddlers, facilitating recruitment of larger and more diverse samples; a caveat to consider is the larger drop‐out rate.</jats:p