The BiSC project and the eye-tracker technique!

Little by little, the BiSC project is back on track, and after these months of confinement, we have news!

Recall that one of the main objectives of the BiSC project was to assess whether there is any association between air pollution levels and children’s neurodevelopment.

At BiSC, throughout the postnatal period we are already conducting different tests at 6 months of age regarding neurodevelopment, such as the Bayley Scale questionnaires.

In addition, during the last few weeks, from the Laboratory of Attention, Perception and Language Acquisition of the University of Barcelona, ​​we have taken the opportunity to prepare two new studies through which we can obtain experimental data on the cognitive status of children at 6 months of age, using the technique of eye tracking or “eye-tracker”.

The “eye-tracker” technique allows us to follow the children’s visual attention while presenting images or videos. Thus, through the analysis of their selective attention at all times, we can draw conclusions about the state of neurocognitive development of children.

For the BiSC study we chose to explore two cognitive skills that are acquired during the first year of life and that may reflect the child’s developmental status. The two skills assessed are visual memory and object permanence.

Throughout the month of May and June, we started conducting pilot tests by videoconference to finish perfecting the materials we will use for the study. Finally, once the pilot phase was over and with the study ready, this week we were able to reopen the Laboratory and we have already started with the first face-to-face tests using the “eye-tracker”, and so far they have gone very well !!

Here is a summary of the first ones that we did:

We take this opportunity to thank the volunteer families of the pilot test, who despite the circumstances decided to participate and have helped build the study for all BiSC babies.

We hope to be able to move forward and that many volunteer families can join this study!