Alice Skelton
LightNews LightNews
aliceeskelton.bsky.social
Alice Skelton
@aliceeskelton.bsky.social
120 followers 180 following 5 posts
Lecturer in Developmental Psychology, University of Sussex
Co-Lead Sussex Baby Lab

Currently working on visual diet (head cams), simulations of baby vision, cognition after nature/urban scene exposure, development of aesthetic preference & biophilia
Posts Replies Media Videos
aliceeskelton.bsky.social
And here are some very fun heat maps of what babies like to look at in exhibits and paintings, nicely showing baby preferences for things like roundness & contour, shiny bits, high colour and luminance contrast, and faces.
Top to bottom images are: Sunflowers by Gertrude Fawcett; The Sketching Party by Gerald Edward Moira; Cup by Henry Willett; BioKam by Alfred Darling; Girl and a Birdcage by William Scott; Photographic Print; Jug by Wedgewood, all at Brighton Museum & Art Gallery. From these heatmaps we can see what captures babies’ gaze. For example, we can see that babies look longest at high contrast areas (centre of sunflowers, the lens on the camera, the neckline of the female figure, the edge of windows and lettering in the photo); colourful areas (the red figure by the lake, the colourful top and blue background in Girl and a Birdcage); gloss (the table reflecting BioKam); curves (the round lens of BioKam, the outline of the sunflowers, the curved signage in the photo, and the handles of the jugs); and faces (even when they are not human as with the dog Jug). Baby eye-movement heat maps provided by The Sussex Baby Lab
March 22, 2025 at 10:09 PM
aliceeskelton.bsky.social
Our Babies in Museums resource, created with Kids in Museums, is now available! It explores how babies see & think in museums & ways of making spaces welcoming for them & their caregivers. Here are some shots from our baby head cam visitors to Brighton Museum kidsinmuseums.org.uk/resources/ba...
Seeing a museum from the baby point of view. Images collected by Sussex Baby Lab, recorded with cameras mounted on babies’ heads whilst visiting Brighton Museum and Art Gallery. Top row: Uniquely baby view points: How babies see the gallery will depend on their mode of transport. Babies in a sling will see the world from a similar point of view as their caregivers, while babies who are walking or in prams will spend a lot of time on the floor or seeing the world from a lower point of view. Other things might be vying for babies attention when they’re in the space! Middle row: babies’ attention will be captured by unintentional things like the architecture of the building, bright lights, and non exhibit objects (e.g. the fan which is curved and shiny – doubly exciting!). Moving between exhibits or galleries often means being in corridors – to keep babies engaged, providing something visually interesting for them to look at while they are transitioning between spaces is helpful. Bottom row: exhibits provide lots of opportunities for sharing a moment with their caregiver, especially when their caregiver is interacting in some way with an exhibit. Babies will seek out, look, and interact with the exhibits at museums, and they give lots of opportunity for them to practice their developing visual skills.
March 22, 2025 at 10:09 PM
aliceeskelton.bsky.social
Some of my great UG dissertation students are collecting data on what impacts infant sleep. We usually rely on fb ads for recruitment, but it's been a little...quiet... out there! Please ask any babies you know 0-12 months to share this questionnaire with their caregivers tinyurl.com/babysnooze25
February 25, 2025 at 5:31 PM