Cognition for visual perception of a student apprentice of dental hygiene to the presence of a parent beside the dental chair for dental treatment. The study of cognitive style and personality traits

: With a view to knowing how the dental hygienist looks at and makes cognition of a mother who is kept standing by her child just receiving his dental treatment, cognition from visual perception was examined, by dental hygienist apprentice. Possible difference in scene cognition process according to different cognition style of these subjects was also analyzed from the elements of eye-movement. On the basis of the results of a YG character test performed together, cognition styles and personality traits were examined additionally. The results obtained were as follows: 1. From the number of total scanned sites upon the observation of test movie, 9 and 6 subjects having reflective cognition style and impulsive cognition style, respectively could be divided out of all 43 subjects. 2. When the mother's countenance turned from calmness to uneasiness, the reflective style-group showed increased gaze at the mother's face. 3. When the mother's countenance turned from calmness to uneasiness, the impulsive style-group showed especially increased gaze at the child's face, with a tendency to gazing obviously biased toward his face. 4. The reflective style-group tended to have visual scanning strategies by which it observes each of the sites under test movie, while always contrasting them. 5. The impulsive style-group tended to have visual scanning strategies by which it observes one of the sites under test movie and then the other. 6. Compared with the reflective style-group, the impulsive style-group showed personality traits such as less depression, low general activity and weak initiative. 7. The above results revealed that a subject having impulsive cognition style found a difficulty in taking a wide view of the situation in which its mother is just present in the treating room and was easily put under visual influence of any change in its mother's countenance.