Representational competence in science is the ability to generate external representations (e.g. equations, graphs) of real-world phenomena, transform between these representations, and use them in an integrated fashion. Difficulties in achieving representational competence are often considered central to difficulties in learning science. Representational competence is indicative of domain expertise and is characterised by distinct problem-solving strategies. Eye-tracking studies have consistently demonstrated that experts employ unique perceptual attention (e.g. gaze-fixation) patterns while solving problems that involve different external representations. Here, we present a different strand of evidence, indicating that perceptual navigation patterns (eye movements) mark representational competence in science, in more specific ways than attention. Gaze behaviours of chemistry professors (experts) and undergraduate students (novices) were tracked as they individually performed a multi-representational-categorisation task and a chemical equation-balancing task. The following three-step analysis was performed on these data: (i) First, we independently calibrated the levels of representational competence of our participants through their performance in the categorisation task. (ii) Then, we compared these competence levels with the participants’ perceptual patterns (gaze behaviour) exhibited during the categorisation task. (iii) Finally, we analysed whether the identified perceptual patterns were specific to representational competence, or more general, through the results of the equation-balancing task. Our analysis of perceptual navigation (eye movements) provided further support to previous findings showing gaze-behaviour differences between experts and novices. Going further, our analysis indicated that experts deploy distinct eye-movement patterns, but specifically during representational competence-related problems. This suggests that representational competence is an embodied skill that fundamentally changes the tuning of the perceptual system, as argued by recent ‘field’ theories of cognition.

中文翻译：

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感觉运动调节方面的专业知识：感知导航模式标志着科学中的表征能力

科学中的表征能力是生成现实世界现象的外部表征（例如方程、图形）、在这些表征之间进行转换并以集成方式使用它们的能力。实现表征能力的困难通常被认为是学习科学困难的核心。代表性能力表明领域专业知识，并以独特的问题解决策略为特征。眼动追踪研究一致表明，专家在解决涉及不同外部表征的问题时采用独特的感知注意力（例如凝视）模式。在这里，我们提出了不同的证据链，表明感知导航模式（眼球运动）以比注意力更具体的方式标志着科学中的表征能力。跟踪化学教授（专家）和本科生（新手）的凝视行为，因为他们分别执行了多表征分类任务和化学方程式平衡任务。对这些数据进行了以下三步分析：（i）首先，我们通过参与者在分类任务中的表现独立地校准了他们的代表性能力水平。(ii) 然后，我们将这些能力水平与参与者在分类任务期间表现出的感知模式（凝视行为）进行了比较。(iii) 最后，我们通过方程平衡任务的结果分析了识别出的感知模式是否特定于表征能力，或更一般的。我们对感知导航（眼球运动）的分析为之前的研究结果提供了进一步的支持，这些研究结果显示了专家和新手之间的注视行为差异。更进一步，我们的分析表明专家部署了不同的眼动模式，但特别是在与代表性能力相关的问题中。这表明表征能力是一种具体化的技能，它从根本上改变了感知系统的调整，正如最近的“场”认知理论所主张的那样。