Infant visual acuity and its meridional variation

Abstract One hundred and four infants were tested using a preferential looking procedure. Results for subsets of these infants tested in three experiments were as follows: Median preference at the 75% level for vertical gratings over a homogeneous field increased monotonically from 3.0 c/deg at 17 weeks of age to 8.0 c/deg at 45 weeks of age; at the 58% level it increased from 3.7 c/deg to 11.8 c/deg. In the second experiment main axes gratings were directly paired with oblique gratings of the same spatial frequency. Results showed that the median spatial frequency at which main axes gratings were preferred over obliques (oblique effect) increased with age at a rate similar to the preference for vertical gratings. In the third experiment, vertical gratings were paired with the homogeneous field, and in separate sessions on the same infants, oblique gratings were paired with the homogeneous field. Preference thresholds for vertical gratings were similar to those for oblique gratings in very-young infants, but the preference threshold for vertical gratings increased more rapidly with age, becoming almost 1 octave greater by 11 months.

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