Changes in Infants' Ability to Switch Visual Attention in the First Three Months of Life

The abilities of 1-month-old and 3-month-old infants to shift their gaze from a central target to a peripheral target were compared in four experiments. In experiment 1 targets matched in mean luminance to the background were presented to infants in the periphery at varying levels of contrast. The contrast thresholds for target detection were found to be significantly different for 1-month-olds compared with 3-month-olds. With targets set close to these contrast thresholds, correct refixations and the latency for shifting attention were examined in experiment 2. Two conditions were used: a peripheral target was presented against a homogeneous background (noncompetition); and in the second condition, the patterned target appeared at one of two lighter peripheral windows set against a darker background (competition). Although there was no difference between the two age groups in the latency for shifting visual attention, 1-month-olds were found to make more directional errors in the competition condition. The competition effect of two potential targets on latencies was examined in experiment 3. In the competition condition, two identical peripheral patterned targets were presented to the infants. The 3-month-olds refixated more quickly to one of the double targets in the competition condition than to a single peripheral target, whereas 1-month-olds were slowed down by a double target display. Finally, in experiment 4 the ability of the infants to process and disengage from a central stimulus and to refixate towards a similar peripheral target was examined. This type of competition disrupted both the direction of the first eye movement and the latency to shift attention in both age groups. However, the effect was significantly greater for the 1-month-olds. Taken together, the results of these experiments demonstrate the greater disruption of fixation-shift behaviour in 1-month-olds compared with 3-month-olds when competing visual stimuli are used. This developmental change is explained in terms of maturation of executive cortical orienting systems over the first months of life.

[1]  J. L. Conway,et al.  Effects of frontal eye field and superior colliculus ablations on eye movements. , 1979, Science.

[2]  M. Posner,et al.  The attention system of the human brain. , 1990, Annual review of neuroscience.

[3]  J Atkinson,et al.  Acuity, contrast sensitivity and accommodation in infants , 1981 .

[4]  M S Banks,et al.  Acuity and contrast sensitivity in 1-, 2-, and 3-month-old human infants. , 1978, Investigative ophthalmology & visual science.

[5]  Robert Hockey,et al.  Effects of repetition on the facilitatory and inhibitory components of orienting in visual space , 1987, Neuropsychologia.

[6]  J. Atkinson,et al.  Human visual development over the first 6 months of life. A review and a hypothesis. , 1984, Human neurobiology.

[7]  J. Atkinson,et al.  Sensory Visual Loss And Cognitive Deficits In The Selective Attentional System Of Normal Infants And Neurologically Impaired Children , 1990, Developmental medicine and child neurology.

[8]  F. J. Friedrich,et al.  Effects of parietal injury on covert orienting of attention , 1984, The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.

[9]  Vernon B Mountcastle,et al.  Brain Mechanisms for Directed Attention 1 , 1978, Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.

[10]  R. Wurtz,et al.  Visual and oculomotor functions of monkey substantia nigra pars reticulata. I. Relation of visual and auditory responses to saccades. , 1983, Journal of neurophysiology.

[11]  M Critchley,et al.  Brain Mechanisms for Directed Attention , 1978, Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine.

[12]  J. Duin,et al.  Visual Field Measurements, Optokinetic Nystagmus and the Visual Threatening Response: Normal and Abnormal Development , 1986 .

[13]  P Salapatek,et al.  Infant saccadic eye movements to visible and previously visible targets. , 1980, Child development.

[14]  H. Levin.  Disorders of Space Exploration and Cognition , 1982 .

[15]  G. Bronson.  The postnatal growth of visual capacity. , 1974, Child development.

[16]  Cortical Maturation and Perceptual Development , 1990 .

[17]  M. Posner,et al.  Orienting of Attention* , 1980, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology.

[18]  G Holmes,et al.  DISTURBANCES OF VISUAL ORIENTATION , 1918, The British journal of ophthalmology.

[19]  R. Bálint.  Seelenlähmung des “Schauens”, optische Ataxie, räumliche Störung der Aufmerksamkeit. pp. 51–66 , 1909 .

[20]  D. Teller.  The forced-choice preferential looking procedure: A psychophysical technique for use with human infants. , 1979 .

[21]  J. Atkinson,et al.  EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONTROL OF VISUAL-ATTENTION , 1985 .

[22]  M. Posner,et al.  Inhibition of return : Neural basis and function , 1985 .

[23]  Janette Atkinson,et al.  Development of contrast sensitivity over the first 3 months of life in the human infant , 1977, Vision Research.

[24]  Richard N. Aslin,et al.  Saccadic localization of visual targets by the very young human infant , 1975 .

[25]  P Harris,et al.  The growth of the effective visual field from birth to seven weeks. , 1974, Journal of experimental child psychology.