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Infant Visual Attention (infant + visual_attention)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Humanities and Social Sciences	60%

Selected Abstracts

Testing neural models of the development of infant visual attention

DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOBIOLOGY, Issue 3 2002
John E. Richards
Abstract Several models of the development of infant visual attention have used information about neural development. Most of these models have been based on nonhuman animal studies and have relied on indirect measures of neural development in human infants. This article discusses methods for studying a "neurodevelopmental" model of infant visual attention using indirect and direct measures of cortical activity. We concentrate on the effect of attention on eye movement control and show how animal-based models, indirect measurement in human infants, and direct measurement of brain activity inform this model. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 40: 226,236, 2002. DOI 10.1002/dev.10029 [source]

Adult gaze influences infant attention and object processing: implications for cognitive neuroscience

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE, Issue 6 2005
Vincent M. Reid
Abstract Infants follow others' gaze toward external objects from early in ontogeny, but whether they use others' gaze in processing information about objects remains unknown. In Experiment 1, 4-month-old infants viewed a video presentation of an adult gazing toward one of two objects. When presented with the same objects alone a second time, infants looked reliably less at the object to which the adult had directly gazed (cued object). This suggests that the uncued object was perceived as more novel than the object previously cued by the adult's gaze. In Experiment 2, adult gaze was not directed towards any object. In this control experiment, infants looked at both objects equally in the test phase. These findings show that adult eye gaze biases infant visual attention and information processing. Implications of the paradigm for cognitive neuroscience are presented and the results are discussed in terms of neural structures and change over ontogeny. [source]

Individual Differences in Infants' Recognition of Briefly Presented Visual Stimuli

INFANCY, Issue 3 2001
Janet E. Frick
Infants' recognition memory has been shown to be related to individual differences in look duration and level of heart period variability. This study examined the effect of individual differences in these 2 measures on infants' recognition of briefly presented visual stimuli using a paired-comparison recognition-memory paradigm. A sample of 35 full-term infants was studied longitudinally at 14, 20, and 26 weeks of age. Recognition memory for briefly presented stimuli was tested in 6 experimental conditions, with delays corresponding to different heart-rate-defined phases of attention. The 20-and 26-week-old infants, and infants with high levels of heart period variability, generally showed more evidence of recognition memory for briefly presented visual stimuli. Greater evidence of recognition memory was observed when stimuli were presented during sustained attention. Infants with more mature baseline physiological responses show greater evidence of recognition memory, and stimulus and procedural factors may be more important for the study of individual differences in infant visual attention than has previously been suggested. [source]

Infant visual habituation and parental psychological distress

INFANT MENTAL HEALTH JOURNAL, Issue 4 2001
David P. Laplante
Research is equivocal concerning the relationship between parental psychological distress and infant cognitive functioning. Four potential limitations of the literature are addressed: reliance on mothers' but not fathers' psychological distress, use of categorical measures of psychological distress, use of standardized measures of infant cognitive functioning, and failure to take into account potential gender differences. Ninety-nine twin pairs and both their mothers and fathers were assessed. Infants cognitive functioning was assessed using an infant-controlled habituation,recovery,dishabituation task. Maternal and paternal psychological distress was assessed using the Symptom Check List-90-Revised. No gender differences were obtained for infant visual information-processing abilities or parental psychological distress. Maternal and paternal psychological distress was related to female visual encoding abilities only. It was concluded that parental psychological distress might degrade parent,infant interactions. Characteristics of girls when faced with parents exhibiting psychiatric difficulties may exacerbate difficulties of parent,infant interactions, thereby hindering the full development of cognitive abilities involved in the process of habituation. A need exists to examine the relationship between parental psychological distress and infant visual attention separately for girls and boys. ©2001 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health. [source]