Early visual deprivation impairs some, but not all, aspects of face perception. We investigated the possible developmental roots of later abnormalities by using a face detection task to test infants treated for bilateral congenital cataract within 1 hour of their first focused visual input. The seven patients were between 5 and 12 weeks old…

Reviews studies of infant behavior and development. Delineates a behavioral hypothesis relating prenatal and neonatal risk factors in infancy to crib death. The mutual dependence of experience and neurostructural development suggests that infancy is a period of critical learning experiences. (Author/RH)