How do newborns learn to recognize objects? According to temporal learning models in computational neuroscience, the brain constructs object representations by extracting smoothly changing features from the environment. To date, however, it is unknown whether newborns depend on smoothly changing features to build invariant object representations.…

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…

Experiments investigated whether more elements in the upper part of a visual configuration influenced newborns' preference for face-like patterns. Findings indicated that newborns preferred nonface-like stimuli with more upper part elements over nonface-like stimuli with more lower elements, but did not prefer face-like over nonface-like stimuli…

In these two studies, neonatal oculomotor behavior was observed under various conditions of visual and auditory stimulation. Findings showed auditory and visual perception to be relatively independent during the neonatal period. (Author/JMB)

This paper discusses recent studies of the adult visual evoked potential (VEP) which have indicated that specific components of the complex waveform obtained are related to the three basic color processes, and that these components interact in ways that seem to agree with opponent-colors phenomena. The components identified as being related to the…

Examines the ability of infants ranging in age from 21 to 44 hours old to discriminate among visual stimulus arrays. Infants were able to discriminate between small sets of dots (two to three dots) but not between larger sets (four to six). (Author/MP)

The effects of posture on the visual behavior of 15 3-day-old healthy, black, newborn infants were assessed. Findings suggest that the vestibular, proprioceptive, and contact stimulation provided by the on-shoulder position affects the newborn's ability to follow and process visual stimuli. (Author/CS)

Examined length of fixation time responses of neonates to pairs of red, blue, and green acetate stimuli. (Author)

Four studies were conducted to investigate the relation between audition and vision in the human newborn. In all four studies visual activity was recorded with infrared corneal-reflection techniques in 1- to 4-day-old infants. (MS)

This paper reports the major findings and interprets the results of longitudinal and cross-sectional exPeriments concerning the development of visual accommodation in infants 1 to 3 months of age. The stimulus was a high-contrast, random checkerboard which was presented at three different distances from the infants (25, 50 or 100 cm). The physical…

Forty-eight neonates were randomly assigned to view a moving stimulus either in the horizontal or the upright position, with or without added vestibular stimulation and with or without pacifier sucking. Results indicate that vestibular proprioceptive stimulation, provided horizontally or semi-vertically, significantly enhanced visual tracking.…

The ability of neonates to integrate auditory and visual information into a single percept was investigated using a signal detection methodology. Thirty-two infants ranging in age from 2 to 11 days served as subjects. (Author/MP)

Habituated 180 neonates to white lights of varying luminance and tested for recovery of habituation to green, yellow, or red lights varying in excitation purity. Found that newborns discriminated chromatic stimuli from white only when excitation purity exceeded levels much higher than those for adults. Results reinforce view that neonates' vision…

This study investigated the possibility of a functional relation between the auditory and visual systems in the human newborn beyond reflexive organization. Visual activity was monitored in 16 newborns through the use of infrared corneal reflection video tape recording. Infants were observed in total darkness and while monocularly viewing a…

This study followed the development of visual preferences in a single infant from birth to 10 weeks of age. The stimuli used were 5 x 10 item arrays of squares of lines in which a 3 x 3 target matrix of the other figure type (line or square) was embedded. The direction of first fixation and the total time spent looking at each side were determined…