The development of visual attention is a key component of cognitive functioning in infancy and childhood. By the time children in poverty reach school, deficits in attention are readily apparent; however, when these attention delays manifest is unknown. The current study tested attention longitudinally at 6, 9 and 12?months in infants from…

This study examined the effects of program pacing, defined as the rate of scene and character change per minute, on infants' visual attention to video presentations. Seventy-two infants (twenty-four 6-month-olds, twenty-four 9-month-olds, twenty-four 12-month-olds) were exposed to one of two sets of high- and low-paced commercial infant DVDs. Each…

Two experiments investigated factors affecting joint visual attention in 12- and 18-month-olds. Findings indicated that parental pointing at objects elicited more episodes of joint visual attention than looking alone. Although infants most reliably followed gestures to targets in front of them, even 12-month-olds followed gestures to targets…

Studied in three experiments the distribution and malleability of visual attention in 5-month-olds while they inspected large geometric designs. Established that infants who were short-lookers had novelty scores above chance, whereas long-lookers demonstrated chance responding. Illuminating different parts of visual display induced long-lookers to…

Examined exogenous orienting among infants between 7 and 21 weeks of age in 2 experiments using display with multiple potential attention targets. Found that as early as 7 weeks of age, sensitivity for a small moving stimulus can be significantly influenced by the simultaneous presence of competing attention targets. Found large increases in…

A total of 48 8- to 14-week-old infants were presented with a non-contingently moving visual stimulus and the infants' visual attention was measured. Infants who exhibited decrements in attention to the non-contingent stimulus showed recovery in attention when the same stimulus was made to move contingent upon a motor response. Moreover, wisual…

This study investigated the effects of prior experience with contingent or noncontingent stimulation of infants' ability to learn different responses to control perceptual stimulation. In the pretest phase, baseline rates of level movement, panel press and vocal responding were determined for each of the twelve, 6-month-old infants in the study.…

Examined visual fixation in infants 6 months to 2 years old for fit with theory of attentional inertia. Found that fixations had lognormal distribution, heart rate decreased during a look, and heart rate returned to prestimulus levels immediately before look offset. Older children showed different looking patterns to two types of stimuli; younger…

Three groups of 12-month-old infants (10 deaf infants with hearing parents, 10 deaf infants with deaf parents, and 10 hearing infants with hearing parents) were videotaped during free play with mothers. Infant attention state was coded, identifying periods as: (1) unengaged, (2) onlooking, (3) object-attend, (4) person-attend, (5) supported joint…

Used NICHD Early Child Care data to examine effects of attentional persistence on relationship of infant negative emotionality to age 3 outcomes. Found that high negative emotionality related to low social competence only when attentional persistence was poor. Found no moderating effects of attentional persistence for behavior problems. High…

Two experiments studied whether altering an auditory stimulus' rate of change affected infants' fixation of changing visual stimuli. Results demonstrated that infants exposed simultaneously to auditory and visual stimulation showed a reduced tendency to fixate on relatively more visually stimulating events. Heart rates also accelerated during…

Examines evidence that the research community studying infants' object concept and the community concerned with adult object-based attention have been studying the same natural kind. Maintains that the discovery that the object representations of young infants are the same as the object files of mid-level visual cognition has implications for both…