Orientation selectivity in infancy: behavioural evidence for temporal sensitivity.
One-month-old infants were tested with a habituation-recovery paradigm to determine whether they could discriminate phase-shifting grating patterns that switched between two orientations, three or eight times a second, from grating patterns that only shifted in phase. The infants were found to discriminate patterns switching orientation at the lower temporal rate of 3 reversals s-1, but not 8 reversals s-1. This finding supports the idea that orientation-selective mechanisms improve in their temporal sensitivity during early infancy. Where they can be compared, the results from behavioural and electrophysiological studies agree as to the course of this development.
Hood
B
B
Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, UK.
Atkinson
J
J
Braddick
O
O
Wattam-Bell
J
J
D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology; D004594:Electrophysiology; D005260:Female; D005556:Form Perception / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology