Intertrial intervals and visual habituation in neonates.
Eighteen 3-day-old human neonates were shown a 12 by 12 black-white checkerboard target for 45-sec. trials with either a 10-, 20-, or 30-sec. intertrial interval until their visual fixation time decreased to a set criterion for habituation. On subsequent recovery trials, a 2 by 2 black-white checkerboard target received significantly longer fixations from boys in the 10-sec. and girls in the 20-sec. conditions. 30-sec. intervals, however, produced little habituation and recovery. The implications of these findings are discussed.
D001288:Attention; D005260:Female; D006185:Habituation, Psychophysiologic; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D011939:Mental Recall; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D014796:Visual Perception