title: Visual attention in infant monkeys: effects of dietary fatty acids and age.
abstract: Effects of dietary essential fatty acids on visual attention were explored longitudinally in infant rhesus monkeys with a visual paired-comparison paradigm. Sets of primate faces and of patterns were presented at Weeks 2, 5, 9, and 13 to 9 infants deficient in omega-3 fatty acids and 8 fed a standard nursery diet. Familiarization to 1 member of each pair preceded simultaneous presentation of both stimuli. Infants fed the deficient diet showed longer individual looks in both immediate and 24-hr tests. Duration of looks decreased with age to familiar but not to novel stimuli. The proportion of time looking at the novel stimulus (% novel) increased with age but was not affected by diet. Look duration and % novel were differentially affected and may reflect different underlying processes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Oregon Health Sciences University, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Reisbick
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Neuringer
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gohl
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wald
authors.forename: G J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Anderson
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000187:drug effects*; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001288:Attention / Q000187:drug effects*; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3 / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000187:drug effects; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000187:drug effects*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D004041:Dietary Fats; D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3