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Systematic temporal variation in the rate of spontaneous eye blinking in human infants
Author(s) -
Bacher Leigh F.,
Smotherman William P.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
developmental psychobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.055
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1098-2302
pISSN - 0012-1630
DOI - 10.1002/dev.10159
Subject(s) - psychology , spontaneous recovery , cognition , neuroscience , eye movement , audiology , developmental psychology , medicine
The rate of spontaneous eye blinking, a putative index of central dopamine activity based on neuropharmacological and clinical research, has been linked to cognitive activity and behavioral state. Although many species have been studied, few researchers have examined spontaneous eye blinking in human infants. Human infants between 10 and 12 weeks of age were observed before, during, and after a feeding or during attention to visual stimuli. Infants blinked spontaneously several times per minute, and their blinking rate increased during feeding and after the appearance of new visual stimuli. These systematic changes in the rate of spontaneous blinking under controlled conditions suggest that spontaneous blinking rate may reflect reliable variation in central nervous system activity that underlies behavioral and cognitive responses to salient or novel stimuli. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 44: 140–145, 2004.