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Individual differences in the visual attention of human infants: Further evidence for separate sensitization and habituation processes
Author(s) -
Peterzell David H.
Publication year - 1993
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.420260404
Subject(s) - habituation , psychology , stimulus (psychology) , sensitization , fixation (population genetics) , audiology , developmental psychology , cognitive psychology , neuroscience , medicine , population , environmental health
How many and what kinds of processes mediate infant visual attention? Are they influenced by stimulus “complexity?” Analyses were performed on visual fixation data from ninety 4‐month‐old infants; the time each infant spent looking at a black and white checkerboard pattern containing either 4 × 4, 12 × 12, or 20 × 20 checks per picture was measured for eight 10‐s trials, with 10‐s interstimulus intervals (Kaplan & Werner, 1986). Correlational and factor analyses revealed one significant source of individual variability (or factor) in the 4 × 4 data, and two significant sources in the 12 × 12 and 20 × 20 data. One factor gained strength over progressive trials and accounted for decreases in looking time. A second factor gained strength over the first few trials, then lost strength over the remaining trials, and accounted for initial increments in looking time. The two factors are consistent with a dual‐process model of infant response dynamics; the first may represent habituation, a decremental process, and the second may represent sensitization, an incremental process that is activated by “complex” stimuli. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.