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Development of multimodal attention in young infants: Modification of the startle reflex by attention
Author(s) -
Richards John E.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
psychophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.661
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1469-8986
pISSN - 0048-5772
DOI - 10.1111/1469-8986.3710065
Subject(s) - psychology , disengagement theory , stimulus (psychology) , audiology , moro reflex , auditory stimuli , corneal reflex , modality (human–computer interaction) , attentional blink , reflex , developmental psychology , cognitive psychology , neuroscience , perception , medicine , gerontology , human–computer interaction , computer science
This study examined the effect of attention engagement to compound auditory‐visual stimuli on the modification of the startle blink reflex in infants. Infants at 8, 14, 20, or 26 weeks of age were presented with interesting audiovisual stimuli. After stimulus onset, at delays defined by heart rate changes known to be associated with sustained attention or attention disengagement, blink reflexes were elicited by visual or auditory stimuli. Blink amplitude to either visual or auditory stimuli was enhanced when the infants were engaged in attention to the foreground auditory‐visual stimuli relative to control trials with no foreground patterns. This enhancement of the blink amplitude increased from 8 to 26 weeks of age. In contrast to selective modality enhancement for single‐modality foreground stimuli, these results show that these multimodal stimuli engage both visual and auditory attention systems in this age range.