A failure to observe habituation in the human neonate

Fifteen 1-day-old infants and 15 adults each received a sequence of 150 eyeblink-eliciting taps to the glabella (the flattened region of skin between the eyebrows). For all subjects, taps occurred every 4 s, an interval that was expected to produce a large decrement in response amplitude as trials p...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Infant behavior & development 1988-07, Vol.11 (3), p.297-304
Main Authors: Cohen, Michelle E., Hoffman, Howard S., Kelley, Nancy E., Anday, Endla K.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Child development
Developmental psychology
eyeblink
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
glabella
habituation
human neonates
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
response amplitude
startle reflex
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Summary:Fifteen 1-day-old infants and 15 adults each received a sequence of 150 eyeblink-eliciting taps to the glabella (the flattened region of skin between the eyebrows). For all subjects, taps occurred every 4 s, an interval that was expected to produce a large decrement in response amplitude as trials progressed. Although the adults exhibited this habituation effect, the infants failed to do so: their responses at the end of the tap sequence were as large as at the beginning. Similar differences in the habituation of a startle reflex in immature versus older rats and in the habituation of the gill withdrawal reflex in immature versus older sea slugs (Aplysia) have recently been reported.
ISSN:0163-6383
1879-0453
DOI:10.1016/0163-6383(88)90015-X