Attention and memory in cerebral palsied infants

Attention and memory in cerebral palsied (CP) infants have been difficult to evaluate because of their impaired motor ability. The present experiment overcame this difficulty by using a visual habituation task which involved minimal motor activity. Sixteen CP and 16 normal infants, 9 to 16 months of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Infant behavior & development 1982, Vol.5 (2), p.347-353
Main Authors: McDonough, Susan C., Cohen, Leslie B.
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Attention and memory in cerebral palsied (CP) infants have been difficult to evaluate because of their impaired motor ability. The present experiment overcame this difficulty by using a visual habituation task which involved minimal motor activity. Sixteen CP and 16 normal infants, 9 to 16 months of age, matched on age, sex, and SES were habituated to a photograph of a female face and then were tested with the familiar face, a novel female face, and a lion's face. Independent measures were taken of Attention Getting, the tendency to turn to a photograph, and Attention Holding, the tendency to fixate after turning. On all Attention Getting measures, CP infants' latencies were longer than those of the normal infants; but on all Attention Holding measures CP infants were equal. Both groups habituated at the same rate and both discriminated novel from familiar faces. The study demonstrated that on a visual recognition memory task, CP infants performed quite well, and that the habituation paradigm can be used effectively with infants having severe motor impairment.
ISSN:0163-6383
1879-0453
DOI:10.1016/S0163-6383(82)80045-3