Smooth pursuit in 1- to 4-month-old human infants

The ability of human infants ≤4 months of age to pursue objects smoothly with their eyes was assessed by presenting small target spots moving with hold-ramp-hold trajectories at ramp velocities of 4–32 deg/sec. Infants as young as 1 month old followed such target motions with a combination of smooth...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Vision research (Oxford) 1997-11, Vol.37 (21), p.3009-3020
Main Authors: Phillips, James O., Finocchio, Dom V., Ong, Luan, Fuchs, Albert F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aging - physiology
Biological and medical sciences
Child development
Developmental psychology
Electrooculography
EOG
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Infant
Newborn. Infant
Oculomotor
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Pursuit, Smooth - physiology
Reaction Time
Saccades
Saccades - physiology
Smooth pursuit
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The ability of human infants ≤4 months of age to pursue objects smoothly with their eyes was assessed by presenting small target spots moving with hold-ramp-hold trajectories at ramp velocities of 4–32 deg/sec. Infants as young as 1 month old followed such target motions with a combination of smooth-pursuit and saccadic eye movements interrupted occasionally by periods when the eyes remained stationary. The slowest targets produced variable performance, but targets moving 8–32 deg/sec produced consistent pursuit behavior, even in the youngest infants. By the fourth month, eye-movement latency decreased and smooth-pursuit gain and the percentage of smooth pursuit per trial increased for all target velocities, though these measures had not yet reached adult levels.
ISSN:0042-6989
1878-5646
DOI:10.1016/S0042-6989(97)00107-7