Habituation and recovery of visual response in the alert human newborn

It is suggested that the visual response decrement displayed by the newborn can be attributed to a habituation rather than a “fatigue” process, and that some infants, soon after birth, are capable of storing simple visual information as reflected in their ability to detect and respond to change in the immediate environment.

Abstract

Forty newborn human infants were repeatedly exposed to one of two visual stimuli: a 2 × 2 or 12 × 12 black and white checkerboard target until a set criterion of habituation was demonstrated, as measured by a decrement in visual fixation time. When the habituation criterion was reached, independent groups of Ss were presented with either the same target or the second target, to assess the effects of familiar and novel visual targets on recovery of the habituated response. Results indicated that Ss receiving the Same target to which they had been "familiarized" on the test trial showed no significant change in visual fixation time, while Ss receiving a novel target showed a significant increase in visual response. The current results suggest (1) that the visual response decrement displayed by the newborn can be attributed to a habituation rather than a "fatigue" process, and (2) that some infants, soon after birth, are capable of storing simple visual information as reflected in their ability to detect and respond to change in the immediate environment.