Developmental changes in visual-cognitive and attentional functions in infancy

Abstract

Background: Identifying developmental changes in visual-cognitive and attentional functions during infancy may lead to early diagnosis of neurodevelopmental disorders such as ASD and ADHD.

Aims: To clarify the developmental changes in visual-cognitive and attentional functions during infancy (3-36 months of age).

Study design: Cross-sectional study.

Subjects: We included 23, 24, 31, and 26 participants aged 3, 9, 18, and 36 months, respectively (full-term births). Fifteen children who cried intensely or whose data could not be accurately recorded were excluded.

Outcome measures: Three activities were given to each child while they were seated in front of a gaze-tracking device to evaluate re-gaze, motion transparency, and color-motion integration. We analyzed whether the child's attention shifted to the new stimulus in their peripheral vision in the re-gaze task. In the motion transparency and color-motion integration tasks, two images were presented simultaneously on the screen. In the motion transparency task, participants preferred random dots moving in opposite directions; in the color-motion task, they preferred subjective contours from apparent motion stimuli consisting of random red and green dots with different luminance.

Results: In the re-gaze task, fewer 3-month-olds gazed at the new target than other age groups participants. All ages showed preference for target stimuli in the motion transparency task, but 3-month-olds showed significantly lower preference in the color-motion integration task.

Conclusion: These tasks may be useful for measuring visual-cognitive and attentional functions in infants.

Keywords: Eye tracker; Infant; Subjective contours from apparent motion; Transparent motion.