Cortical Maturation and the Development of Visual Attention in Early Infancy

Johnson, Mark H.

doi:10.1162/jocn.1990.2.2.81

Cited by 524 publications

(388 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“…What is the most parsimonious explanation of these diverse changes in behaviour? One possibility is that all of the changes are mediated by increased voluntary (endogenous) control over eye movements (Johnson, 1990). Depending on context, this factor might lead in some situations to longer looking behaviour, in others to faster reaction times, and in others to more accurate orienting.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changes in behavior and salivary cortisol after targeted cognitive training in typical 12-month-old infants.

Wass

Cook

Clackson

2017

Developmental Psychology

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Previous research has suggested that early development may be an optimal period to implement cognitive training interventions, particularly those relating to attention control, a basic ability that is essential for the development of other cognitive skills. In the present study, we administered gaze-contingent training (95 minutes across 2 weeks) targeted at voluntary attention control to a cohort of typical 12-month-old children (N = 24) and sham training to a control group (N = 24). We assessed training effects on (a) tasks involving non-trained aspects of attention control: visual sustained attention, habituation speed, visual recognition memory, sequence learning and reversal learning; (b) general attentiveness (on-task behaviours during testing) and (c) salivary cortisol levels. Assessments were administered immediately following the cessation of training and at a 6-week follow-up. On the immediate post-test infants showed significantly more sustained visual attention, faster habituation and improved sequence learning. Significant effects were also found for increased general attentiveness and decreased salivary cortisol. Some of these effects were still evident at the 6-week follow-up (significantly improved sequence learning and marginally improved […] sustained attention). These findings extend the emerging literature showing that attention training is possible in infancy.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changes in behavior and salivary cortisol after targeted cognitive training in typical 12-month-old infants.

Wass

Cook

Clackson

2017

Developmental Psychology

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“…These results suggest that the neural and/or vascular components of the auditory cortex respond to sensory stimulation at an earlier age than does the visual system. Indeed, the cortical auditory system of the human neonate is highly functional at birth [11,17] while the cortical visual system undergoes a more protracted development [18,19]. Several studies have also suggested that the human fetus can hear at 27 weeks' gestation [20,21], and a recent fMRI study has even shown auditory activation in fetal human brain [22].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neonatal auditory activation detected by functional magnetic resonance imaging

Anderson

Marois

Colson

et al. 2001

Magnetic Resonance Imaging

153

113

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The objective of this study was to detect auditory cortical activation in non-sedated neonates employing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Using echo-planar functional brain imaging, subjects were presented with a frequency-modulated pure tone; the BOLD signal response was mapped in 5 mm-thick slices running parallel to the superior temporal gyrus. Twenty healthy neonates (13 term, 7 preterm) at term and 4 adult control subjects. Blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal in response to auditory stimulus was detected in all 4 adults and in 14 of the 20 neonates. FMRI studies of adult subjects demonstrated increased signal in the superior temporal regions during auditory stimulation. In contrast, signal decreases were detected during auditory stimulation in 9 of 14 newborns with BOLD response. fMRI can be used to detect brain activation with auditory stimulation in human infants.

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“…Whilst the subcortical structures involved in saccadic generation are relatively developed at birth (e.g., superior colliculus), cortical pathways associated with the generation of more complex eye-movements (e.g., the frontal eye fields) remain underdeveloped until 3 to 4 months of age (e.g., Atkinson, 2000;Bronson, 1974;Johnson, 1990Johnson, , 2011. At around 1 month postnatal age, unregulated tonic inhibition of the superior colliculus prevents infants from consistently moving their eyes from a point of foveation.…”

Section: Neural Mechanisms Underlying Eye-movement Control In Infancymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In infants, FDs have been associated with the developmental state of the oculomotor system (Bronson, 1994;Johnson, 1990) and with visual and cognitive processes such as attention, information processing, memory or anticipation (e.g., Harris, Hainline, Abramov, Lemerise, & Camenzuli, 1988;Papageorgiou et al, 2014). Nevertheless, due to practical and technical limitations in testing young infants not much is known about the development of the mechanisms underlying FDs and saccade programming.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disentangling the mechanisms underlying infant fixation durations in scene perception: A computational account

et al. 2017

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The goal of this article is to investigate the unexplored mechanisms underlying the development of saccadic control in infancy by determining the generalizability and potential limitations of extending the CRISP theoretical framework and computational model of fixation durations (FDs) in adult scene-viewing to infants. The CRISP model was used to investigate the underlying mechanisms modulating FDs in 6-month-olds by applying the model to empirical eye-movement data gathered from groups of infants and adults during free-viewing of naturalistic and semi-naturalistic videos. Participants also performed a gap-overlap task to measure their disengagement abilities. Results confirmed the CRISP model's applicability to infant data. Specifically, model simulations support the view that infant saccade programming is completed in two stages: an initial labile stage, followed by a non-labile stage. Moreover, results from the empirical data and simulation studies highlighted the influence of the material viewed on the FD distributions in infants and adults, as well as the impact that the developmental state of the oculomotor system can have on saccade programming and execution at 6 months. The present work suggests that infant FDs reflect on-line perceptual and cognitive activity in a similar way to adults, but that the individual developmental state of the oculomotor system affects this relationship at 6 months. Furthermore, computational modeling filled the gaps of psychophysical studies and allowed the effects of these two factors on FDs to be simulated in infant data providing greater insights into the development of oculomotor and attentional control than can be gained from behavioral results alone.

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Cortical Maturation and the Development of Visual Attention in Early Infancy

Cited by 524 publications

References 50 publications

Changes in behavior and salivary cortisol after targeted cognitive training in typical 12-month-old infants.

Changes in behavior and salivary cortisol after targeted cognitive training in typical 12-month-old infants.

Neonatal auditory activation detected by functional magnetic resonance imaging

Disentangling the mechanisms underlying infant fixation durations in scene perception: A computational account

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