Visual Acuity and Child Development

Visual Perception: Child Development

The concept of preferential looking in regards to visual perception suggests that even infants will show preference in fixating upon certain interesting objects versus other, less stimulating objects. This occurs before they are able to verbally articulate why and have formed specific associations with those images. A good example of this is that infants show a preference for looking at faces that are visually coherent, versus faces which are scrambled. Infants in a series of studies conducted by Robert Fantz, as noted in the video "Visual acuity testing (part 1): History of preferential looking and early testing" shifted preference from non-human objects such as a bull's eye image versus stripes and vice versa, preference for intact faces remained consistent.

Fantz also found that when confronted with images of patterns, even ones without faces, infants will tend to prefer visually interesting or varied patterns, versus spaces absent of such differentiation. One can assume there is an evolutionary advantage for this preference in socialization. Infants that were responsive to their parent's faces and others are more likely to develop social, life-sustaining bonds and are better able to learn how to respond to others within the social environment. Infants, in other words, just like adult humans, prefer to look at something that is interesting without any prompting.

The fact that infants shifted their preference from one pattern to another also reflects the concept of habituation, or the seeking out of novel stimuli. According to the series of experiments detailed in the video, eventually, after a certain point, an infant becomes habituated to a particular pattern or image and seeks out something novel. Once again, it is easy to see an advantage to an infant becoming more interested in something new, as this promotes new learning and brain development.

The reverse side of the concept of habituation is dishabituation or the fact that after repeated exposure, there will be a shift to showing interest in newer patterns and objects and what once seemed novel will seem less so over time. This also reflects an advantage given to seeking out new information and new knowledge for a developing mind. Once the infant has learned from or assimilated the new pattern, he or she will innately seek out new stimuli.

Infants also show the ability to track objects with their eyes long before they have the power of speech or have experienced anything like formal learning. Infants will track or follow visually interesting objects. Once again, this is not a learned or observed behavior. This is innate within the human brain and is part of the evolutionary advantages of the brain, enabling infants to better survive and learn in a rapidly-changing environment. Effectively, experiments demonstrating preverbal infant's preferences indicate that humans are born 'hardwired' for learning.