Peripheral Stimulus Localization by 5- to 14-Week-Old Infants During Phases of Attention
Sharon K. Hunter
Department of Psychiatry, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center
John E. Richards
Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina

This study examined the effect of attention in young infants on the saccadic localization of peripheral stimuli. Infants ranging in age from 5 to 14 weeks were tested using a peripheral stimulus detection paradigm. The presence of a central fixation stimulus decreased detection probability, particularly if attention was engaged with the central stimulus. Peripheral stimulus localization usually was accomplished with a single eye movement. When localization was accomplished by multiple eye movements, corrective saccades occurred most frequently and fixed-amplitude hypometric saccades occurred less frequently. A decrease in the slope of the linear component of the main sequence was found from 5 to 11 weeks of age, and this decrease was independent of attention.