A test for sensitivity to binocular disparity and a shape perception test were administered to four-month-olds. Results indicated that disparity-sensitive infants could perceive three-dimensional-object shape from kinetic and binocular depth information. (PCB)

Two different methods which minimize achromatic cues were used to test the ability of one-month-olds to discriminate gray from broadband blue. Test data imply an improvement between birth and one month of age in the discrimination of gray from broadband blue. Possible physiological changes underlying this improvement are discussed. (Author/RWB)

Examines, in two experiments, 5-month-old infants' sensitivity to auditory-visual specification of distance and direction of movement. One experiment presented two films with soundtracks in either a match or mismatch condition; the second showed the two films side-by-side with a single soundtrack appropriate to one. Infants demonstrated visual…

Measures of prenatal exposure in 123 infants to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), cord serum PCB level, and maternal report of contaminated fish consumption predicted less preference for a novel stimulus on Fagan's test of visual recognition memory (VRM) at 7 months. Preference for novelty decreased in a dose-dependent fashion and postnatal…

Four experiments assessed converging aspects of four-month-old infants' perceptions of visual patterns. Results together corroborate and extend previous findings that vertical symmetry has a special status in early perceptual development and that infants can perceive pattern wholes. (Author/AS)

Three experiments are described which relate to models of infant visual preferences and to the ways in which preferences can be modified or created by habituation. Results suggest that the Banks and Salapatek's contrast sensitivity model can be a powerful predictor of preferential looking in newborns and that preferences based on experience can be…

Examines, in three experiments, infant sensitivity at 20, 30, and 36 weeks of age to 3-dimensional structure of a human form specified through biomechanical motions. Findings are interpreted as suggesting that infants, by 36 weeks of age, are extracting fundamental properties necessary for interpreting a point-light display as a person. (Author/BE)

Two experiments assessed the importance of sound duration for eliciting head orientation responses from newborn infants. Results suggest that newborns' head orientation response may reflect a motor program that is initiated by auditory input and then executed in a similar fashion regardless of further stimulation. (Author/AS)

Determines whether early hemispheric differences exist in tactual processing by testing infants and preschoolers on six cross-modal tasks. Results are the first to demonstrate a left-hand superiority for information processing in children as young as two years. (Author/AS)

Visual fixations were recorded in newborn, 4-, and 8-week-old human infants as they scanned displays that varied in contour length, size, number, and a new metric, CVAL (based on Contour Variability, Amount and Location). One of the findings was that both contour length and CVAL separately accounted for approximatel1 95 of looking-duration…