Covert orienting of attention in 3-month-old infants: The case of biological motion. 2020

Marco Lunghi, and Elisa Di Giorgio, and Silvia Benavides-Varela, and Francesca Simion
Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padova, Italy. Electronic address: marco.lunghi@unipd.it.

Humans attend to different positions in the space either by moving their eyes or by moving covertly their attention. The development of covert attention occurs during the first year of life. According to Colombo's model of attention (2001), within the first years there is a significant change in infants' visuo-spatial orienting mechanisms, from a predominantly overt form to a covert orienting starting from 4 to 5 months of life. The use of non-invasive brain imaging techniques can shed light on the origin of such mechanisms. In particular, EEG and ERP studies can directly investigate the neural correlates of covert attention in young infants. The present study investigated the neural correlates of covert attention employing a visuo-spatial cueing paradigm in 3-month-old infants. Infants were presented with a central point-light walker (PLD) followed by a single peripheral target. The target appeared randomly at a position either congruent or incongruent with the walking direction of the cue. We examined infants' target-locked P1 component and the saccade latencies toward the peripheral target. Results showed that the P1 component was larger in response to congruent than to incongruent targets and saccade latencies were faster for congruent rather than incongruent trials. Moreover, the facilitation in processing sensory information (priming effects) presented at the cued spatial location occurs even before the onset of the oculomotor response, suggesting that covert attention is present before 4 months of age. Overall, this study highlights how ERPs method could help researchers at investigating the neural basis of attentional mechanisms in infants.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D007223 Infant A child between 1 and 23 months of age. Infants
D008297 Male Males
D009039 Motion Perception The real or apparent movement of objects through the visual field. Movement Perception,Perception, Motion,Perception, Movement
D009949 Orientation Awareness of oneself in relation to time, place and person. Cognitive Orientation,Mental Orientation,Psychological Orientation,Cognitive Orientations,Mental Orientations,Orientation, Cognitive,Orientation, Mental,Orientation, Psychological,Orientations,Orientations, Cognitive,Orientations, Mental,Orientations, Psychological,Psychological Orientations
D010775 Photic Stimulation Investigative technique commonly used during ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHY in which a series of bright light flashes or visual patterns are used to elicit brain activity. Stimulation, Photic,Visual Stimulation,Photic Stimulations,Stimulation, Visual,Stimulations, Photic,Stimulations, Visual,Visual Stimulations
D011897 Random Allocation A process involving chance used in therapeutic trials or other research endeavor for allocating experimental subjects, human or animal, between treatment and control groups, or among treatment groups. It may also apply to experiments on inanimate objects. Randomization,Allocation, Random
D011930 Reaction Time The time from the onset of a stimulus until a response is observed. Response Latency,Response Speed,Response Time,Latency, Response,Reaction Times,Response Latencies,Response Times,Speed, Response,Speeds, Response
D005260 Female Females
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000072458 Orientation, Spatial Change in position or alignment in response to an external stimulus. Orientations, Spatial,Spatial Orientation,Spatial Orientations

Related Publications

Marco Lunghi, and Elisa Di Giorgio, and Silvia Benavides-Varela, and Francesca Simion
February 2017, Infant behavior & development,
Marco Lunghi, and Elisa Di Giorgio, and Silvia Benavides-Varela, and Francesca Simion
February 2018, Scientific reports,
Marco Lunghi, and Elisa Di Giorgio, and Silvia Benavides-Varela, and Francesca Simion
January 2017, Frontiers in psychology,
Marco Lunghi, and Elisa Di Giorgio, and Silvia Benavides-Varela, and Francesca Simion
July 1990, Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry,
Marco Lunghi, and Elisa Di Giorgio, and Silvia Benavides-Varela, and Francesca Simion
November 2020, Infant behavior & development,
Marco Lunghi, and Elisa Di Giorgio, and Silvia Benavides-Varela, and Francesca Simion
May 1967, British journal of psychology (London, England : 1953),
Marco Lunghi, and Elisa Di Giorgio, and Silvia Benavides-Varela, and Francesca Simion
June 2013, Journal of experimental child psychology,
Marco Lunghi, and Elisa Di Giorgio, and Silvia Benavides-Varela, and Francesca Simion
November 1982, Acta psychologica,
Marco Lunghi, and Elisa Di Giorgio, and Silvia Benavides-Varela, and Francesca Simion
August 2017, Brain and cognition,
Marco Lunghi, and Elisa Di Giorgio, and Silvia Benavides-Varela, and Francesca Simion
December 1990, Acta psychologica,
Copied contents to your clipboard!