OCULAR RESPONSE OF HUMAN NEWBORNS TO INTERMITTENT VISUAL MOVEMENT

Two experiments were designed to assess the human newborn's ocular response to intermittent visual movement created by sequentially illuminated lights. In Experiment 1, photographs were made of 18 Ss' eyes when they were presented a stationary light centered in front of the eyes, a blinking center light, and a repeating series of three horizontal lights (right, center, left, center, etc.). In Experiment 2, 18 Ss were presented the same repeating series of horizontal lights at three different light durations. In both experiments, the two eyes generally did not converge upon one place; the left eye looked left of the center of the field, while the right eye looked right of center. Conjugate eye movements occurred about 45-50% of the time in all stimulus conditions. Every S in both experiments responded to the lights' movement by shifting direction of gaze toward the left light when it went on and toward the right light when it went on. The joint occurrence of nonconvergence and frequent conjugate eye movements may explain the absence of a strong shift tendency toward the center light. Only 5 Ss followed the lights across the stimulus field. Rate of intermittent visual movement within the limits tested here was not critical for newborn ocular responding. © 1970.