THE PAIRED-COMPARISON PARADIGM AND INFANT INTELLIGENCE

The conference that resulted in this volume brought together a diverse group of behavioral and neuroscientists to exchange paradigms and data so that the search for the neural bases of cognition and a better understanding of the nature and development of cognition can be facilitated. The purpose of this chapter is to present a paradigm based on the infant's differential visual attention when faced with a new as well as previously exposed stimulus, a paradigm that indicates cognitive functioning. We begin by specifying a set of operations for testing differential attention to old and new targets. Parameters governing the infant's differential attention to new and previously seen stimuli are then discussed and inferences about the infant's cognitive functioning are drawn. Finally, implications arising from the use of the same paradigm to explore the monkey's attention to novelty are noted. The reader should be warned that the present discussion of the infant's visual attention to novelty is not meant to be exhaustive. For the most part, it is a relatively detailed exposition of the work of one research program.