Infant spatiotemporal vision: Dependence of spatial contrast sensitivity on temporal frequency

Abstract

Effects of temporal frequency on infant spatial contrast sensitivity were studied with forced-choice preferential looking, using localized 1.0 and 0.35 c/deg grating patches. Between 4 and 8 months, contrast sensitivity at 1.0 c/deg increased significantly at 8-17 Hz but showed little change at 2-4 Hz, so temporal tuning became increasingly bandpass with age. At 4 months, temporal tuning was lowpass at 1.0 c/deg and bandpass at 0.35 c/deg. Control data on adults indicate that the differences between the infant and adult data cannot be accounted for solely by reduced photoreceptor density and quantal catch, and suggest developmental changes in tuning and/or relative sensitivities of spatiotemporal mechanisms.