Inhibition of return in newborn infants

Abstract

Inhibition of return is a reduced tendency to orient toward a previously attended spatial location, which, in adults, likely reflects an attentional bias toward novel locations. It is indexed by an increased latency and/or a reduction in the probability of an eye movement to the inhibited location. Previous research had indicated that inhibition of return develops between 3 and 6 months of age. We submitted 32 newborns ( M age = 72 hours; SD = 0.0) to trials consisting of a pretest phase (a single visual cue shown for 3 s at 30° from fixation), a 2-s interval, and a test phase (two identical stimuli shown simultaneously at 30° for 5 s). We recorded the direction and latency of the first eye movement in both the pretest and test phases as well as the nonnutritive sucking rate. The results showed that eye movements occurred more frequently and with a shorter latency toward the uncued side (i.e., inhibition of return). There was also some indication that inhibition of return occurred only when in the pretest phase the infant shifted gaze toward the cue and nonnutritive sucking rate decreased. It was concluded that inhibition of return is present in the first days after birth.