Learning to Look: Cognitive Aspects of Visual Attention

Abstract

Early visual orienting responses can be prevented in infants with central nervous system damage. Children who have extensive damage in the visual system may ignore whatever visual stimuli they receive. Other children who have a viable visual system may receive the stimuli, but have difficulty with perceiving, interpreting or acting on incoming stimuli. If experience is lacking, visual behavior may never develop. The development of visual pathways seems to depend on experience as well as physiological factors. Intervention must be planned to help multihandicapped children integrate what they see with what they know. Where there is a deficit in the sensory mechanism, repeated stimula­tion is necessary in order for the brain to receive and process visual stimuli. Visually impaired multihan­dicapped children do learn to visually attend and process visual information.