• wednesday, 26 april 2023—12:15

    Visual processing out of the corner of the infant eye

    Chiara Capparini

    The visual capabilities of the infant undergo a massive development during the first postnatal months. Over the last decades, it has been common to study early visual information processing in simplified settings, presenting images within limited visual areas on standard computer displays. This is a simplification of our rich natural visual environment in which information derives from a wide space including more peripheral locations. Past research has suggested that infant’s peripheral vision is mature around the first postnatal year of life. Nevertheless, most studies adopted flashing LED lights to study vision across the developing visual field and, to date, little is known about social and non-social information detection beyond central or near-peripheral locations. In this talk, I will explore infant’s sensitivity to different low- and high- level visual information - such as Gabor patches, face-like stimuli and faces expressing emotions - across a wide field of view covering more than 120°. Results suggest that visual content affects early attentional mechanisms even outside foveated locations. These data are relevant to set the scene for a variety of investigations across a wide visual space and help us understand which type of information is favoured for further processing and learning stages.

    Follow the seminar on Teams (link: https://bit.ly/40uOcIi).

    internal seminar