Event Related Potentials in Infants and Adults
Condition: Healthy; Child Development
Study type: Observational

Summary: 
      This study will explore the development of visual perception and the brain activity that
      underlies it. It will examine electrical activity in the brain while people are processing
      characteristics of the visual environment, and how that processing might change with
      development.

      Infants who are within 2 weeks on either side of their 4-month birthday may be eligible for
      this study. A parent of the child also participates.

      Parents who join the study are asked basic questions about their family, such as its size and
      ethnic make-up, their infant's birth date, complications of pregnancy or delivery, and any
      health problems of the infant, such as congenital developmental disorders or visual
      abnormalities.

      Each family is seen at the clinic one time for a 45-minute visit. The infant is outfitted
      with an elastic net containing many small sensors that make contact with the scalp. He or she
      is then shown pictures on a computer screen. The sensors in the head net are connected to a
      computer that records the infant's brain activity while the infant watches the pictures on
      the screen. The head net is moistened with warm water before being applied, and is not
      uncomfortable to wear. Towels are available throughout the session to dry any excess moisture
      from the net.
    

Detailed description: 
      The major objective of this research is to better understand the response of the brain to
      significant stimulation in early and later development. The proposed work is designed to
      examine infants', children's, and adults' (especially mothers') responses to salient features
      of the external environment. To do so, the present research studies the biological bases and
      behavioral significance of natural preferences and information processing. The primary
      research strategy to be used consists of analyzing behavioral and brain responses to visual
      patterns. In a laboratory procedure, subjects will explore patterns and their brain
      electrical activity will be measured simultaneously with an electronic analysis system. In
      specific, five experiments of visual attention in human infants, and 1 experiment in adults
      are proposed. In the first experiment with infants, babies are hypothesized to look longer at
      more saturated colors; in a second experiment, babies are hypothesized to look longer at
      gratings aligned along the vertical and horizontal orthogonals than along the obliques.
      Because saturated colors and orthogonal stimulation elicit greater activity in visual system
      neurons and greater amplitude evoked potentials than desaturated colors or oblique
      stimulation, respectively, these two experiments explore the hypothesis that the simple
      visual stimuli to which infants preferably attend are those that are particularly appropriate
      in stimulating the geniculostriate or primary visual system. In the third experiment, we plan
      to trace the ontogeny of the mature brain response to whole patterns as opposed to parts of
      patterns. In a fourth experiment, we intend to compare region-specific activity when the
      surface features of a familiarized visual target change to that when its location changes. In
      the fifth experiment, we examine individual differences in the power metrics associated with
      attention to visual stimuli in relation to individual differences in their corresponding
      behavior coded by observers. In an experiment with children and adults we will explore brain
      responses and their localization in to pictures of familiar and unfamiliar faces.
    

Observational model: Cohort
Time perspective: Cross-Sectional
Keywords: Behavior and Neurocognition; Functional Brian Activity; Visual Perception; Selective Attention; Information Processing; Age Differences; Childhood Growth and Development; Cognitive Development; Brain Connectivity; Healthy Volunteer; HV