The Development of Sensitivity of Kenetic, Binocular and Pictorial Depth Information in Human Infants

Abstract

A program of research is described that explores the development of sensitivity to three classes of spatial information in human infants. The research suggests that sensitivity to kinetic, binocular and pictorial depth information develops in a fixed sequence. Some sensitivity to kinetic information may be present at birth or soon thereafter; sensitivity to binocular information appears between three and five months; and sensitivity to static monocular information appears between five and 7 months of age. These findings may direct research on the development of neural mechanisms that underlie the emergence of responsiveness to spatial information in human infants.